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Ben-Hur Overview:

Ben-Hur (1959) was a Action - Adventure Film directed by William Wyler and produced by William Wyler, Sam Zimbalist, Sol C. Siegel and Joseph Vogel.

The film was based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ written by Lew Wallace published in 1880.

SYNOPSIS

One of the cinema's greatest epics because it's based on a compelling human story of revenge, bitterness, redemption, and forgiveness. Heston is magnificent as the Prince of Judea, Ben-Hur, who confronts the conquering Romans. His actions send him and his family into slavery - and an inspirational encounter with Jesus. The story moves from Judea to imperial Rome and back to Judea, where Heston finally meets his rival Messala in a justly famous chariot race and rescues his suffering family - after once again encountering Jesus, this time on his way to Golgotha. This was a production of unheard-of scale, exhibiting the work of literally tens of thousands of people. The 1880 novel by Lew Wallace had previously been made to great acclaim in 1927 with Ramon Navarro.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Ben-Hur was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2004.

Academy Awards 1959 --- Ceremony Number 32 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorCharlton HestonWon
Best Supporting ActorHugh GriffithWon
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: William A. Horning, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Hugh HuntWon
Best CinematographyRobert L. SurteesWon
Best Costume DesignElizabeth HaffendenWon
Best DirectorWilliam WylerWon
Best Film EditingRalph E. Winters, John D. DunningWon
Best Music - ScoringMiklos RozsaWon
Best PictureSam Zimbalist, ProducerWon
Best WritingKarl TunbergNominated
See More Oscar Winners

Ben-Hur BlogHub Articles:

The Return Of The Epic? – Ben-Hur (2016)

By Michael on Aug 14, 2016 From Durnmoose Movie Musings

So a “featurette” focusing largely on the chariot race has been released to promote the upcoming Ben-Hur movie. I’ll admit I’m looking forward to this, largely because I’m curious how Hollywood is going to handle this kind of epic historical film today. Of course, a bi... Read full article

Ben-Hur (1959)

By Michael on Dec 13, 2013 From Le Mot du Cinephiliaque

Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959) Still holding the record for the most wins at the Academy Awards with 11, tied with Titanic and The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King, Ben-Hur directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston as its title role, defines the genre of biblical epic film. ... Read full article

BEN-HUR (1925)

By Dan Day Jr. on Aug 9, 2013 From The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog

Because of all the movies that I've seen in my life, it's a very rare thing these days for me to watch a famous film for the very first time. But that's what happened last night when the Turner Classic Movies channel showed the 1925 version of BEN-HUR. The print TCM showed looked spectacular and fea... Read full article

BEN-HUR (1925)

By Dan Day Jr. on Aug 9, 2013 From The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog

Because of all the movies that I've seen in my life, it's a very rare thing these days for me to watch a famous film for the very first time. But that's what happened last night when the Turner Classic Movies channel showed the 1925 version of BEN-HUR. The print TCM showed looked spectacular and fea... Read full article

Triple Ben-Hur Extravaganza!

By Raquel Stecher on Jul 21, 2013 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

Up until recently I had never seen any film version of Ben-Hur. Last Sunday I watched three in one day! Am I crazy? Maybe a little. But I thrive on challenges especially fun ones like this. It all started with the screening of Ben-Hur (1925) at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA. I went with... Read full article

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Ben-Hur Quotes:

[on Arrius' orders, Judah is left unlocked for the upcoming battle; Judah touches his unchained ankle, bewildered]
Rower No. 42: Forty-one, why did he do that?
Judah Ben-Hur: I don't know.
[remembering Nazareth]
Judah Ben-Hur: Once before, a man helped me. I didn't know why then.
Quintus Arrius: [a galley's 200 rowers are gradually told to increase their pace] Battle speed!... Attack speed!... Ramming speed!
Messala: [greedily] Drusus, as a boy I dreamed of commanding this garrison. And now the wheel has turned. I am in command.
Quintus Arrius: Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.
Judah Ben-Hur: [dipping a hand in a stream] When the Romans were marching me to the galleys, thirst had almost killed me. A man gave me water to drink, and I went on living. I should have done better if I'd poured it into the sand!
Balthasar: No.
Judah Ben-Hur: I'm thirsty still.
See More Quotes from Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur Facts
For some sequences in the chariot race, some of the chariots had three horses instead of four. This enabled the camera car to move in closer.
When it came time to film inside the boat, it was discovered that the large 65mm cameras wouldn't fit. The boat had to be taken out of the pond, cut in half lengthwise, and placed in an Italian sound stage. The oars wouldn't fit in the sound stage, so they had to cut them off just beyond the hull. This resulted in an extremely light oars which, when rowed by the actors, didn't look believable, since you could move them with one hand. To solve the problem, Mauro Zambuto sent an army of production assistants to all of the hardware stores in Rome to buy the kind of spring-and-hydraulic piston mechanisms that are normally attached to doors to force them closed but to keep them from slamming. Placing these devices on the oars and the hull gave enough resistance to make the rowing scenes look realistic.
The 10 square block set that represents Jerusalem is an historically accurate one.
Producer Sam Zimbalist originally intended for the chariot race to be shot in Cinerama. This proved to be too expensive and unwieldy an idea.
Wednesday, November 18, 1959, was exactly the same month, date and year that actor, Arthur Q. Bryan died and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer originally released Ben-Hur.
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