After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
- Won 11 Oscars
- 29 wins & 13 nominations total
Armando Annuale
- Witness at the Birth of Jesus
- (uncredited)
Artemio Antonini
- Galley Guard
- (uncredited)
Nello Appodia
- Oarsman
- (uncredited)
Fortunato Arena
- Soldier
- (uncredited)
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
See the complete list of Best Picture winners. For fun, use the "sort order" function to rank by IMDb rating and other criteria.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe chariot race required 15,000 extras on a set constructed on 18 acres of backlot at Cinecitta Studios outside Rome. Tour buses visited the set every hour. Eighteen chariots were built, with half being used for practice. The race took five weeks to film.
- Goofs(at around 2h 35 mins) During the chariot race just before Ben-Hur's chariot jumps the wrecked chariot, stunt driver Joe Canutt can be seen dropping the reins and grabbing hold of the side of the his chariot (his father, stunt coordinator-2nd unit director Yakima Canutt, had instructed him to grip the underside of the chariot's railing. Joe ignored him, or forgot, and grasped the railing from the top, and was vaulted over the top of the chariot, which could have been fatal had his quick reflexes and strength not allowed him to haul himself back over the vehicle's yoke before he fell between the horses and chariot).
- Crazy creditsThe Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion is shown in a still-frame to appear looking peaceful at the beginning rather than roaring.
- Alternate versionsThe first DVD release had an "Intermission" title card printed in a different font from the one used in the theatrical film and on the second, 4-disc DVD release.
- ConnectionsEdited into Catalogue of Ships (2008)
Featured review
the apotheosis of mainstream studio production in Hollywood's Golden Era
The newest iteration of BEN-HUR (2016) made by schlockmeister Timur Bekmambetov crashed and burned in the box-office front, which prompts my belated viewing of this grandiose historical epic under the supervision of William Wyler, the film won him a third Oscar for directing and swept with 11 wins out of its total 12 nominations (only Karl Tunberg lost BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY to Jack Clayton's ROOM AT THE TOP).
Adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel, BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE Christ, this Hollywood juggernaut opens with the birth of Jesus Christ, jand condones quite a chunk of time in padding out the Calvary crucification after the iconic chariot racing money shot (which partially explains its drawn-out length, running up to 212 minutes), vehemently gets its feet wet as a Christianity- moralizing tale by casting J.C. as the Messiah who literally saves our hero Judas Ben-Hur (Heston) from perishing during his trials and tribulations, and jumps the shark in its miraculous ending, gratifyingly throws humankind's fate under the omnipresence's whims, which gives a staid aftertaste.
The main plot is of course, about Judas, a wealthy Jewish prince in Jerusalem, AD 26, falls foul of his childhood friend, now a Roman tribune, Messala (Boyd), who swears allegiance to the Roman Empire, and fails to rope the freedom-advocating Judas into joining his side. Under Messala's cunning malfeasance out of a mere accident, Judas is sentenced to toil in the galleys whilst his mother Miriam (Scott) and sister Tirzah (O'Connell) are cooped up in prison. Revenge is the mainspring behind Judas' odyssey from a galley slave to an heir of the childless Roman Consul Quintus Arrius (Hawkins), it is hatred that keeps his head above water against adversity, alert to a golden window to enact his exit strategy and he even magnanimously hatches a son-father rapport with the tyrannical Arrius. This is the thorny knot in the otherwise rather Manichaean racial feud depicted in the story, how far one can go to love your enemy? Which remains a quintessential challenge for those who endorse Christianity, and the film could have delved deeper into Judas' psyche on that issue, yet, Arrius wholly disappears from the narrative after the mid-stream, and he merely functions as a springboard to Judas' glorious homecoming with his rehabilitation, reunion and rediscovery. At the end of the day, justice belatedly prevails, but Judas still gets all shaken up in the aftermath, revenge might keep him alive but it is religion that gives him the ultimate peace.
For what it's worth, BEN-HUR's visual spectacle still holds water to an awe-inspiring amazement and thrill, it is a historic accomplishment not just because of its cutting-edge technicalities but also for the staggering manpower it strenuously deploys, the film itself is a panegyric of human's creativity, which is something no dissenter can take away.
Romans are played by a crop of top-notch British thespians, whilst Jews are mostly impersonated by Americans, although how come Hugh Griffith's ludicrously swarthy portrayal of the Arabic Sheik can walk off with that Oscar statute still eludes me, he is not even the top-pick among the supporting cast in the film, both Hawkins and Boyd can easily upstage him with their more engaging agent and emotive bravura, especially the latter, truly deserves at least an Oscar nomination which usurped by Griffith. That is not to say, Heston wins his Oscar all fair and square, but at least one can understand the logic, Heston has a dominating role whacked by an unimaginable baptism of fire, he is undeniably sympathetic and mostly affective with a very theatrical flair. An unsung heroine, is Israeli beauty Haya Harareet's divine presence as Esther, the daughter of Judah's former slave Simonides (Jaffe), and Judah's sweetheart, who livens up the scenes whenever poignancy comes into play, a classic godsend.
