Ben-Hur (1959)

☆ ☆ ☆

Ben-Hur (1959) – W. Wyler

I thought I should finally watch this epic from director William Wyler just because of its record-winning Oscar haul (11 awards) – but I was always daunted by its 3 ½ hour running time.  Usually, I break these long films into two nights of viewing but not this time – and it was a bit of a hard slog.  I haven’t really gone in for these religious sword and sandals epics and I’ll probably continue to stay away (although Spartacus, 1960, was certainly watchable).  Charlton Heston (emoting wildly, as usual) plays Judah Ben-Hur who, during the time of Jesus, is a Jew who rebels against the Roman Empire.  Well, it’s not that simple.  He isn’t really the leader of the rebellion (that’s Jesus, who is only seen from behind if he makes it on camera at all) but he does have a privileged position due to his childhood friendship (or bromance) with Messala (Stephen Boyd), now one of the leaders of the occupying army in Judea.  Of course, Messala leans on him to turn in traitors but Ben-Hur refuses and is ultimately made a scapegoat and forced to be a slave rowing the Emperor’s galleons.  His mother and sister are thrown into jail.  Over the course of the next several hours, Ben-Hur experiences a reversal of fortune, due to serendipity and his own persistence/character.  This sets him up to return to Judea to challenge Messala; cue the famous chariot race, which is a classic piece of cinema (a spectacle within a grandly mounted and expensive film filled with extras), though not as exciting as I would have hoped.  Indeed, I have to conclude that it is possible that the film won all its Oscars (against the stiff competition of Anatomy of a Murder and Some Like It Hot!) mostly because of its religious theme.  Those may have been different times or perhaps epics just aren’t my thing.