"I'm Spartacus!"
In the climactic scene, recaptured slaves are asked to identify Spartacus in exchange for leniency; instead, each slave proclaims himself to be Spartacus, thus sharing his fate. The documentary Trumbo suggests that this scene was meant to dramatize the solidarity of those accused of being Communist sympathizers during the McCarthy Era who refused to implicate others, and thus were blacklisted.
Regarding this scene, an in-joke is used in Kubrick's next film, Lolita (1962), where Humbert Humbert asks Clare Quilty, "Are you Quilty?" to which he replies, "No, I'm Spartacus. Have you come to free the slaves or something?" Many subsequent films, television shows and advertisements have referenced or parodied the iconic scene. One of the most notable is the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian, which reverses the situation by depicting an entire group undergoing crucifixion all claiming to be Brian, who it has just been announced is eligible for release ("I'm Brian"; "No, I'm Brian"; "I'm Brian and so's my wife.") Further examples have been documented in David Hughes' The Complete Kubrick and Jon Solomon's The Ancient World in Cinema.
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