When all is said and done, BEN-HUR is the apotheosis of mainstream studio production in Hollywood's Golden Era, its phenomenal scale, its breathtaking grandeur and the imposingly plangent score by Miklós Rózsa can unnerve any redux project even tries to emulate its success, and furthermore, its "revenge is never the cure" message can earnestly transcend any religious persuasions and reach to a broader demography out of its faith-base home-turf.
Adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel, BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE Christ, this Hollywood juggernaut opens with the birth of Jesus Christ, jand condones quite a chunk of time in padding out the Calvary crucification after the iconic chariot racing money shot (which partially explains its drawn-out length, running up to 212 minutes), vehemently gets its feet wet as a Christianity- moralizing tale by casting J.C. as the Messiah who literally saves our hero Judas Ben-Hur (Heston) from perishing during his trials and tribulations, and jumps the shark in its miraculous ending, gratifyingly throws humankind's fate under the omnipresence's whims, which gives a staid aftertaste.
The main plot is of course, about Judas, a wealthy Jewish prince in Jerusalem, AD 26, falls foul of his childhood friend, now a Roman tribune, Messala (Boyd), who swears allegiance to the Roman Empire, and fails to rope the freedom-advocating Judas into joining his side. Under Messala's cunning malfeasance out of a mere accident, Judas is sentenced to toil in the galleys whilst his mother Miriam (Scott) and sister Tirzah (O'Connell) are cooped up in prison. Revenge is the mainspring behind Judas' odyssey from a galley slave to an heir of the childless Roman Consul Quintus Arrius (Hawkins), it is hatred that keeps his head above water against adversity, alert to a golden window to enact his exit strategy and he even magnanimously hatches a son-father rapport with the tyrannical Arrius. This is the thorny knot in the otherwise rather Manichaean racial feud depicted in the story, how far one can go to love your enemy? Which remains a quintessential challenge for those who endorse Christianity, and the film could have delved deeper into Judas' psyche on that issue, yet, Arrius wholly disappears from the narrative after the mid-stream, and he merely functions as a springboard to Judas' glorious homecoming with his rehabilitation, reunion and rediscovery. At the end of the day, justice belatedly prevails, but Judas still gets all shaken up in the aftermath, revenge might keep him alive but it is religion that gives him the ultimate peace.
For what it's worth, BEN-HUR's visual spectacle still holds water to an awe-inspiring amazement and thrill, it is a historic accomplishment not just because of its cutting-edge technicalities but also for the staggering manpower it strenuously deploys, the film itself is a panegyric of human's creativity, which is something no dissenter can take away.
Romans are played by a crop of top-notch British thespians, whilst Jews are mostly impersonated by Americans, although how come Hugh Griffith's ludicrously swarthy portrayal of the Arabic Sheik can walk off with that Oscar statute still eludes me, he is not even the top-pick among the supporting cast in the film, both Hawkins and Boyd can easily upstage him with their more engaging agent and emotive bravura, especially the latter, truly deserves at least an Oscar nomination which usurped by Griffith. That is not to say, Heston wins his Oscar all fair and square, but at least one can understand the logic, Heston has a dominating role whacked by an unimaginable baptism of fire, he is undeniably sympathetic and mostly affective with a very theatrical flair. An unsung heroine, is Israeli beauty Haya Harareet's divine presence as Esther, the daughter of Judah's former slave Simonides (Jaffe), and Judah's sweetheart, who livens up the scenes whenever poignancy comes into play, a classic godsend.
When all is said and done, BEN-HUR is the apotheosis of mainstream studio production in Hollywood's Golden Era, its phenomenal scale, its breathtaking grandeur and the imposingly plangent score by Miklós Rózsa can unnerve any redux project even tries to emulate its success, and furthermore, its "revenge is never the cure" message can earnestly transcend any religious persuasions and reach to a broader demography out of its faith-base home-turf.
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- lasttimeisaw
- Nov 30, 2016
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
- Filming locations
- Corner of Via di Salone and Via delle Case Rosse, Salone Caves, Rome, Lazio, Italy(Valley of the Lepers)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $74,432,704
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $241,792
- Apr 14, 2019
- Gross worldwide
- $74,437,981
- Runtime3 hours 32 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.75 : 1
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