In the film Spartacus (1960), there is a scene where Gaius Julius Caesar (John Gavin) visits his teacher and senator, Gracchus (Charles Laughton), and invites him to the Senate. Gracchus asks, "Joining Crassus?" Caesar replies, "What I do, I do not for myself. But for Rome."
As Gracchus sits in the hall and listens to allegations of rebellion, Crassus (Laurence Olivier) declares the former as the instigator. "Enemies of the State are known. Arrests are in progress. The prisons begin to fill. And every city and province, lists of the disloyal have been compiled," says Crassus. "And where does my name appear on the list of disloyal enemies of the state?" asks Gracchus. "First," replies Crassus, showing him the lists. This scene alludes to the experiences of Spartacus screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and nine other screenwriters and directors, collectively known as the Hollywood Ten, being blacklisted and barred from work by the major film studios. The Ten refused to answer questions in Congress hearings in 1947 about their alleged involvement and sympathies to the Communist Party of the USA. The hearings suspect they have inserted communist ideologies in their films. Since then up to the early 1960s, a list of suspected Communists in the Hollywood film industry was growing, from writers and scorers to directors and producers; thereby damaging the reputation of many people. The Hollywood blacklist was finally broken when Trumbo received full credit for the film Spartacus. *I do not own copyright of this footage. For educational purposes only.
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