5/5 Best of the Bible epics.
  by Joseph M. Perorazio (Columbus, OH USA)
Surpassing even Cecil B. DeMille's 'Ten Commandments' in terms of spectacle, this 1959 celluloid behemoth still holds its own against such modern-day imitators as 'Gladiator.' No film since has presented the Greco-Roman world in such over-the-top spectacle. The chariot race is still compelling (even in the claustrophobic pan-and-scan VHS version), and the script combines reverent Biblical drama and polished Hollywood romance as only a film of this era could. A classic, despite (or perhaps because of) its many campy elements and rumored gay subtext.

5/5 Ben Hur
  by Judy L. Miles
I am very pleased with my purchase of the DVD "Ben Hur" I would recommend it.

Thank you,
Judy Miles

5/5 Ben Hur Uncut!
  by M. Vogel
it's nice to see scenes in the early part of the movie that are sometimes cut out on the TV version.

4/5 Still Epic after 50 years
  by Muzzlehatch (the walls of Gormenghast)
BEN-HUR isn't really a film about Jesus, or rather it's a film in which Jesus is the main character, but he's never seen except in partial glimpses, never heard. Rather he is the character around whom the life and fortunes of the Jewish prince, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) revolves, though he doesn't know it until quite late in the film.

I haven't read the 1880 novel by General Lew Wallace, and I hadn't seen either the 1907 1-reeler or the 1925 Fred Niblo version, also a long and expensive epic, before re-watching this recently. But William Wyler's film is fascinating to me in part because of this absence of Jesus - and the absence of religion from much of Ben Hur's life in the film, though not from his thoughts. The basic story is really quite simple: Ben Hur's childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) returns to Judeah after years in Rome, now a tribune and second in command to the military governor or prefect. Though the two seem overjoyed to see each other we quickly learn that Messala both have ulterior motives in renewing their friendship - Messala to help crush opposition through Ben Hur's help, and the Jewish prince to accomplish the exact opposite. This is not a friendship made to last. In short order, Ben Hur is accused of a crime he didn't commit and sent to the galleys; after years of rowing in chains, he saves the life of a Roman consul during a naval battle, for which he is freed and eventually becomes the consul's adoptive son, all the while earning a name for himself as the greatest charioteer in Rome. But his heart belongs to his homeland, and as quickly as he can he returns to take vengeance on Messala, who has also imprisoned his mother and daughter. Messala, also a great chariot driver, will eventually face him in the justly famed chariot race where no rules apply and each man plans to seek the other's death. This 9-minute action sequence really is as thrilling as I remembered it from years ago and is deserving of all the praise it gets; it has a "real time" you-are-there feel to it that I've never seen in any other historical epic.

But in the background is always the young rabbi, roughly the same age as Ben Hur, who gave the then-slave a drink of water as he was about to be shipped off to the galleys, and who the now-freed son of both Rome and Judeah feels compelled to offer the same favor as the Crucifixion draws nigh. Jesus appears in long-shot or in partial view for perhaps 5-10 minutes out of the 3 1/2 hour running time here, but his presence lingers throughout; the biggest problem I had with the film, in fact, was in the last half hour as the rather cheesy-looking scene on Cavalry translates is intercut with the healing of Ben Hur's now-leprous mother and sister and his own conversion - it all seems to obvious and simplistic; but I guess that for a believer it must work. Too, it seems that Ben Hur is able to have his cake and eat it too: achieving his vengeance, getting his fortune and family back, finding the love of the onetime slave girl who had been promised to another. Sure, he suffered, but at the end his worldly happiness seems more obvious than any spiritual redemption.

This isn't a huge flaw for me, however, as I realize how difficult such a dramatization is, and in particular when filmed by believing Jews and Christians and intended for an audience that had not yet tired of such simple homilies and the grand scale that the film does, at least, still impress with. The acting is all pretty much what one expects in such a thing - lots of declamations and stagy, overly dramatic glances, hands thrown up at the site of lepers, etc. The photography is quite beautiful if completely unrealistic - this never really looks like the holy land, never really even looks like the real world, with a lot of dreamy overlit closeups, deep shadows when deemed dramatically necessary, interior lighting that is sometimes indistinguishable from exteriors -- none of it matters really, if you accept that this is "big scale Hollywood Biblical melodrama" and look at it in terms of its success as a genre piece. I like a lot of the actors in smaller roles, particularly Frank Thring as a somewhat sympathetic, realistic Pontius Pilate whose words of wisdom Ben Hur rejects in one of the best scenes in a film that is really dominated by intimate character interludes despite its reputation for spectacle.

