Ben-Hur

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Synopsis

The winner of 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, Ben-Hur stands as one of the greatest Hollywood epics ever filmed.

Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) lives a religious life and peacefully opposes the tyrannical occupation of Judea by Rome. When a boyhood friend, Messala (Stephen Boyd), fabricates a charge of treason against Ben-Hur, his sister and mother, all are arrested by Roman soldiers.

Judah is condemned to spend the rest of his life enslaved on a Roman warship. However, his fate takes a fortuitous turn when he saves the life of the fleet commander, Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins). Freed from slavery, Judah sets his sights on finding his family and exacting his revenge on the treacherous Messala, which Judah eventually does in the famous chariot race.

Movie info:

Release:

1959

Running Time:

207 min

Certificate:

General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children

Availability:

Watch online: Unavailable
Download: Unavailable

Genre:

Drama

Cast:

Director:

William Wyler

Reviews & comments (3)

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Elena Vinterberg
overrated oscar winner
06 December 2008
Classic Action adventure film which won 11 Oscars. Charlton Heston plays the famous character of Ben-Hur, a Jewish Prince who seeks revenge after he is wrongly accused of attempting to kill a Roman Governer. Ben Hur certainly looks impressive, even by today's standards, and the action sequences are incredible. The Chariot race really is thrilling and it proves that sometimes special effects aren't everything. It's just a shame that the rest of the film is as dull as it is – Ben Hur seems to drag on for what feels like an eternity and plods on at its own slow pace for most of the film. Charlton Heston's performance is overated too, and it seems that the hype surrounding the film has masked the reality of what is an extremely long-winded film.
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Richard Noel Hedditch
The dialog is completely interlocking and thus e…
22 October 2008
The dialog is completely interlocking and thus essential.For example,the dread expressed by Sextus to Massala about the difficulties of administration in "Judea" ties in with the dread expressed,also verbally,by Pontius Pilate to Quintas Arias on the same thing.And Sheik Ildrin's "Star of David" presention to Ben-Hur[for the chariot race]tallies with the earlier scene of the Romans deriding both Arabs and Jews as 4 of them to one Roman.
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Richard Noel Hedditch
Long-winded? The dialog is,in its entirety, esse…
22 October 2008
Long-winded? The dialog is,in its entirety, essential to Ben-Hur being understood and perceived as a tale of the Christ. I'd have made a few minor changes. I'd have Ben-Hur returning the ring of Quintas Arias to Pontius Pilate immediately after Pilate's statement that there is no such thing as "perfect freedom" and immediately before Pilate's statesmanesque warning that he will become the draconian "hand of Caeser" when he goes up the steps. In any case all the dialog is essential and interlocks
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