Ben-Hur

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source: Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur

A lot of people complained when Russell Crowe's "Gladiator" won best picture. Not that Gladiator was bad, mind you, but rather that its simple storyline and characters seemed too, well, proletarian, for Oscar. "Oscar", those people would say, "used to be for innovative, good movies." The example of Ben Hur should prove to such people that Oscar has always had tendencies towards being the NASCAR championship of film awards. Again, it's not a bad movie. However, it relies almost entirely on three tricks to convince the Harrah's Atlantic City Bus-riding set that this is high art. First, there was a giant budget to persuade that the film was somehow technically innovative. Throw enough money at anything and some innovation will occur, but Ben Hur was hardly groundbreaking in any significant way. Second, you need to have plenty of throw-away lines of pseudo-philosophy. Ben Hur simply crawls with them. Finally, to guarantee that the film would warrant being purchased in the Classy Velour-bound Boxed Set edition, it needs to have a religious element. Cameo by Jesus? Perfect! Who loves ya, baby? It's a fun film to watch because it's probably a part of the collective backgrounds of a lot of IMDb readers. And, truth be told, it is a better film than either Cleopatra or The Odyssey. However, it pales in comparison in virtually every way to Kubrick's Spartacus.

For a long while, I've described Ben-Hur as the biggest film that I had not yet seen. Now I have. This is one of those classics whose status has been fading with time, and it's no wonder once you've seen the film. Sure, there are a few scenes that are very memorable, and have become part of our common culture. Who can forget the scenes where Judah Ben-Hur is a slave in the galleys, rowing fiercely as the weaker slaves collapse around him? The music in this scene is what I find particularly memorable. And then there's the chariot race, which I think cements this film as one that is worth seeing more than any other. I also like how the story is constructed, as a side story to the life of Jesus. Christ pops up every once in a while. Early in the film, there is a memorable scene where Christ defies a Roman soldier and gives the parched Ben-Hur water. When the soldier tries to reprimand him, a quick look from Jesus silences him completely. Unfortunately, a whole hell of a lot of the film is very forgettable. Each scene seems to take 25% longer than it really needs to – not only are the scenes protracted far beyond their limitations, but the actors stumble slowly through their lines, as if each and every syllable was carrying the cross on its back. It gets old, and quick. The film has very little passion as it lumbers along. Most of the direction seems lackluster. Big, but mostly lacking heart. William Wyler directed one of the most emotionally touching films of all time, Mrs. Miniver, an utterly intimate affair that will stay with me forever. Ben-Hur often just sat there without trying to connect to the audience at all. The acting itself is generally weak. Charlton Heston's performance is certainly not among his best. I actually like him as an actor, but I don't think it's very good here. To be fair, his performance gets better as the film moves along. Ben-Hur's moral dilemma is intriguing, and as his desire for revenge and violence did ultimately touch me. Many of the other performances are just bad – the one that comes immediately to mind is Haya Harareet as Esther, the slave girl whom Ben-Hur loves and later marries. Martha Scott and Cathy O'Donnell, who play his mother and sister respectively, are too dull to really care too much what happens to them. And I'm disappointed in Sam Jaffe, whom I love as an actor in films such as The Scarlet Empress and Gunga Din. I didn't even recognize him, he has so little energy in this film. Hugh Griffith won an Oscar for playing a sheik, but his character is not memorable at all. The only actor who really hits a home run is Stephen Boyd as Messala, Ben-Hur's childhood friend, now his bitterest enemy. He really projects his inner turmoil. Overall, I say that I am glad that I saw this finally. It may have not worked very well, but I was generally entertained. Not moved at all, but it was nice to watch (and a lot more fun to criticize!). Only the chariot sequence and a couple of Messala's scenes did anything more than that for me. 6/10.

