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| Epic proportions are teased on this magnificent poster for William Wyler's Ben-Hur |
Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince from Judea at the time of Christ, who gets deceived by his old friend, Messala (Stephen Boyd (The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964))), and is made a slave to the Roman galleys, while his mother and daughter are thrown in the slammer. But Ben-Hur has to go through much more in his life...
Ben-Hur is written by Maxwell Anderson (Death Takes a Holiday (1934)), S.N. Behrman (Two-Faced Woman (1941)), Christopher Fry (Sister Dora (1977, miniseries)), Karl Tunberg (Taras Bulba (1962)) and Gore Vidal (I Accuse! (1958)), adapting Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) by Lew Wallace (The Prince of India (1893)), and directed by German-born American master filmmaker William Wyler (Lazy Lightning (1926)), whose 40th feature it was. The novel was previously adapted as Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925).
The film is an exuberant retelling of the Christian messages; to love one's enemy, to stand fast and turn the other cheek and to take the punishment and the pain, and to forgive and be forgiven; and it is an excellent and deeply moving film unlike any other. - Additionally it is probably the great Charlton Heston's (Planet of the Apes (1968)) best role and the greatest epic film ever made. Heston is phenomenal as the man, SPOILER who finally after so many trials gets his vindictiveness turned and finds faith and sees a miracle happen for his loved ones.
The photography in Ben-Hur, - by the phenomenal Robert Surtees (The Last Picture Show (1971)), - is spectacular in all its full, vivid details and unparalleled grandeur. The film was the biggest in terms of sets and the most expensive film ever made at its time. It was so big that it was a make-or-break effort for its studio, MGM. Had it not triumphed, for instance, who knows if the world had met James Bond on the silver screen?
Especially two major scenes in Ben-Hur are always highlighted as truly unforgettable: The violent galley scene and the legendary, extraordinary chariot race scene, an eight-minute scene that took 5 weeks to shoot in the biggest set ever built, outside of Rome at Cinecittá Studio, a chariot stadium so grand that one damns the fact that it is not left for cinephiles to peruse to this day. The scene is so influential and amazing that it stands alone in cinema history and is surrounded by myths: Its number of extras going upwards of 15,000; the number of horses that died from the effort ranging from none, (and that the horses were treated with the utmost respect to boot, as you can read in the IMDb trivia page), to as many as 100, as is the number given in The Hollywood Reporter's new Animals Were Harmed-special. Whichever is the actual truth, the scene is made and should be treasured for all the wonders that it contain.
But there are many other fantastic, unforgettable scenes that are less mythologized: The beautiful opening with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; Ben-Hur's meeting with Jesus, who gives him water, when he is thirsting in chains, - a remarkable and moving scene, - and Ben-Hur's terrible discovery that his kin have become lepers.
A tragic fact, though, is that the film's producer Sam Zimbalist (Quo Vadis (1951)), perhaps understandably in light of the intense stress he must have been under every day for months, had a heart attack and died on set, two months before production ended, at age 57. His wife subsequently took home the Best Picture Oscar in his place.
Ben-Hur has an epic span of nearly 4 hours, which nevertheless doesn't detract from its impact, which is that of an unmissable masterpiece, a gift to humanity, - a truly great film.
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Top 10: Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Ben-Hur (1959) - Perhaps the greatest epic film of all time
The Big Country (1958) - A big western gift
The Desperate Hours (1955) - Wyler's top-drawer true-crime home-invasion thriller
Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adventure films reviewed by Film Excess to date
Roman Holiday (1953) - Wyler takes us to marvelous Rome on an unforgettable romantic adventure
The Heiress (1949) - De Havilland triumphs in sensational Wyler adaptation
Cost: 15.175 mil. $
Box office: 146.9 mil. $ (initial release only)
= Blockbuster (returned 9.79 times its cost)
[Ben-Hur premiered 18 November (New York) and runs 212 minutes, excluding overture, intermission and entr'acte. The film was developed as a direct attempt to save MGM with a religious epic that would rival Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), also starring Heston. The writing was a contested process with several chefs that ended in a WGA lawsuit over credit. Wyler was hired with a historic fee of 350k $ plus 3 % of the net profits, a deal that allegedly netted him 1.1 mil. $ over time. Heston was paid 250k $ for 30 weeks, plus traveling expenses paid for his family as well. Shooting took place from May 1958 - January 1959 in Italy, including in Rome, California and in Mexico. The budget ballooned from 7 mil. to 15.175 mil. $ due to the lavish, larger-than-life production solutions chosen: 70 mm lenses, 6 of them, at 100k $ each, shipped to Rome. 15k sketches. 1 mil. props. 200 camels. 2,500 horses. 300 sets. 10k extras. 40 miniature ships and two 175-foot seaworthy Roman galleys. The 18 acre chariot set, the biggest ever built, using, among other elements, 36k tons of sand from the Mediterranean, - the scene reportedly cost 1 mil. $ to produce. A 125k $ set dismantlement cost. More than 1.1 mil feet of costly film used for a film of ultimately 19k feet. A 100 piece orchestra score. 3k rioting poor Italians who were not hired as extras one day. Costumes, backdrops, friezes and wigs in colossal numbers. The film was backed up with a massive 14.7 mil. $ marketing campaign and merchandising to the hilts. It was #1 in North America for a reported 6 months, grossing 74.7 mil. $ (50.9 % of the total gross). It was the year's highest-grossing and at the time the 2nd highest-grossing of all time, only beaten by Gone with the Wind (1939). It saved MGM and reportedly accrued 20.4 mil. $ in profits in its original release and another 10.1 mil. $ on its 1969 re-release. It was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning an unprecedented 11, only losing Best Adapted Screenplay to Neil Paterson for Room at the Top. It won Best Actor (Heston), Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffiths (Luther (1974)), Art Direction/Set Decoration - Color, Cinematography - Color, Costume Design - Color, Director, Special Effects, Editing, Score - Drama/Comedy (Miklós Rózsa (The Jungle Book (1942))), Picture and Sound. It also won a BAFTA, 2 David di Donatello awards, 4/5 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a Grammy, won 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #183 on the site's Top 250, sitting between 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Blade Runner (1982). The novel has been adapted several times since. The film's 1971 TV premiere became one of the top-rated of all time with 85.82 mil. viewers. Wyler returned with The Children's Hour (1961). Heston returned in Alcoa Premiere (1961, TV-series) and theatrically in El Cid (1961); Jack Hawkins (Jane Eyre (1970, TV movie)) in The League of Gentlemen (1960). Ben-Hur is certified fresh at 85 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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