On the whole, it works for me, Wyler is a fluid enough storyteller to keep things moving despite the immense length and the extremely wide format is rarely a distraction, if rarely necessary either. It's easy to see why this was such an immense hit, earning the equivalent of over $700 million today theatrically; it's also to see why it marked the peak of the genre and why it all went downhill rather quickly, as it was such a grueling production that few filmmakers would want to tackle such a thing again even with the potential of very large returns. By 1966 or so (John Huston's THE BIBLE) the genre was effectively dead, at least on such a large scale.

5/5 HESTON AT HIS FINEST! A GLORIOUS EPIC!
  by Noel Serrano (Tampa, Florida United States)
Ben-Hur is a 1959 epic film directed by William Wyler, and is the third film version of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Twenty-six years later, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy merchant of noble blood in Jerusalem. Preceding the arrival of a new governor, Ben-Hur's childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), a military Tribune, returns as the new commanding officer of the Roman garrison. At first Judah and Messala are happy to meet after years apart, but their differing political views separate them: Messala believes in the glory of Rome and worldly imperial power, while Ben-Hur is devoted to his faith and the Jewish people. Messala asks Ben-Hur to caution his countrymen about protests, uprisings, or criticism of the Roman government. Judah counsels his countrymen against rebellion but refuses to disclose dissidents' names, and the two part in anger.

Judah's family welcomes two of their slaves who arrive with a caravan from Antioch: Simonides (Sam Jaffe), their loyal steward, and Simonides's daughter Esther (Haya Harareet), who is preparing for an arranged marriage. Judah gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and the two realize they are attracted to each other.

During the welcoming parade for the new Roman governor, a tile falls from the roof of Ben-Hur's house and startles the governor's horse, which throws him off, nearly killing him. Although Messala knows that it was an accident, he condemns Judah to the galleys and imprisons Judah's mother Miriam (Martha Scott) and sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell), in an effort to intimidate the restive Jewish populace by punishing the family of a known friend. Ben-Hur swears to return and take revenge. En route to the sea, he is denied water when his slave gang arrives at Nazareth. He collapses in despair, but a then-unknown Jesus Christ gives him water and renews his will to survive.

After three years as a galley slave, Ben-Hur is assigned to the flagship of Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), tasked by the Emperor to destroy a fleet of Macedonian pirates. The commander notices Ben-Hur's self-discipline and resolve, and offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer, but Ben-Hur declines, declaring that God will aid him.

As Arrius prepares the galley for battle, he orders the rowers chained but unaccountably orders 41 (Ben-Hur) to be left unchained. When the pirates attack the Romans, Arrius's galley is rammed and sunk, but Ben-Hur escapes and saves Arrius's life and, since Arrius believes the battle ended in defeat, also prevents him from committing suicide during their time afloat. Eventually, they are rescued by a Roman vessel and Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory, and in gratitude petitions Tiberius Julius Caesar (George Relph) to drop all charges against Judah, eventually adopting Judah as his son. With regained freedom and wealth, Judah learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer.
On his journey home to Judea, he happens to become acquainted with an Arab sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith), along with Balthasar (Finlay Currie), who owns four magnificent white Arabian horses and wishes to have them trained for chariot racing. Discovering that Judah had been a winning charioteer in Rome, Ilderim introduces him to his "children" and requests that he drive his quadriga in the upcoming race before the new governor, Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). Ben-Hur accepts upon learning that Messala, considered the finest charioteer in Judea, will also compete in the race. (As Ben-Hur is leaving, Ilderim adds, "There is no law in the arena. Many are killed.")

Returning to Judea, Judah finds that Esther's arranged marriage did not occurr and that she is still in love with him. He visits Messala and demands that he free his mother and sister; Messala sends Drusus (Terence Longdon) to the fortress to look for them. When the soldiers enter the cell, they discover that Miriam and Tirzah have contracted leprosy, and they turn them out of the city. Esther learns of their condition when she finds the two women after nightfall in the Hur house's courtyard; and they beseech her to conceal their condition from Judah and allow him to remember them as they were. Esther tells Judah that his mother and sister have died in prison.