With his distinctive visual style and a taste for solemn material, William Wyler was meticulously individualistic director, triple winner of the Best Picture Oscar... As a devoted artist, he showed visual clarity and sensitive portrayal of character, dignifying melodrama, epic and Westerns... His "Ben-Hur" is a semi-biblical adventure set in the First Century AD, during the life of Christ... In "Ben-Hur," Heston reaches the peak of his career winning an Oscar for his outstanding performance of Judah Ben-Hur... Judah is a peaceful Jewish prince who stands the tyranny of Rome through the sadistic mind of Messala... Heston gives a spiritual performance of the title role... Judah is noble, aggressive, proud and warm... He is authentic, believing that his existence had a purpose, and that his God will free him to take revenge on his enemy... He is a man of terrific complexity and great courage and fortitude... From the land of Judea, to the galley of a Roman warship and to the Valley of the Lepers, Judah struggles for dignity and freedom... Judah's spirit is nearly broken until a hand reaches toward him with a ladle of water... Judah/Messala friendship is great, but their relationship, damaged for ideological differences, makes them become bitter enemies... Messala (Stephen Boyd) sees only a Roman world in the future... Judah believes in the future of his people... Tribune Messala had the same attributes, the same traits of Judah, but inverted upside down ideologically... Messala is an ambitious autocratic commander, and a despot ruler, who wants Judea a more obedient and disciplined province... Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) realizes much about Judah's character... After whipping his back, he told him: "You have the spirit to fight back but the good sense to control it. Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That's good. Hates keeps a man alive. It gives him strength." And that's why Judah can be called more a survival than a hero... Sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith), is the wealthy Arabian horse trainer, who needed a real man to race his strong and magnificent Arabian team... Haya Harareet is the Jewish maiden who tenderly falls in love with Judah... Sam Jaffe is Simonides, Judah's loyal friend and keeper of the Hur fortune... André Morell is Sextus, the pagan ruler whom Messala replaces... With dramatic musical score, breathtaking sets and costumes, huge masses of people, a vigorous sea battle between Roman fleet and Macedonian pirates, a memorable and spectacular chariots race, this inspiring film is an unforgettable solid motion picture, more religious than "The Ten Commandments."

We begin with the birth of Jesus. And then we leave Jesus behind as we spend three and a half hours following the story of Judah Ben-Hur. Subtitle notwithstanding this is not "A Tale of the Christ". Oh Jesus pops up now and again for a few brief moments. But this is a tale of Ben-Hur. So who is this Ben-Hur fellow? Well he's a man whose life's journey goes something along the lines of wealthy Jew in Jerusalem turned galley slave turned adopted son of Roman nobleman turned champion chariot racer. Well that certainly sounds like an exciting life. But the way the story is presented doesn't make for a particularly exciting movie. This movie is quite a slog. 212 long, long, long minutes. And the sad reality is it didn't have to be this way. The movie could have so easily been streamlined to great effect. So many scenes that go on so much longer than they have to. So much time utterly wasted. This movie could have clocked in at two and a half hours without losing anything important. Instead what we get is a potentially fascinating story which, in the way it is told, ends up being somewhat monotonous. There are good reasons nobody makes three-plus hour biblical epics anymore. This is a movie which has its moments but there is a lot of tedium along the way. The most famous sequence is of course the undeniably exciting chariot race. But even that scene serves as an example of the ways in which the movie goes wrong. The race itself is a little long but we can forgive that as by this point in the story we're looking for all the excitement we can get. But the wait for the race to actually start is interminable. The buildup as we wait for the chariots to get to the starting line goes on forever and a day. Just the most obvious example of a sequence which serves no purpose other than to bring the film's momentum to an abrupt halt. Honestly, was director William Wyler being paid by the minute? This movie screams out for an editor with the freedom to slice and dice this thing down to size. But alas that was not to be. I suppose one has to make allowances for the time in which a movie is made. Ben-Hur clearly is a film with a style which plays much better in 1959 than it does today. It's big and grand and epic. But in so many ways too big and grand and epic for its own good. It certainly looks spectacular, making it easy to see how awards for cinematography, costume design and set decoration were among the slew of Oscars which came this film's way. It's understandable that Charlton Heston would get an Oscar for his challenging task of carrying the film over it's endless running time. I'm still trying to figure out what Hugh Griffith did to get a supporting actor Oscar though. You can see how the pieces were there to make a potentially great film. And you can see why upon its initial release it was in fact lauded as a great film. But it's not 1959 anymore. Time has been less kind to this "great film" than others of its period. In the end the movie suffers because it refuses to end. On and on and on it goes. Brief moments of excitement, long stretches of boredom. Even after the great climax of the chariot race the movie just won't stop. We get a good old-fashioned leprosy storyline which is about as appealing and entertaining as you would imagine it to be. And finally, and I do mean finally, Jesus shows up again to bookend the proceedings. No prizes for guessing how the Jesus story turns out. As for the Ben-Hur story it's one which had the potential to entertain and inspire. But the story's impact is dulled by the way in which it was told. It's a self-important epic which is too darned epic.

