Wednesday, May 1, 2013

349. Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur
1959
Directed by William Wyler












I was absolutely convinced I would hate this film.  Heston is a pretty awful actor, there are heavy religious undertones, and the movie is almost four hours long.  However, I was pleasantly surprised and this film is definitely worthy of its hype.

This is the story of Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince, who is betrayed and sent into slavery by his closest friend.  Now, he's on a mission for REVENGE.  Dah dah dah!

I love a good revenge story and this is certainly a great one.  Of course, the most famous scene from this film is the chariot race.  However, there were many scenes that I found way more memorable, such as the first time Ben-Hur sees his mother and sister again.  I also enjoyed any scene between Heston and Stephen Boyd.  I haven't seen that much sexual chemistry between two men since Top Gun.

Of course, I do have a couple grievances.  The religious stuff in this film is completely unnecessary and felt tacked on.  And, like I said, Heston is one of the hammiest actors of all time.

Still, a great, exciting movie that is well worth the length.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The cameras were too big to fit on the boat, so the crew had to cut the boat in half and use it as a soundstage.

Won 11 Academy Awards.

First movie remake to win Best Picture.

Chariot race scene:


3 comments:

  1. I love this movie. I think Charlton Heston was sexy back in the day. Interesting review.

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    1. Technically this is a marvel. My favorite is the naval battle. It is just awesome. This is also why it is sucha pitty they chose Heston and just had to add all the religious stuff.
      I like historical settings and cannot help consider the realism. In that respect Ben Hur gets good marks. Roman era films are interesting, but I lack good movies of the post-Roman era (which is not a King Arthur installment). My favorite scenario would be a movie on the Visigoth or the Ostrogoth or perhaps the Vandals. They all made epic journeys worthy of Hollywood interest. Anybody heard of movies with those themes?

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    2. The 1001 book list includes Ben-Hur, and I actually liked it much better than the movie. Hmm can't really think of any movies with those themes, which now that I think about it seems weird. According to Hollywood, it was Rome, than Victorian times.

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