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IMDb > Ben-Hur (1959)
Ben-Hur
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Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 11% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
William Wyler
Writers:
Lew Wallace (novel)
Karl Tunberg (screenplay)
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Ben-Hur on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
10 December 1959 (Argentina) more
Tagline:
A Tale of the Christ more
Plot:
When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won 11 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 5 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(22 articles)
'Ben-Hur' miniseries gets leading man
 (From digitalspy. 4 May 2009, 8:06 PM, PDT)

'Ben-Hur' miniseries in the works
 (From digitalspy. 31 March 2009, 5:46 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Still good after 40+ years, but made for a different audience. more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (USA) (alternative title)
more
Runtime:
212 min | Sweden:219 min (1970) | Sweden:224 min (1962) | UK:222 min (1993 re-release) | 214 min (DVD edition)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.76 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Dolby (1993 re-release)
Certification:
Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | China:(Banned) | South Korea:All | Brazil:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #19158) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Norway:12 (1959) | Peru:PT | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | USA:G (re-rating) (1969) | West Germany:16 | Iceland:12
Filming Locations:
Anzio, Rome, Lazio, Italy more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Producer Sam Zimbalist died two months before production ended, with William Wyler handling his duties afterward. more
Goofs:
Continuity: After the race, Messala knows that Ben-Hur thinks his mother and sister to be dead. But Messala cannot possibly know this. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Balthasar: [narrating] In the Year of our Lord, Judea - for nearly a century - had lain under the mastery of Rome. In the seventh year of the reign of Augustus Caesar, an imperial decree ordered every Judean each to return to his place of birth to be counted and taxed. The converging ways of many of them led to the gates of their capital city...
more
Movie Connections:
Spoofed in Silent Movie (1976) more

FAQ

A NOTE REGARDING SPOILERS
more
70 out of 105 people found the following comment useful:-
Still good after 40+ years, but made for a different audience., 4 September 2001
9/10
Author: LBytes from Atwater, CA

Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ, was hugely popular as a novel, a play and two movies. It was written in a less vulgar time about a very spiritual event. Seen today by moviegoers addicted to constant action and low frequency effects, it will seem ponderous, slow and pretentious. Well, it is a little. You have to pay attention to the dialogue or you won't get it at all. Some of the intimate scenes aren't all that great. Anyone that really pays attention can tell the sea battle is done with miniatures. It's still worth watching. As everyone ought to know by now, the chariot race is one-of-a-kind; nothing else comes close to that real live race where the main actors actually raced most of the time. I just watched this movie after lapse of about 10 years. I still enjoyed it. The sea battle is still fun even if you know the boats are about as big as a man. The few moments which have Christ on the screen are still moving. Just about all of the acting is good with only a few forgettable moments. Just be ready to spend about 4 hours in front of the screen listening to occasionally flowery dialog.

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