It doesn't get much more epic than this.

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2018)

A perennial Xmas favourite on TV during my childhood, spectacular biblical epic Ben-Hur opens with the birth of Jesus: manger, star, wise men, shepherds... the whole nine yards. Those TV programmers knew what they were doing.
The film then scoots to XXVI A.D.-Jesus is now a grown man doing God's work; meanwhile, Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (played by distinctly non-Jewish blue-eyed hunk Charlton Heston) is reunited with his Roman childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), who has just been appointed tribune of Judea. Messala, desperate to keep the Jews under control, asks Judah to help him quell any potential rebellion, but his friend refuses to betray his people. As a result, the pair part as enemies.
This animosity proves problematic for Judah when his sister accidentally knocks a roof tile onto the Roman governor as he arrives in town. Seizing an opportunity to make an example of the influential Hur family, Messala sends Judah's mother and sister to jail, and has Judah thrown into slavery as a rower on the Roman galleys. After several years of 'battle speed', 'attack speed', ramming speed' and 'warp speed', Judah earns his freedom by saving the life of a Roman consul during a sea battle. Returning home, Judah searches for his mother and sister, seeks revenge on Messala, and has a profound encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.
In the wrong hands, Ben-Hur could have been an epic bore, but director William Wyler proves himself more than worthy of the task, commanding great dramatic performances from his superb cast, and mounting some stunning action scenes, the highlight being the film's iconic chariot race, a breathtaking piece of cinema that still holds up as one of the most exciting sequences ever committed to film. Every last cent of the massive $15,900,000 budget is up there on the screen, with impressive sets, excellent production design and a cast of thousands. Miklós Rózsa's wonderful score complements the action perfectly, the deserved winner of one of the film's eleven Oscars.
Sadly, Ben-Hur no longer pops up on TV every Christmas, meaning that it's probably not found much of a new audience in recent years-a shame, because it really is worthy of any film fan's time-all three and a half hours of it!