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Ben-Hur (1959 film)

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                                 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) Flag of United States November 18, 1959 (premiere in
                   NYC)
                   Flag of United Kingdom December 16, 1959
    Running time   212 min.
      Language     English
       Budget      $15,000,000 (approx. $109,000,000 [2006])
                              IMDb profile

   Ben-Hur is a 1959 epic film directed by William Wyler, and is the most
   popular live-action 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 Theatre in New York City
   on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win eleven Academy Awards,
   including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic (1997) and The
   Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003).

Plot

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   Judah Ben-Hur is 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 imperial 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 and good
   friend, 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 gives him water and a motivation to survive.

   After three years as a galley slave, 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 attacks the pirates and his galley is sunk, but Judah
   manages to save the life of Arrius. They are soon rescued and Arrius
   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. Soon the Arab sheik Ilderin hires Ben-Hur
   to drive his chariot and Judah 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.

   The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and it is at this point
   that Jesus's presence is substantially increased. After Judah sees his
   mother and sister in the leper colony, Judah's love interest Esther
   witnesses the Sermon on the Mount. She tells Judah about it; they take
   his mother and sister to see Jesus, but they cannot get near him, as
   his trial has begun. Judah attempts to give Jesus water during his
   march to Calvary, echoing Jesus's kindness to him, but is shoved away
   by the guards. Judah witnesses the crucifixion. His mother and sister
   are healed by a miracle, as are his own heart and soul. He tells his
   family that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while on the cross,
   saying, "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.
   Spoilers end here.

Cast

        Actor                           Role
   Charlton Heston Judah Ben-Hur
   Jack Hawkins    Quintus Arrius
   Haya Harareet   Esther
   Stephen Boyd    Messala
   Hugh Griffith   Sheik Ilderim
   Martha Scott    Miriam
   Cathy O'Donnell Tirzah
   Sam Jaffe       Simonides
   Finlay Currie   Balthasar, and narrator of pre-credits sequence
   Terence Longdon Drusus, Messala's assistant
   Frank Thring    Pontius Pilate
   Claude Heater   Jesus (uncredited)

Production

Financing

   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 into a 70mm anamorphic print with an
   aspect ratio of 2.76:1, one of the widest prints ever made, having a
   width of almost three times its height. A special lens which produced a
   1.25X compression was used along with a 65mm negative (whose normal
   aspect ratio was 2.20:1) to produce this extremely wide aspect ratio.
   This allowed for spectacular panoramic shots in addition to six-channel
   audio. In practice, however, "Camera 65" prints were shown in an aspect
   ratio of 2.5:1 on most screens, so that theaters were not required to
   install new, wider screens or curtail the height of screens already
   installed.

Casting

   Many other men were offered the role of Ben-Hur before Charlton Heston.
   Burt Lancaster claimed he turned down the role of Judah Ben-Hur because
   he "didn't like the violent morals in the story". Paul Newman turned it
   down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic. Rock
   Hudson was also offered the role.

   Out of respect, the face of Jesus is never shown. He was played by an
   old friend of director Wyler, Claude Heater, who received no credit for
   his only film role.

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 at
   Cinecittà Studios outside Rome 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
   (73,000m²). Eighteen chariots were built, with half being used for
   practice. The race took five weeks to film. Tour buses visited the set
   every hour.

   The large "island" in the middle of the stadium is fictional. It was
   designed to aid filmmaking, since a backdrop of a stone wall is cheaper
   to film than a backdrop of thousands of extras. In a real stadium, such
   an island would prevent spectators from viewing the race properly.

   Charlton Heston spent four weeks learning how to drive a chariot. He
   was taught by the stunt crew, who offered to teach the entire cast, but
   Heston and Boyd were the only ones who took them up on the offer (Boyd
   had to learn in just two weeks, due to his late casting). At the
   beginning of the chariot race, Heston shook the reins and nothing
   happened; the horses remained motionless. Finally someone way up on top
   of the set yelled, "Giddy-up!" The horses then roared into action, and
   Heston was flung backward off the chariot.

   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 chariots. Most notable is the stand-in dummy for Stephen
   Boyd's Messala that gets tangled up under the horses, getting battered
   by their hooves. 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, "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". There is no
   conclusive evidence to back up Powell's claim and it has been adamantly
   denied by director William Wyler, who states that neither man nor horse
   was injured in the famous scene. Another urban legend states that a car
   can be seen during the chariot race; the book Movie Mistakes claims
   this is a myth.

   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.

The galley sequence

   The galley slave sequence is anachronistic: 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.

   The original design for the boat Judah is enslaved upon was so heavy
   that it couldn't float. The scene therefore had to be filmed in a
   studio, but another problem remained: the cameras didn't fit inside, so
   the boat was cut in half and made able to be wider or shorter on
   demand. The next problem was the oars were too long, so those were cut
   too; however, this made it look unrealistic because the oars were too
   easy to row, so weights had to be added.

   During filming, director Wyler noticed that one of the extras was
   missing a hand. He had the man's stump covered in blood, with a phony
   bone protruding from it, to add realism to the scene when the galley is
   rammed. Wyler made similar use of another extra who was missing a foot.

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 aversion to 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, however, Vidal is the only person ever to make this
   claim, and all others queried about it have denied that it was even
   considered, including William Wyler and Chartlon Heston, who, when
   asked about Vidal's story, insisted that Vidal had little to do with
   the final film..

Differences between novel and film

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   There are several differences between the original novel and the film.
   The changes made serve to make the film's storyline more immediately
   dramatic.
     * The most striking difference is that Ben-Hur does not actually kill
       Messala, although the latter is seriously injured in the chariot
       race. In revenge for this, Messala plots to have Ben-Hur murdered,
       but his plans go wrong. It is revealed at the end of the novel that
       Iras (who is Messala's mistress and does not appear in the 1959
       film) has murdered Messala in a fit of anger.

     * Another striking difference is that Ben-Hur becomes a convert to
       Christianity much sooner in the novel, not after the Crucifixion,
       and he does not display the harsh bitterness that he does in the
       William Wyler film. Similarly, the healing of Ben-Hur's mother and
       sister takes place earlier in the book, not immediately after the
       death of Christ.

Awards and recognition

   The film won an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards, a number matched only
   by Titanic in 1997 and The Return of the King in 2003. It won Best
   Motion Picture, Best Leading Actor for Charlton Heston, Best Supporting
   Actor for Hugh Griffith, Best Director, Best Set Decoration, Colour —
   Edward C. Carfagno, William A. Horning, and Hugh Hunt, Best
   Cinematography, Colour, Best Costume Design, Colour, Best Special
   Effects, Best Film Editing — John D. Dunning and Ralph E. Winters, Best
   Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Sound.

   The film also won the Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Motion Picture
   Director, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Stephen Boyd
   and a Special Award to Andrew Marton for directing the chariot race
   sequence. It won the Best Motion Picture, the Best Motion Picture and
   the DGA award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Motion Picture.

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

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.
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