An around top of the list epic, but...

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2019)

And take heed, as Pee-wee Herman pointed out, "Everyone I know has a big but." (Everybody in Hollywood knows that, if Pee-wee Herman says so, or Harvey Weinstein, Einstein or Frankenstein, it's got to be true!)
The 1959 movie Ben-Hur? It's an epic at near the top of the list, among those big budget, gargantuan efforts that were well pulled-off, like Gone with the Wind, or The Bridge on the River Kwai. Neither Ben-Hur or Gone with the Wind need another review: it's pretty common as dirt these movies are lauded as historic achievements, that about everybody knows about them. To rate either of those films lowly, or even lukewarm, would have to be somebody disappointed there were no slasher scenes or views of private parts of Hollywood A-list actors. Nobody needs this review. Alright then, nobody needs any of my reviews, but please keep that to yourself. Then again, you never know: you may need this one, as I'm going to rebel, starting now, encroach upon movie database territory. But, rest assured, it is for your own good and edification.
As great a movie as the 1959 Ben-Hur is, I'm here to tell you that it's chopped liver, yes, just so, compared to the novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by General Lew Wallace. In fact, the movie does not capture the Ben-Hur of the novel, more human, more conflicted, more flawed and vulnerable. The Ben-Hur of the novel is not quite Charlton Heston, that is, Moses moonlighting. The movie omits important plot elements, the story even altered, this surely to conserve run time, but the movie is not the story of the novel, in some important ways, lacking entire, major subplots. And while the ending of the movie is wonderful, would never fault it, it's not the ending of the novel, does not provide what happened next.
I believe, like most very rich, classic novels, one can't properly tell them, except by a mini-series of many hours, however long that must be. Nor would it be fair, practical, to expect that producers pour that sort of money into projects, or expect viewers to sit through, say, a dozen hours, at least in a theater. So, this is not to whine, but to simply tell you that you must read the novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, because, as great as the movie is, it's simply a trailer, to the book. The book is that good, and it is also a book that could change your life.