1. BEN HUR
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith and Haya Harareet. It won a record 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Adapted fromLew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, the screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg but includes contributions from Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry.
The motion picture was the most expensive ever made at the time, and
its sets were the largest yet built for a film. The film contains a
nine-minute chariot race which has become one of the most famous
sequences in cinema. The score composed by Miklós Rózsa was highly influential on cinema for more than 15 years, and is the longest ever
composed for a motion picture
Ben-Hur lives with his mother Miriam (Martha Scott), and sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell). Their loyal slave Simonides (Sam Jaffe)
is preparing for an arranged marriage for his daughter, Esther (Haya
Harareet). Ben-Hur gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and
the audience is shown that Ben-Hur and Esther are in love.
Plot
The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the nativity of Jesus.
In AD 26, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy prince and merchant in Jerusalem. Childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), now a tribune, arrives as the new commander of the Roman garrison. Messala believes in the glory ofRome and its imperial power while
Ben-Hur is devoted to his faith and the freedom of the Jewish people.
Messala asks Ben-Hur for names of Jews who criticize the Romans; Ben-Hur
counsels his countrymen against rebellion but refuses to name names.
Ben-Hur lives with his mother Miriam (Martha Scott), and sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell). Their loyal slave Simonides (Sam Jaffe)
is preparing for an arranged marriage for his daughter, Esther (Haya
Harareet). Ben-Hur gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and
the audience is shown that Ben-Hur and Esther are in love.
During the parade for new governor of Judea, Valerius Gratus,
a tile falls from the roof of Ben-Hur's house. Gratus is thrown from
his horse and nearly killed. Although Messala knows it was an accident,
he condemns Ben-Hur to thegalleys and
imprisons his mother and sister. By punishing a known friend and
prominent citizen, he hopes to intimidate the Jewish populace. Ben-Hur
swears to take revenge. Dying of thirst when his slave gang arrives atNazareth, Ben-Hur collapses. But a local carpenter (whom the audience realizes is Jesus) gives him water.
After three years as a galley slave, Ben-Hur is assigned to the flagship of Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), who has been charged with destroying a fleet of Macedonian pirates. The commander notices the slave's self-discipline and offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer, but Ben-Hur declines, declaring that God will aid him.
As Arrius prepares for battle, he orders the rowers chained but Ben-Hur
to be left free. Arrius' galley is rammed and sunk, but Ben-Hur unchains
other rowers, saves the Roman's life and, since Arrius believes the
battle ended in defeat, prevents him from committing suicide. Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory, petitions Emperor Tiberius (George Relph) to free Ben-Hur, and adopts him as his son. With regained freedom and wealth, Ben-Hur learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer, but longs for his family and homeland.
While returning to Judea, Ben-Hur meets Balthasar (Finlay Currie) and his host, Arab sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith). The sheik introduces Ben-Hur to his four whiteArabian horses and asks him to drive their quadriga in a race before the new Judean governor Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring).
Ben-Hur declines, but hears that champion charioteer Messala will
compete; as the sheik observes, "There is no law in the arena. Many are
killed."
Ben-Hur learns that Esther's arranged marriage did not occur and that
she is still in love with him. He visits Messala and demands that he
free his mother and sister, but the Romans discover that Miriam and
Tirzah contracted leprosy in
prison and expel them from the city. The women beg Esther to conceal
their condition from Ben-Hur, so she tells him that his mother and
sister died.
Ben-Hur enters the race. Messala drives a chariot with blades on the
hubs to tear apart competing vehicles. In the violent and grueling race,
Messala attempts to destroy Ben-Hur's chariot but destroys his own
instead; Messala is almost killed, while Ben-Hur wins the race. Before
dying, Messala tells Ben-Hur that "the race is not over" and that he can
find his family "in the Valley of the Lepers, if you can recognize
them."
The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and Jesus now reappears. Esther tells Ben-Hur about the Sermon on the Mount, but blaming Roman rule for his family's fate, Ben-Hur rejects his patrimony and citizenship, and plans violence against the Empire. Learning that Tirzah is dying, Ben-Hur and Esther take her and Miriam to see Jesus, but his trial before Pilate has begun. Recognizing Jesus from their earlier meeting, Ben-Hur attempts to give him water during his march to Calvary but guards separate them.
Ben-Hur witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus.
Miriam and Tirzah are healed by a miracle, as are Ben-Hur's heart and
soul. He tells Esther that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while
on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film
ends with the empty crosses of Calvary and a shepherd and his flock.
Cast
- Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur
- Stephen Boyd as Messala
- Martha Scott as Miriam
- Cathy O'Donnell as Tirzah Bat-Hur
- Haya Harareet as Esther Bat-Simonides
- Sam Jaffe as Simonides
- Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius
- Hugh Griffith as Sheik Ilderim
- Claude Heater (uncredited) as Jesus Christ
- Finlay Currie as Balthasar/Narrator
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