Ben-Hur (1959)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Lew Wallace (novel)
Karl Tunberg (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 December 1959 (Argentina)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A Tale of the Christ

Plot:

When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Roman | Jerusalem | Revenge | Prince

Awards:

Won 11 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Judah Ben-Hur
Jack Hawkins	...	Quintus Arrius
Haya Harareet	...	Esther
Stephen Boyd	...	Messala
Hugh Griffith	...	Sheik Ilderim
Martha Scott	...	Miriam
Cathy O'Donnell	...	Tirzah
Sam Jaffe	...	Simonides
Finlay Currie	...	Balthasar / Narrator
Frank Thring	...	Pontius Pilate
Terence Longdon	...	Drusus
George Relph	...	Tiberius Caesar
André Morell	...	Sextus

Also Known As:

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (USA) (alternative title)

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

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

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

When the production was over, MGM was afraid that small-time local Italian producers would use the leftover sets as backgrounds to their own low-budget epics, so they destroyed all of the sets.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Tire tracks from the camera truck are visible in the sand of the circus during the chariot race.

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...

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 10 Top 10: America's 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres (2008) (TV)

My all time favourite movie!

I have seen Ben-Hur (I also like the 1925 version very much) I don't know how many times now. I think I have stopped counting seven years ago. I never tire to see this movie and, needless to say, I know all the scenes and dialogue by heart. This picture has everything in it. Almost all human sentiments are represented in the story: joy, sorrow, despair, pride, jealousy, hope, revenge, anger, forgiveness, compassion, redemption, love, hate, friendship, humour, etc, etc. During the three and a half hours it takes for the story to unfold, we see passing by our very eyes just about every example of what constitutes the human condition. What I find even more remarkable in this movie is the fact that Christ is present throughout the entire story, but we don't really see him in the flesh (at the exception of a few scenes, where the Lord is, in fact, in the background) and yet, his spirit and message is ever present through the words and actions of the various characters. It's not for nothing that the complete title of this great story is "Ben-Hur, a Tale of the Christ". The movie is well-acted (especially Heston, Griffith, Hawkins and, let's not forget, the wonderful Finley Currie, playing Balthazar), the dialogue is always concise, yet never short of meaning and substance (the way dialogues in movies should be), the decor and settings are just magnificent and the Miklos Rozsa score is simply superb. Besides Quo Vadis (the 1951 version, which, incidentally, I have recommended to those who have also enjoyed Ben-Hur), I cannot think of a better movie about the early days of Christianity than this one. There are others, of course, (The Robe, just to name one), but none has the grandeur and the spectacular dimension of Ben-Hur. It's the movie I would want to watch one last time on my death bed. I gladly and proudly give Ben-Hur a score of 10 out of 10!