In the run-up to the chariot race, we see a wide-screen view of the imposing Circus building and nine four-horse chariots. Ilderim warns Ben-Hur that Messala has a "Greek chariot," with blades on the hubs, designed to chew up opposing chariots that get too close. In the violent and grueling chariot race, Messala removes several opponents by damaging their chariots with his beaked hubs, but in a collision he falls and is run over and trampled, sustaining severe injuries. After receiving the victor's laurel wreath from Pilate, Judah visits Messala in the infirmary, where surgeons are amputating both legs in a futile attempt to save his life. Before dying, Messala bitterly tells Judah that the race is not over: he can find his mother and sister in the "Valley of the Lepers." Judah leaves in anguish to search for his family, and he is devastated when he finds them in their diseased and disfigured condition.

The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and it is at this point that Jesus reappears. Esther witnesses the Sermon on the Mount and is moved by Christ's words. She tells Ben-Hur about it, but he remains bitter and will not be consoled. Learning that Tirzah is dying, they take her and Miriam to see Jesus, but they cannot get near him, as his trial has begun. (We don't hear the testimony, verdict, or sentence; but we see Pilate famously washing his hands.) Recognizing Jesus from his encounter with him as he was being taken to the galleys, Judah attempts to give him water during his march to Calvary, echoing Jesus' kindness to him, but he is shoved away by the guards.

Eventually, Judah witnesses the Crucifixion. Immediately after Christ's death, Miriam and Tirzah are healed by a miracle, as are Judah's heart and soul. He returns to his home and tells Esther that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film, which had begun with the Magi visiting the infant Jesus, ends with the empty crosses of Calvary in the background and a shepherd and his flock (a prominent Christian symbol) in the foreground.
Many other men were offered the role of Ben-Hur before Charlton Heston. Burt Lancaster claimed he turned down the role of Ben-Hur because he "didn't like the violent morals in the story". Paul Newman turned it down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic. Rock Hudson and Leslie Nielsen were also offered the role.

Out of respect, and consistent with Lew Wallace's stated preference, the face of Jesus is never shown. He was played by opera singer Claude Heater, who received no credit for his only film role.

The original design for the boat Ben-Hur is enslaved upon was so heavy that it couldn't float. The scene therefore had to be filmed in a studio, but another problem remained: the cameras didn't fit inside, so the boat was cut in half and made able to be wider or shorter on demand. The next problem was that the oars were too long, so those were cut too; however, this made it look unrealistic, because the oars were too easy to row; so weights were added to the ends.

During filming, director Wyler noticed that one of the extras was missing a hand. He had the man's stump covered in false blood, with a false bone protruding from it, to add realism to the scene when the galley is rammed. Wyler made similar use of another extra who was missing a foot.

The galley sequence includes the successive commands from Arrius, "Battle speed, Hortator... Attack speed... Ramming speed!" The word hortator is no longer in use, and is notably absent from most modern dictionaries. It was a Latin word that on a ship meant "chief of the rowers", or "he who has command over the rowers",[1] and likely has roots in the Latin verb hortor ("to exhort, encourage"). The command "Ramming speed, Hortator!", which is widely remembered and parodied, never occurs.

The galley sequence is purely fictional, as the Roman navy, in contrast to its early modern counterparts, did not employ convicts as galley slaves.[2]

The chariot race in Ben-Hur was directed by Andrew Marton, a Hollywood director who often acted as second unit director on other people's films. Even by current standards, it is considered to be one of the most spectacular action sequences ever filmed. Filmed at Cinecittà Studios outside Rome long before the advent of computer-generated effects, it took over three months to complete, using 15,000 extras on the largest film set ever built, some 18 acres (73,000 m2).[citation needed] Eighteen chariots were built, with half being used for practice. The race took five weeks to film. Tour buses visited the set every hour.

The section in the middle of the circus, the spina, is a known feature of circi, although its size may be exaggerated to aid filmmaking. The golden dolphin lap counter was a feature of the Circus Maximus in Rome.

Theme of Ben-Hur

composed by Miklós Rózsa

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Charlton Heston spent four weeks learning how to drive a chariot. He was taught by the stunt crew, who offered to teach the entire cast, but Heston and Boyd were the only ones who took them up on the offer (Boyd had to learn in just two weeks, due to his late casting). At the beginning of the chariot race, Heston shook the reins and nothing happened; the horses remained motionless. Finally someone way up on top of the set yelled, "Giddy-up!" The horses then roared into action, and Heston was flung backward off the chariot.[citation needed]

