| |
Ben-Hur (or Benhur) is a 1959 movie directed by William Wyler, and is the third film version of Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). It premiered at Loews Theater in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Plot
The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Ben-Hur (1959 film)' Start a new discussion about 'Ben-Hur (1959 film)' Answer questions from other users |
Quotations
Drusus, as a boy I dreamed of commanding this garrison. And now the wheel has turned. I am in command.
It's an insane world, but in it there's one sanity, the loyalty of old friends. Judah, we must believe in one another.
Life is everlasting. Death is nothing to fear if you have faith.
That was a great victory. You were the people's one true god for the time being. Permit us to worship.
There is rebellion in the wind. It will be crushed.
You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well and live.
Encyclopedia
Ben-Hur (or Benhur) is a 1959 movie directed by William Wyler, and is the third film version of Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). It premiered at Loews Theater in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Plot
The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Twenty-six years later, Judah Ben-Hur is a wealthy merchant of noble blood in Jerusalem. Preceding the arrival of a new governor, Ben-Hur's childhood friend Messala, a military Tribune, returns as the new commanding officer of the Roman garrison. At first Judah and Messala are happy to meet after years apart, but their differing political views separate them: Messala believes in the glory of Rome and worldly imperial power, while Ben-Hur is devoted to his faith and the Jewish people. Messala asks Ben-Hur to caution his countrymen about protests, uprisings, or criticism of the Roman government. Judah complies but refuses to disclose dissidents' names, and the two part in anger.
Judah's family welcomes two of their slaves who arrive with a caravan from Antioch: Simonides, their loyal steward, and Simonides's daughter Esther, who is preparing for an arranged marriage. Judah gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and the two realize they are attracted to each other.
During the welcoming parade for the new Roman governor, a tile falls from the roof of Ben-Hur's house and startles the governor's horse, which throws him off, nearly killing him. Although Messala knows that it was an accident, he condemns Judah to the galleys and imprisons Judah's mother Miriam and sister Tirzah, in an effort to intimidate the restive Jewish populace by punishing the family of a known friend. Ben-Hur swears to return and take revenge. En route to the sea, he is denied water when his slave gang arrives at Nazareth. He collapses in despair, but a then-unknown Jesus Christ gives him water and renews his will to survive.
After three years as a galley slave, Ben-Hur is assigned to the flagship of Consul Quintus Arrius, tasked by the Emperor to destroy a fleet of Macedonian pirates. The commander notices Ben-Hur's self-discipline and resolve, and offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer, but Ben-Hur declines, declaring that God will aid him.
When the pirates attack the Romans, Arrius's galley is sunk, but Ben-Hur saves Arrius's life. Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory, and in gratitude petitions Tiberius Caesar to drop all charges against Judah, eventually adopting Judah as his son. With regained freedom and wealth, Judah learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer.
Returning to Judea, Judah finds that Esther did not go through with her arranged marriage and is still in love with him. He demands that Messala free his mother and sister. When the soldiers enter the cell, they discover that Miriam and Tirzah have contracted leprosy, and turn them out of the city. Esther learns of their condition when she finds the two women after nightfall, and they beseech her to allow Ben-Hur to remember them as they were. Esther tells Judah that his mother and sister have died in prison.
The Arab sheik Ilderim owns four magnificent white Arabian horses and wishes to have them trained for chariot racing. Discovering that Judah was a winning charioteer in Rome, Ilderim introduces him to his "children" and requests that he drive his quadriga chariot in the upcoming race before the new governor, Pontius Pilate. Ben-Hur accepts upon learning that Messala, considered the finest charioteer in Judea, will also compete in the race. Judah wins the violent and grueling chariot race, and Messala is mortally wounded. Before dying, Messala bitterly tells Judah that he can find his mother and sister in the "Valley of the Lepers." Judah leaves in anguish to search for his family, and is devastated when he finds them in their diseased and disfigured condition.
