Spartacus is one of the great Sword and Sandal movies. Like other spectacle movies of the 1960s, the viewer should remember that every member of the crowd is a real person. Kirk Douglas produced the picture where he hired a young Stanley Kubrik. He also hired screen writer Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo is famous for being one of the Hollywood ten that got banned by the McCarthy Blacklist. Many of his stories have under currents of anti establishment and class warfare.