Ben-Hur (1959 film)

Ben-Hur
Film poster
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	Sam Zimbalist William Wyler
Written by	Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal (uncredited), Christopher Fry (uncredited)
Starring	Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	November 18 1959
Running time	212 min.
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000
IMDb profile

Ben-Hur is a 1959 film directed by William Wyler, and is the most popular live-action film version of Lew Wallace's novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). It stars Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur and Stephen Boyd as Messala. It premiered at Loews Theater in New York City on November 18, 1959. It went on to win eleven Academy Awards, including best picture for 1959, a feat equaled only by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003).

Plot

Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 1st century. Preceding the arrival of a new governor, Judah Ben-Hur's childhood friend Messala arrives as military commanding officer of the Roman legions. At first Judah and Messala are happy to meet after years apart, but their different political views separate them; Messala believes in the glory of Rome and worldly power, while Judah is devoted to his faith and Jewish nationalism. During the welcome parade for the governor, a roofing tile falls down from Judah's house and startles the governor's horse, nearly killing him. Although Messala knows that it was an accident, in order to intimidate the restive Jewish populace by punishing a powerful local family he sends Judah to the galleys and throws his mother and sister into prison. Judah swears to come back and take revenge. En route to the sea, Judah is denied water when his slave gang arrives at Nazareth. He collapses, having lost the will to live, when an as-yet unknown Jesus Christ^[1] gives him water and a motivation to survive.

After three years as a galley slave^[2], the ship to which Judah is assigned becomes the flagship of Quintus Arrius, sent by the Emperor to destroy a fleet of Macedonian pirates. Judah's new commander notices his resolve and will to survive, although he declines the offer to transfer to Arrius' gladiatorial team, declaring that God will aid him. The Roman armada is attacked by the pirates and Judah's galley is sunk, but Judah manages to save the life of Arrius, who subsequently adopts Judah as his son. Thus regaining his freedom and wealth, and having learned Roman ways (including becoming an expert charioteer), he eventually returns to Judea. There he borrows horses from the Arab sheik Ilderin and defeats Messala in a chariot race before the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. Messala, who attempts to cheat his way to victory, is mortally wounded in the race, but tells Judah where he can find his mother and sister: In the "valley of the lepers," as they had contracted leprosy while in prison. Although he has accomplished his goal of revenge on Messala, Judah's soul remains tormented.

Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and Messala (Stephen Boyd).

The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ." While the film mostly centers on Judah and his relationship with Messala, Jesus appears in the film several times at key points, including the aforementioned incident when he gives water to Judah at Nazareth. Judah attempts to return the favor during Jesus' march to Calvary but is shoved away by the guards. Judah witnesses the crucifixion. Judah's mother and sister are healed by a miracle, as is Judah's heart and soul. He tells his family that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film begins with the Magi visiting the infant Jesus, and ends with the empty crosses of Calvary in the background and a shepherd and his flock (a prominent Judeo-Christian symbol) in the foreground.

Plot notes

1. ^ Out of respect, Jesus is never seen from the front during the entire film. Jesus was played by an old friend of director Wyler, Claude Heater. He was left uncredited for what was his only film role.
2. ^ This is an anachronism. In reality, galley slaves did not exist until the 16th century. The Roman navy was, from the outset, comprised completely of volunteers. All seamen, be they rowers/sailors or marines joined up of their own volition and received regular pay and leave. Manning the oars was a task that required considerable skill and discipline, not likely to be found in pressed slaves.

Cast

Production

Finance

Ben-Hur was an extremely expensive production, requiring 300 sets scattered over 340 acres (1.4 km²). Its production was a gamble made by MGM to save itself from bankruptcy at $15 million; the gamble paid off when it earned a whopping total (in its time) of $75 million.

Aspect ratio

The movie was filmed in a process known as "MGM Camera 65", 65mm negative stock from which was made a 70 mm anamorphic print with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, considered to be one of the widest prints ever made, having a width of almost three times its height. This allowed for spectacular panoramic shots in addition to six-channel audio. As a matter of practice the ratio of "Camera 65" prints were shown in an aspect ratio of 2.5:1 on most screens. This was so that theaters were not required to install new wider screens or curtail the height of screens already installed.

The chariot race scene, illustrating the extremely wide aspect ratio used for Ben-Hur.