The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and it is at this point that Jesus' presence is substantially increased. Esther witnesses the Sermon on the Mount and is moved by Christ's words. She tells Ben-Hur about it, but he remains bitter and will not be consoled. Learning that Tirzah is dying, they take her and Ben-Hur's mother to see Jesus, but they cannot get near him, as his trial has begun. Recognizing Jesus from his encounter with him as he was being taken to the galleys, Judah attempts to give him water during his march to Calvary, echoing Jesus' kindness to him, but is shoved away by the guards. Judah witnesses the Crucifixion. Immediately after Christ's death, Miriam and Tirzah are healed by a miracle (Christ's blood from the Crucifixion washes into the cave where the women are hiding and touches them), as are Judah's heart and soul. He returns to his home and tells Esther that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film, which began with the Magi visiting the infant Jesus, ends with the empty crosses of Calvary in the background and a shepherd and his flock (a prominent Christian symbol) in the foreground.
Cast
- Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur
- Stephen Boyd as Messala, Judah's boyhood companion
- Martha Scott as Miriam, Judah's mother
- Cathy O'Donnell as Tirzah, Judah's sister
- Haya Harareet as Esther, Judah's love interest
- Sam Jaffe as Simonides, Esther's father
- Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius, Judah's Roman patron
- Terence Longdon as Drusus, Messala's assistant
- Hugh Griffith as Sheik Ilderim
- Finlay Currie as Balthasar, the mage / Pre-credits narrator
- Frank Thring as Pontius Pilate
- Claude Heater (uncredited) as Jesus, whose presence is evident with his face concealed
- Marina Berti as Flavia
- Jose Greci as Mary, Jesus Mother
- Leurance Payne as Joseph, Jesus Father
- Richard Hale as Gasper, The 1st Wisemen / the mage
- Reginald Lal Singh as Melchior, The 3rd Wisemen / the mage
Music
- Shofar Calls (Star of Bethlehem Disappears) - man
- Love Theme - MGM Studio and Orchestra (no singing)
- Fertility Dance - Indians, MGM Studio and Orchestra
- Arrius' Party - MGM Studio and Orchestra
- Hallelujah (Finale) - MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
The film score was composed by Mikloz Rozsa.
Production
Financing
Ben-Hur was an extremely expensive production, requiring 300 sets scattered over 340 acres (1.4 km˛). The $15 million production was a gamble made by MGM to save itself from bankruptcy; the gamble paid off when it earned a total of $75 million.
Aspect ratio
The movie was filmed in a process known as "MGM Camera 65", 65mm negative stock from which was made 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. An anamorphic 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 use less than the full height of screens already installed.
(This respect for theatre-owners' budgets does not extend to home video consumers; the chariot-race scene is obviously letterboxed, and at the beginning and end of the scene, the home viewer can see the aspect ratio change dramatically, the black bars above and below the image area growing and shrinking. The effect is more noticeable on older TV sets with a 4:3 aspect ratio than on HDTV sets with a 16:9 ratio.)
Casting
Many other men were offered the role of Ben-Hur before Charlton Heston. Burt Lancaster claimed he turned down the role of 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, and consistent with Lew Wallace's stated preference, the face of Jesus is never shown. He was played by opera singer Claude Heater, who received no credit for his only film role.
Galley sequence
The original design for the boat Ben-Hur 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 that 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 were added to the ends.
During filming, director Wyler noticed that one of the extras was missing a hand. He had the man's stump covered in false blood, with a false 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.
The galley sequence includes the successive commands from Arrius, “Battle speed, Hortator... Attack speed... Ramming speed!” The word hortator is no longer in use, and is notably absent from most modern dictionaries. It was a Latin word that on a ship meant “chief of the rowers”, or “he who has command over the rowers”, and likely has roots in the Latin verb hortor (“to exhort, encourage”). The command "Ramming speed, Hortator!", which is widely remembered and parodied, never occurs.
The galley sequence is purely fictional, as the Roman navy, in contrast to its early modern counterparts, did not employ convicts as galley slaves.
