Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: Ben-Hur 1959
Every Tuesday will have a review, like the one you see below, of a past film that I've either never seen or haven't seen in a really long time. Beware of spoilers!
For more of Yesterday's Movies, CLICK HERE.
I'm going to change up the format of these quick reviews for this feature. As you're well aware, I usually format it as I would for a normal review of something current, but considering that this is meant to be my quick thoughts, it doesn't pay to review it normally. Besides, most of the things I'm going to give my quick thoughts on is from a film that I like, so having the "Likes" and "Dislike" sections makes no sense.
Next on the classic list is this, Ben-Hur - a 1959 epic starring Charlton Heston. Yes, it's very true - this is the first time I've seen this classic but that's the point of doing this each week, to see and talk about the classics. During most of my adult life, especially now while working on NFD, I've heard about Ben-Hur as it's said to be one of the film industry's best films. What makes it so great? Is it Charlton Heston or is that a movie given? I'd say it's just a given because who can deny the greatness that is Heston. As a young kid, like most people, the first dose of Charlton Heston I had was the yearly viewings of The Ten Commandments on or around Easter time. To simply say, it's amazing. Here, however, in an earlier film Charlton Heston dazzles audiences with his master piece epic with "A Tale of the Christ".
Being the third adaptation, at the time, of the Lew Wallace novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" the film follows Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy man in Jerusalem. After his childhood friend Messala returns to Jerusalem as the Roman military Tribune, political differences cause both friends to become enemies and Messala imprisons Judah's mother, sister, and sends Judah to the "galleys", an ancient ship powered by slaves. After spending three years of being a slave, the ship Judah was serving on was assigned a new commander, Consul Quintus Arrius. Arrius took interest in Judah and after Judah saved his life, Judah was finally able to begin his road back to his family, to save them. The entire time, however, Judah's life was was powered and blessed by the touch of a certain carpenter.
Directed by William Wyler, Ben-Hur stars Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur with Stephen Boyd as Messala, Martha Scott as Judah's mother Miriam, Cathy O'Donnel as his sister Tirzah, Haya Harareet as Esther, Sam Jaffe as Simonides, Jack Hawkings as Arrius, Hugh Griffith as Sheik IIderim, Finlay Currie as Balthasar, and Frank Thring as Pontius Pilate. Also starring is Jose Greci as Mary, Leurance Payne as Joseph and Claude Heater as Jesus Christ.
Instead of doing the normal likes and dislikes of a review, it'll be easier just to talk about it in one or two paragraphs because really, what's not to like about Ben-Hur? For starters, this is Charlton Heston - his name means you have to love him no matter what he does! It goes without saying that Ben-Hur is a fantastic story, a story that really gives you the feeling of the word epic. While we watch Ben-Hur on his journey, we see passings of Jesus - the thing I love about that is we never see his face and we don't need too. It's true, when we see him we'll know him. Among other things, Ben-Hur's design is fantastic - set design, costuming, etc..., specifically, however, the set designs for Rome, the chariot race, and the ships during the sea battle. Speaking of the sea battle, although it looks a bit cheesy by today's standards, it is one amazing scene for sure, but the best action sequence in the film is of course the chariot race. The race itself is amazing in so many different ways. In short, I've never seen anything like it and the only thing that comes close to that was in Gladiator, however, that doesn't match up to Ben-Hur. Watching chariots run over people, breaking bodies is insane.
Sure, there is one or two things that I wish there was more of, for example; I would have like to have seen more chariot races, especially with the build that Judah was this great racer but we only saw one. Besides that, however, I found it a little distracting knowing that Heston is also Moses but that's my own problem and it really has nothing to do with the film.
In short, Ben-Hur is a fantastic movie with so many reasons why one should enjoy it. This is a must see for people who love movies and I'm thrilled I finally saw it.
-Phil
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