The chariot race

Even by current standards, the chariot race in Ben-Hur is considered to be one of the most spectacular action sequences ever filmed. Filmed long before the advent of computer-generated effects, it took over three months to complete, using 8000 extras on the largest film set ever built, some 18 acres (73,000 m²). The action captured by cinematographer Robert Surtees and the MGM Camera 65 process made the chariot race a touchstone of modern cinema.

Charlton Heston spent four weeks learning how to drive a chariot, where Stephen Boyd had to learn in just two weeks, due to late casting.

To give the scene more impact and realism, three lifelike dummies were placed at key points in the race to give the appearance of men being run over by the chariots. Most notable is the stand-in dummy for Stephen Boyd's Messala that gets tangled up under the horses for about 45 seconds getting battered by the hoofs of the horses. This resulted in one of the most grisly death scenes in motion pictures at this time and shocked audiences.

There are several urban legends surrounding the chariot sequence, one of which states that a stuntman died during filming. Stuntman Nosher Powell claims in his autobiography Nosher!: "We had a stunt man killed in the third week, and it happened right in front of me. You saw it, too, because the cameras kept turning and it's in the movie" (p 254). Yet, there is no conclusive evidence to back up Mr. Powell's claim, and it has been adamantly denied by director William Wyler, who states that neither human nor horse was injured in the famous scene.Another famous urban legend surronding the chariot race is that a car can be seen during the race.However the book Movie Mistakes claims this to be untrue.

However, one of the best-remembered moments in the race came from a near-fatal accident. When Judah's chariot jumps another which has crashed in its path, the charioteer is seen to be almost thrown from his mount and only just manages to hang on and climb back in to continue the race. In reality, while the jump was planned, the character being flipped into the air was not, and stuntman Joe Canutt, son of second unit director Yakima Canutt, was considered fortunate to escape with only a minor chin injury. Nonetheless, when director Wyler intercut the long shot of Canutt's leap with a close-up of Heston clambering back into his chariot, a memorable scene resulted.

Possible homosexual subtext

In interviews for the 1986 book Celluloid Closet, and later the 1995 documentary of the same name, screenwriter Gore Vidal asserts that he persuaded director Wyler to allow a carefully veiled homoerotic subtext between Messala and Ben-Hur. Vidal says his aim was to explain Messala’s extreme reaction to Judah Ben-Hur’s refusal to name fellow Jews. Surely, Vidal argued, Messala should have been able to understand that Judah, his close friend since childhood, would not be willing to name the names of his fellow Jews to a Roman officer. Vidal suggested a motivation to Wyler: Messala and Judah had been homosexual lovers while growing up, and then separated for a few years while Messala was in Rome. When Messala returns to Judea, he wants to renew the relationship with Judah, but Judah is no longer interested. It is the anger of a scorned lover which motivates Messala’s vindictiveness toward Judah. Since the Hollywood production code would not permit this to appear on screen explicitly, it would have to be implied by the actors. Knowing Heston’s hostility toward homosexuality, Vidal suggested to Wyler that he direct Stephen Boyd to play the role that way, but not tell Heston. Vidal claims that Wyler took his advice, and that the results can be seen in the film.

When asked about Vidal's story, Charlton Heston insisted that Vidal was lying and had little to do with the final film.^{[citation needed]} In response, Vidal then published extracts from Heston's 1978 journal The Actor's Life, which proved that he had indeed made a significant contribution to the screenplay.^{[citation needed]}

DVD release

Ben-Hur has been released to DVD on two occasions. The first was on March 13 2001 as a two-disc set, and the second on September 13 2005 as a four-disc set.

2001 release (2 Disc release in some countries, a 2 sided disc in the U.S.)

