There will never be another film like Ben-Hur. It featured a cast of 15,000 extras used to populate the Colosseum where the chariot race was held. The Colosseum itself was built from the ground up, along with the streets of old Jerusalem and Cesar's palace in Rome. A revolutionary high speed kitchen was developed on the back-lot just to keep all the extras fed. An entirely new camera, MGM Camera 65 was developed to capture the wide screen scope of the picture. It was five years in the planning and filming and the intense labor killed the famed producer Sam Zimbalist. He had a heart attack a week before final shooting. The movie was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won eleven, the most given to any film and a feat not repeated until Titanic in 1997 and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2003.
Along with the chariot race the movie contained an epic sea battle between the Romans and a fleet of Macedonian pirates. the gripping scenes of the galley slaves rowing for their lives are still memorable to this day. Ben-Hur featured and all star cast including Charlton Heston in his best role. along with Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arius, there was Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith and Sam Jaffe.
But along with the epic scenes, it is the quiet moments you remember. A despairing Judah Ben-Hur praying to God and a gentle hand appears and gives him water. Jesus standing on the mount with the multitude before him, but his attention is captured by Judah, far off in the distance, walking away. The look on Judah's face when he looks into the yes of the man whose preaching he ignored and realizes he knows this man.
There is no need to recap the plot of the movie here. if you have never seen Ben-Hur you should make a point to see it. Is exciting entertainment, the likes of which will not be made again.
At the Movie House rating **** stars
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