The epic Heston classic, Judah Ben-Hur.

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2011)

While it is possible that I actually saw Ben Hur over the years, I don't believe I ever did. Perhaps some of the great chariot race scenes, but nothing else. So I watched it today, on DVD, a restored version with Dolby sound. At over 3 hours running time it takes a bit of patience. The DVD has a great picture, with realistic colors, neither mute nor vivid. It also includes the 6-minute musical interlude at the beginning plus a 4-minute one after intermission.
The DVD has a host of valuable extras, including a profile of the military man who wrote the source novel in the 1800s, plus excerpts from various stage versions and the 1925 silent film version. Also very interesting is Heston's selectable commentary on the film.
The story spans the 33 years from the birth of Christ to his crucifixion. Against this background is a fictional story of two men who had been best friends as boys, and who now as early 30s adults find themselves on opposite sides of the politics of Judea and surrounding areas.
Academy award winning Charlton Heston is famously Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy Jew who is dedicated to opposing the invasion by Rome. Stephen Boyd is his old friend Messala, who has returned to Judea as a Roman official. As they meet and greet again after years apart, it comes down to Messala telling Judah, "You are either with me, or against me." With that choice they part ways as enemies.
And that sets the stage for the rest of the story. In what is an accidental falling of loose roofing material, slightly injuring a Roman official on horseback, Massala uses this as a demonstration of his will, he sends Judah away to a life of slavery as a rower on a Roman war ship, and Judah's mother and sister to a life in prison. He knew they were not guilty but this would show the rest of the community how far he would go to enforce Roman rule and suppress any opposition.
The great chariot race is after the intermission, and is a full 9 minutes of running time. Perhaps even more impressive than the filming of the scene is the work that went into building a set of that scale.
History has shown that this is one of the great movies of all time, an enduring classic. Ironically, filming began without a good script and was literally written day-by-day for filming the next day.
SPOILERS: For anyone who has not seen it yet, read no further. Judah becomes a dedicated slave and in a battle ends up saving the life of the fleet commander, who takes him to Rome, legally adopts him, and makes him heir to his name and wealth. Meanwhile, although Judah thought they were dead, his mother and sister had contracted leprosy while in prison and were living in a valley of lepers. In the great chariot race, officiated by Pilot, Massala is using his whip on Judah, who gains the upper hand, Masala falls to the track, is trampled, and later dies. This is happening right before the time Pilate sentenced Christ to a death on the cross. Judah had encountered Christ 4 years earlier while being marched across the desert, and was given a drink of water. Now they go to the place where he passes, and later mother and sister are healed as Christ dies, witnessed by a great wind and rain. Judah becomes an early convert from Judaism to Christianity, although that is treated in a very subtle manner in the movie.