Disc One & Two: The Movie + Extras

• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Commentary by: Charlton Heston
• Documentary Ben Hur: The Making of an Epic
• Newly discovered screen tests of the final and near-final cast including Leslie Nielsen, Cesare Danova, and Haya Harareet
• Addition of the seldom-heard Overture and Entr'acte music
• On-the-set photo gallery featuring Wyler, producer Sam Zimbalist, cameraman Robert Surtees, and others

2005 release (4 Disc)

Disc One & Two: The Movie

• Newly Remastered and Restored from Original 65mm Film Elements
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
• Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Scene Specific Comments from Charlton Heston
• Music-Only Track Showcasing Miklós Rózsa's Score
• Screen Tests
• Vintage Newsreels Gallery
• Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards Ceremony
• Theatrical Trailer Gallery

Disc Three: The 1925 Silent Version

• The Thames Television Restoration with Stereophonic Orchestral Score by Composer Carl Davis

Disc Four: About the Movies

• New Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema — Current filmmakers such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas reflect on the importance and influence of the film
• 1994 Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic Hosted by Christopher Plummer
• Directed by William Wyler — 1986 Emmy Award® -nominated documentary featuring the last interview with Wyler before his death
• Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures — New audiovisual recreation of the film via stills, storyboards, sketches, music and dialogue
• 36 page booklet

Ben-Hur DVD Covers
First Edition 2 Disc Set	Second Edition 4 Disc Set

Awards

Academy Awards

The film won an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards, a number matched only by Titanic in 1997 and The Return of the King in 2003.

• Won: Best Motion Picture — Sam Zimbalist, producer
• Won: Best Leading Actor — Charlton Heston
• Won: Best Supporting Actor — Hugh Griffith
• Won: Best Director — William Wyler
• Won: Best Set Decoration, Color — Edward C. Carfagno, William A. Horning, and Hugh Hunt
• Won: Best Cinematography, Color — Robert Surtees
• Won: Best Costume Design, Color — Elizabeth Haffenden
• Won: Best Special Effects — A. Arnold Gillespie (visual), Milo B. Lory (audible), and Robert MacDonald (visual)
• Won: Best Film Editing — John D. Dunning and Ralph E. Winters
• Won: Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture — Miklós Rózsa
• Won: Best Sound — Franklin Milton
• Nominated: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium — Karl Tunberg

Golden Globe Awards

• Won: Best Motion Picture, Drama - Sam Zimbalist, producer
• Won: Best Motion Picture Director - William Wyler
• Won: Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture - Stephen Boyd
• Won: Special Award to Andrew Marton for directing the chariot race sequence
• Nominated: Best Leading Actor, Drama - Charlton Heston

BAFTA Awards

• Won: Best Motion Picture - William Wyler, director

NYFCC Awards

• Won: Best Motion Picture - Sam Zimbalist, producer

DGA Awards

• Won: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Motion Picture - William Wyler

Grammy Awards

• Nominated: Best Soundtrack Album or Recording of Music Score from Motion Picture or Television - Miklós Rózsa

Later recognition

• In 1998 the film ranked #72 on the American Film Institute list of the Best American Movies of All Time, #56 at AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, and is currently ranked #120 on the IMDb Top 250 list.

• In 2001 the film ranked #49 on the American Film Institute list of the Most Thrilling American Movies.

• In 2004 the film was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry.

• In 2005 the music score of the film ranked #21 on the American Film Institute list of the Best Score of American Films.

Trivia

• The chariot race in Ben-Hur inspired George Lucas in his creation of the Podracing sequence in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, according to the audio commentary on that film's DVD release.

• The film was banned in China in 1960 for containing "propaganda of superstitious beliefs, namely Christianity."[1]

• In the Bethlehem manger scene early in the movie, a young Holstein Cow appears. This breed was created in Germany in the 19th century, so its appearance at Jesus' birth would have been impossible.

• When it was time for the Academy Awards ceremony, fellow actor Jimmy Stewart, also nominated as Best Actor for Anatomy of a Murder (1959) told Heston, "Chuck, I hope you win. I really do!" Heston has never forgotten that and it still chokes him up.^{[citation needed]}

• During the filming of the galley slave sequence, director Wyler noticed one of the extras was missing his hand. So, he had his stump covered in blood with a phony bone protruding out of it to make the scene more real. He did the same thing with another extra that was missing his foot.

• It took twelve years for the film to come to television. Its first TV showing took place on February 14, 1971. It was shown complete in one evening, with commercial interruptions, by CBS, who pre-empted their entire Sunday evening TV lineup so that it could be shown between 7:00 P.M. and 11:30 P.M., Eastern Standard Time.

See also

• Sword and sandal or Peplum

External links

• Ben-Hur at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben-Hur at Filmsite.org
• Getting It Right the Second Time — an comparative analysis of the novel, the 1925 film, and the 1959 film, at BrightLightsFilm.com

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