Chariot race
The chariot race in Ben-Hur was directed by Andrew Marton, a Hollywood director who often acted as second unit director on other people's films. Even by current standards, it is considered to be one of the most spectacular action sequences ever filmed. Filmed at Cinecittŕ 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 (73,000 m2). 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 section in the middle of the circus, the spina, is a known feature of circi, although its size may be exaggerated to aid filmmaking. The golden dolphin lap counter was a feature of the Circus Maximus in Rome.
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 injuries, which later ends in death, in motion picture history up until then, and which 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. The movie's stunt director, Yakima Canutt, stated that no serious injuries or deaths occurred during filming.
Another urban legend states that a red Ferrari can be seen during the chariot race; the book Movie Mistakes claims this is a myth. (Heston, in the DVD commentary track, mentions a third urban legend that is not true: That he wore a wristwatch. He points out that he was wearing leather bracers right up to the elbow.)
However, one of the best-remembered moments in the race came from a near-fatal accident. When Ben-Hur's chariot jumps another chariot 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 planned, and stuntman Joe Canutt, son of stunt 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.
Differences between novel and film
There are several differences between the original novel and the film. The changes made serve to make the film's storyline more immediately dramatic.
- In the novel, Messala is seriously, but not fatally, injured in the chariot race. (In the movie, Messala falls victim to an accident that is caused by his own attempts to sabotage Ben-Hur, and he dies from the wounds sustained from the accident). Messala plots to have Ben-Hur murdered in revenge, but his plans go awry. It is revealed at the end of the novel that Iras (who is Messala's mistress and does not appear in the 1959 film) had murdered Messala in a fit of anger about five years after the chariot race.
- In the novel, Ben-Hur becomes a convert to Christianity before, rather than 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.
- In the novel, the character of Quintus Arrius was acquainted with Ben-Hur's father, but in the movie there was no such prior association between the Arrius and Ben-Hur families. In the novel, Arrius dies and passes his property and title on to Ben-Hur prior to Ben-Hur's return home.
- The novel ends about five years after the chariot race, with the Ben-Hur family living in Rome. Learning that Sheik Ilderim (who does not die in any of the film versions of the novel) had bequeathed him a large amount of money, and learning of the persecution of Christians in Rome, Ben-Hur helps establish the Catacomb of San Calixto so that the Christian community will have a place to worship freely. The movie however ends almost immediately after the Crucifixion of Christ and the healing of Ben-Hur's mother and sister.
Awards and honors
The film won an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards, a number matched only by Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003. It won:
Additionally, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film also won four Golden Globe Awards: 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 BAFTA Award for Best Film, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture and the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Motion Picture.
American Film Institute recognition
Ben-Hur also appeared in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time where it ranked at number 491.
DVD release
Ben-Hur has been released to DVD on three occasions. The first was on March 13, 2001 as a one-disc Widescreen Release, the second on September 13, 2005 as a four-disc set, and the third as part of the Warner Bros. Deluxe Series.
2001 release
(2-Disc release in some countries, a 2 sided disc in the U.S.)
Disc One & Two: The Movie + Extras
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Commentary by: Charlton Heston
- Documentary Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic
- Newly discovered screen tests of the final and near-final cast including Leslie Nielsen, Cesare Danova, and Haya Harareet
- Addition of the seldom-heard Overture and Entr'acte music
- On-the-set photo gallery featuring Wyler, producer Sam Zimbalist, cameraman Robert Surtees, and others
2005 release
(4-Disc)
Discs One & Two: The Movie
- Newly Remastered and Restored from Original 65mm Film Elements
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
- Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Scene Specific Comments from Charlton Heston
- Music-Only Track Showcasing Miklós Rózsa's Score
Disc Three: The 1925 Silent Version
- The Thames Television Restoration with Stereophonic Orchestral Score by Composer Carl Davis
Disc Four: About the Movies
- New Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema — Current filmmakers such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas reflect on the importance and influence of the film
- 1994 Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic Hosted by Christopher Plummer
- Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures — New audiovisual recreation of the film via stills, storyboards, sketches, music and dialogue
- Vintage Newsreels Gallery
- Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards Ceremony
- Trailer Gallery
Also Included in paperback form
- 36 page booklet about the production
External links
|
.gif)
