The Quintessential Epic

Rating: 10/10 (20 April 2001)

In the late 1950's MGM was in trouble financially. They desperately needed a hit that would put the studio back in the black and re-establish it as a major player. They decided to bet the ranch on Ben-Hur. They brought in William Wyler (`Wuthering Heights', `The Best Years of Our Lives', `Roman Holiday') to direct and gave him carte blanche to spend whatever it took to make the film successful. The result was the most expensive film made to that date at $50 Million (equivalent to $300 Million in today's dollars). Many of the sets took over a year to build.
It was lucky the film ever was finished at all. After six months in production, they still didn't have a cast and the script by Karl Tunberg was deemed unacceptable by Wyler. Wyler brought in Gore Vidal and Maxwell Anderson (`All Quiet on the Western Front', `Death Takes a Holiday', `Key Largo') to rewrite the screenplay and they frequently were doing desperate rewrites the night before shooting. Producer Sam Zimbalist died during production. The roman ships they built for the naval battle were top heavy and capsized, so they had to build a special tank where the ships were guided by wires and held upright. An expensive 65mm camera was destroyed in a collision with a chariot.
Numerous leading men were reported to have turned down the part of Ben-Hur, most notably Paul Newman, who said he didn't have the legs to appear in a tunic. Others who were considered were Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, and Kirk Douglas. Wyler couldn't find the right actor for the lead, so he turned to Charlton Heston, with whom he had done the film `The Big Country', the year before. Heston accepted the part and the rest is history.
Despite all its production problems, the film is brilliantly done and stands as an archetype of film epics. The sets and costumes are glorious, the direction superb and the acting compelling. The chariot race is an outstanding orchestration of set construction, stunt work and filming that is superlative even by today's standards. Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd did almost all their own chariot driving, using stuntmen for only the most dangerous stunts. This lent greater realism to the scenes, allowing more close-ups during the intense action.
Somehow, despite all the rewrites using three different writers, the story flowed smoothly to its final resolution. The bitter rivalry between Judah and Messala, boyhood friends turned enemies by Messala's ambition, is well conceived and creates a sense of purpose that makes the ultimate confrontation as powerful as it is inevitable.
The entire cast is terrific. Charlton Heston gives a career performance as Judah Ben-Hur. His combination of strength, courage, compassion and perseverance creates an attractive and heroic character that few in film history have been able to equal. Stephen Boyd is also fantastic as Messala, with a ruthless ambition and a cold heart that stamps out lifelong friendships for personal gain. Jack Hawkins and Hugh Griffith lead a wonderful supporting cast.
This film is one of the most honored epics ever made. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won 11 including Best Picture, Best Actor (Charlton Heston), Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith), Best Director (William Wyler), and Best Music. It is number 72 on AFI's top 100 of the century. The chariot race is one of the most exciting sequences ever filmed. I rated it a 10/10. They don't come much better than this.