rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1959
Directed by William Wyler; produced by Sam Zimbalist; screenplay by Karl Tunberg
Starring Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
Ben-Hur tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in Judea in the time the
Roman Empire Tiberius rules, the time that Pontius Pilate was ruler of
Judea, the time Jesus Christ was on earth. An old friend of Ben-Hur,
Messala, has become a Roman tribune and arrives in Judea. Ben-Hur doesn't
want to betray his people and Messala takes the first chance to arrest him,
his sister and his mother. He becomes a rower in the galleys, saves the life
of a Roman leader, Quintus Arrius, and gets the chance to come back to
Judea. All he wants is revenge on Messala. In the movie the famous race in
the circus is around that point.
It is an epic story, with beautiful settings and costumes. The battle at sea
and of course the race in the circus look great and are highlights in movie
history. Stephen Boyd as Messala is great, Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius
and Hugh Griffith as a sheik are good too. Charlton Heston and most of the
other actors and actresses have a strange way of over-acting. Heston has
done much better in his career so in him I was a little disappointed. He
overreacts the feelings he has in way it sometimes is a little laughable.
Overall the acting is not that good. Also the movie is too long. Some scenes
were not needed at all and other scenes could have been much shorter.
Fortunately there were a lot of good things too. The things I mentioned
earlier of course, but also the beautiful music, a well done cinematography
in color and a fine direction by William Wyler. Sometimes the movie is a
little dated but it is still a great classic.