OMG! An epic Adam actually likes...

Ben-Hur (1959)

Adam’s rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)

Director: William Wyler

Rated: none. 212 min.

No. 72 on AFI 100

No. 100 on AFI 100 reissue

No. 154 on IMDB Top 250

Starring: Charlton Heston,
Jack Hawkins

"Ben-Hur": No. 72 on AFI 100; No. 100 on AFI 100 (2008);
No. 154 on IMDB Top 250

I typically don’t have a lot of nice things to say about epic films. Mostly, I feel that they are a waste of money and the majority of the film’s notoriety comes from its big budget, the press and publicity surrounding the film’s release – especially in the old days before CGI animation because of the number of people it took to make the movie and then of course elaborate set designs and costumes.

Also, I dislike most epics because it seems like they are a dime a dozen. If Hollywood wasn’t busy pumping out low-budget, B-movie quality westerns and other movies that were forgotten by the wayside in the late 1940s and 1950s, then they were making epic films which survived and gained notoriety because by comparison, they were better.

Not so with this film, though.

I really like this movie. Sure, it has its prerequisite epic cheesiness. But Charlton Heston shows his acting chops in this movie. I prefer him in “Planet of the Apes,” but he plays badass Judah Ben-Hur and he’s super bad ass in this movie. He’s rich, but as a Hebrew he is sold into slavery. He doesn’t complain. In a “Gladiator” like move, he becomes a gladiator himself, rises up and makes his way back home to confront his boyhood friend and betrayer. And the action and some of the scenes in this film are simply amazing – even if they are kind of hokey (like the scene where he gives Jesus water while Jesus is carrying the cross; it was like, “Yeah, right… that happened.”). In a lot of ways, the film is very much like my other favorite epic from this period, “Spartacus.”

The chariot race of course is the scene stealer in this movie. Watching Ben-Hur and his boyhood friend turned nemesis Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) duke it out in a two-wheel cart being dragged by horses is what sets this epic apart from the rest.

Overall, it was a good story and Wyler got his main characters to deliver in the acting department. The sets, the costumes, everything was believable.