Anyone want to know how to make a darned good EPIC remake? Then this is the film to see. William Wyler made an epic, a film that is exciting, violent, heartfelt film. Make no mistake, it is the story of two childhood friends, one gets drunk with power and the other who was a Jewish Prince gets thrown into a life of hardship though his boyhood 'friend'. But he has faith and keeps on going. The ultimate battle to beat all battles, to settle the score...is at the Chariot race and that is a sight to behold. Films like Ben-Hur will NEVER get greenlighted today and if it did, too much CGI and not enough of what Director Wyler and old Hollywood was good at. The actors, well, they are to die for. Excellent acting. And let me share with you my favorite part...(tee-hee) when Pilate holds up his hankerchief to start the chariot race, plays with the racers and audience - he's very smug ya know..then the WAY he finally drops it. Who couldn't tell how he'd eventually turn out, hmmmmmmm? There is nothing more I can add that others have said. This film is near and dear to me and for my vote -- is one of the top five films of all time. I never tire of watching this film, I find something new in it every time, its done that well. This is an epic remake, something else that Hollywood has trouble doing -- to remake a film on this scale that finds new audiences year after year, after year. Brilliant, wonderful, every bit of it. A must, must see. Just plain excellent!

We are by nature a cynical and critical group. With the attention span of a bumblebee, moreso the current generation than the earlier ones, because of exposure to mobile devices and other modern disposable non-repairable tech. It is probably for that reason that epics like this one have become forgotten over time. Even the late CH has become more a societal joke and less of an icon over time. Michael Moore made Heston's participation in the NRA a joke. (If Heston's concerns over where society is headed prove to be true, the final joke may be on Moore.) Back to the film. It is almost perfect. Then, as now. The script continually builds. Modern writers could learn from that. No matter what is presently on screen as you watch, the inevitability of the final climax beckons. The acting is perfect. The mixture of myth and drama is perfect. True the Roman dialog did not benefit from the verbal tricks that Stephen McKnight used in Spartacus (bending the script to match the flow of actual Roman) but it is more than enough to entertain and entrance. From the "accident" early in the film which starts the flow of events, to the chariot race WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN EQUALLED IN THE HISTORY OF FILM, to the reunion with lost family at the end, this is one of the most powerful and entertaining films of all time

What can you say about this film? It has everything, magnificent script, superb acting ,and the most famous chariot race in Hollywood history. Although the chariot race is the centrepiece of this spectacular ,it is by no means the only highlight.Ben Hur (Charlton Heston) is the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice on himself and family ,and his dramatic adventures in the desert, at sea and finally back in Rome are just brimming with highlights. At the same time his meetings with Christ just add to the Wonderful drama that enfolds in this movie.It has a magnificent musical score which just adds to the drama,and I suspect the climax of the film would only leave the stone hearted unmoved.It has other great stars who make this a must see film ,particularly Jack Hawkins,Hugh Griffith and Stephen Boyd. This is the sort of film Gladiator should have been but wasn't (what a waste). Still we'll always have Ben Hur to enjoy.