I'M SPARTACUS! Kirk Douglas As Gladiator & Slave Leader of Roman Slave Revolt

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- The film Spartacus (1960) executive-produced by & starred Kirk Douglas, was written by Dalton Trumbo, based on Howard Fast's novel Spartacus & directed by Stanley Kubrick. Also starring Jeanne Simmons, Sir Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and Tony Curtis. *The phrase "I'm Spartacus!" derives from this epic film.

-Spartacus (c. 111–71 BC), a Thracian gladiator, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about him but all sources agree that he was a former gladiator & an accomplished military leader. This rebellion, interpreted by some as an example of oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning oligarchy, has provided inspiration for many political thinkers, & has been featured in literature, television, & film..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus_(film)

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1. As the producer

Douglas gave Dalton Trumbo his first screen credit for the screenplay, breaking the McCarthy blacklist.

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2. Trumbo was an essential screenwriter for H.wood & this major film

..Dalton Trumbo. After the Second World War the House of Un-American Activities Committee began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry. In September 1947, the HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as "friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named several people who they accused of holding left-wing views.

In 1947 nineteen members of the film industry who were suspected of being communists were called to appear before the House of Un-American Activities Committee. This included Trumbo, Ring Lardner Jr, Herbert Biberman, Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz, Adrian Scott, Edward Dmytryk, Samuel Ornitz, John Howard Lawson, Larry Parks, Waldo Salt, Bertolt Brecht, Richard Collins, Gordon Kahn, Robert Rossen, Lewis Milestone and Irving Pichel..
https://spartacus-educational.com/USAtrumbo.htm



- Dalton & Cleo Trumbo at the HUAC in Oct. 1947.

[lunatica]

3. I saw the movie about Trumbo with Bryan Cranston in the lead role

It was very educational about the McCarthy era.

Now will be known as the other politically poisonous Trump era. May it be just as short lived.

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4. Well done and very informative about politics then & the H.wood

movie making business.

- 'Trumbo' movie (2015); featurette with Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren and John Goodman. The story of the Hollywood career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Dalton managed to continue to write scripts for many successful films including 'Roman Holiday' with Audrey Hepburn and 'Spartacus' starring Kirk Douglas. When Dalton was given screen credit in 1960 for the movie 'Spartacus' thanks to Kirk Douglas, the blacklist was broken.