To give the scene more impact and realism, three lifelike dummies were placed at key points in the race to give the appearance of men being run over by chariots. Most notable is the stand-in dummy for Stephen Boyd's Messala that gets tangled up under the horses, getting battered by their hooves. This resulted in one of the most grisly fatal injuries in motion picture history up until then, and shocked audiences
There are several urban legends surrounding the chariot sequence, one of which states that a stuntman died during filming. Stuntman Nosher Powell claims in his autobiography, "We had a stunt man killedin the third week, and it happened right in front of me. You saw it, too, because the cameras kept turning and it's in the movie".[3] There is no conclusive evidence to back up Powell's claim and it has been adamantly denied by director William Wyler, who states that neither man nor horse was injured in the famous scene. The movie's stunt director, Yakima Canutt, stated that no serious injuries or deaths occurred during filming.[4]

Another urban legend states that a red Ferrari can be seen during the chariot race; the book Movie Mistakes claims this is a myth.[5] (Heston, in the DVD commentary track, mentions a third urban legend that is not true: That he wore a wristwatch. He points out that he was wearing leather bracers right up to the elbow.)

However, one of the best-remembered moments in the race came from a near-fatal accident. When Ben-Hur's chariot jumps another chariot which has crashed in its path, the charioteer is seen to be almost thrown from his mount and only just manages to hang on and climb back in to continue the race. In reality, while the jump was planned, the character being flipped into the air was not planned, and stuntman Joe Canutt, son of stunt director Yakima Canutt, was considered fortunate to escape with only a minor chin injury. Nonetheless, when director Wyler intercut the long shot of Canutt's leap with a close-up of Heston clambering back into his chariot, a memorable scene resulted.[6]

[edit] Differences between novel and film
There are several differences between the original novel and the film. The changes made serve to make the film's storyline more immediately dramatic.

In the novel, Messala is seriously, but not fatally, injured in the chariot race. In the movie, Messala falls victim to an accident that is caused by his own attempts to sabotage Ben-Hur, and he dies from the wounds sustained from the accident. In the book, Messala plots to have Ben-Hur murdered in revenge, but his plans go awry. It is revealed at the end of the novel that Iras (who is Messala's mistress and does not appear in the 1959 film) had murdered Messala in a fit of anger about five years after the chariot race.
In the novel, Ben-Hur becomes a convert to Christianity before, rather than after, the Crucifixion, and he does not display the harsh bitterness that he does in the William Wyler film. Similarly, the healing of Ben-Hur's mother and sister takes place earlier in the book, not immediately after the death of Christ.
In the novel, the character of Quintus Arrius was acquainted with Ben-Hur's father, but in the movie there was no such prior association between the Arrius and Ben-Hur families. In the novel, Arrius dies and passes his property and title on to Ben-Hur prior to Ben-Hur's return home. No mention of Arrius's death is made in the 1959 film, so presumably he is still alive at film's end.
The novel ends about five years after the chariot race, with the Ben-Hur family living in Rome. Learning that Sheik Ilderim (who does not die in any of the film versions of the novel) had bequeathed him a large amount of money, and learning of the persecution of Christians in Rome, Ben-Hur helps establish the Catacomb of San Calixto so that the Christian community will have a place to worship freely. The movie however ends almost immediately after the Crucifixion of Christ and the healing of Ben-Hur's mother and sister.
[edit] Claims of homosexual subtext
In interviews for the 1986 book Celluloid Closet, and later the 1995 documentary of the same name, screenwriter Gore Vidal asserts that he had persuaded director William Wyler to allow a carefully veiled homoerotic subtext between Messala and Ben-Hur. Vidal says his aim was to explain Messala's extreme reaction to Ben-Hur's refusal to name his fellow Jews to a Roman officer. Vidal suggested that Messala and Ben-Hur had been lovers while growing up, but Ben-Hur rejected him, so it is the anger of a scorned lover which motivates Messala's vindictiveness. Since the Hollywood production code would not permit this to appear on screen explicitly, it would have to be implied by the actors. Vidal claims that Wyler took his advice, and that the results can be seen in the film. Wyler was initially hesitant to implement the subtext, but agreed on the conditions that no direct reference ever be made to the characters' sexuality in the script, that Vidal personally discuss the idea with Stephen Boyd, and not mention the subtext to Charlton Heston who, Wyler feared, would panic at the idea.[7] After Vidal admitted to adding the homosexual subtext in public, Heston denied the claim, going so far as to suggest Vidal had little input into the final script, and his lack of screen credit was a result of his being fired for trying to add gay innuendo. Vidal rebutted by citing passages from Heston's 1978 autobiography An Actor's Life, where the actor admitted that Vidal had authored much of the final shooting script.