Rating: 
Summary: GREATEST SPECTACLE OF ALLTIME!!!!
Review: THERE ARE NO OTHER WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS MASTERPIECE EXCEPT "AWE-INSPIRING, THUNDERING AND MAJESTIC!" AN EPIC THAT WILL SWEEP YOU INTO ADVENTURE AND GREAT FAITH LIKE NONE OTHER BEFORE IT! HERE WE SEE THE AND FEEL THE SPIRIT AND PRESENCE OF THE DIVINE JESUS OF NAZARETH, INSTEAD OF THE LIVING REPRESENTATION AS BEAUTIFULLY PORTRAYED WITH GREAT COMPASSION AS JEFFERY HUNTER DID AS IN "KING OF KINGS!!!!" THE STORY, LIKE THE NOVEL, IS FILLED WITH SWEEPING VISTAS! FROM THE GREAT CHARIOT RACES MAGNIFICENTLY PORTRAYED TO THE FINAL HOURS OF THE HEARTRENDERING CRUCIFIXION AND DEATH OF THE MESSIAH, TO THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND THE GREAT MIRACLE THAT AWAITED YOUNG HUR, THIS FILM KEEPS THE EMOTION AND DRAMA FOREVER A KEEPSAKE OF MONUMENTAL PROPORTIONS. QUITE STRIKING, WAS THE DARKENING SKIES AND THE GROWING CRESENDO OF THUNDER WIND, AND FINALLY LIGHTNING SIGNIFYING THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF OUR DEAR LORD AND THE FORGIVENESS OF ALL SINS! "BEN-HUR" IS A TESTIMONY OF GREAT CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT AND THE TEST AND THE FAITH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT! IT WILL BE REMEMBERED AND CHERISHED FOREVER! THIS IS CHARLTON HESTON'S GREATEST FILM!
Rating:
Summary: Ben-Him
Review: First released in 1959, "Ben Hur" is one the grandest, if not the most courageous exploration of sublimated hoe-more-sect-chew-all love between men. The film takes place in Judea during Jesus Christ's lifetime. It begins when boyhood friends, Messala (Stephen Boyd) and Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) are reunited in Jerusalem as young men. Messala is now a Tribune in command of the Roman legions that occupy Judea and Judah is both a prince and a wealthy merchant who objects to the Roman occupation in principle but does not overtly oppose it. Under the pretext of discharging his duty as a Roman soldier, Messala urges Judah to inform on any friends or acquaintances that refuse to accept Roman rule. When Judah refuses to comply with this request, Messala turns it into a demand stating that Judah is either for him or against him. In reality, Messala is sublimating his repressed sect-chew-all desire for Judah and expressing it in consciously acceptable terms. Messala and Judah spent their boyhood together until the age of fourteen when Messala was sent to Rome. Undoubtedly the separation was difficult for both boys but for obvious reasons it traumatized Messala much more. In the first place, Messala was separated from Judah during the advent of his sect-chew-all maturity and before he could resolve any burgeoning sect-chew-all feelings for him. But at the same time, Messala was also transposed from an environment in which he enjoyed relative physical and personal freedom (He and Judah hunted together, and men in Judea are cool about crying when they are upset.) to one in which he underwent rigorous, depersonalizing indoctrination as both a Roman citizen and as a military officer. Few things could have produced a more disastrous result since Messala now not only repressed his feelings for Judah, but also lacked adequate emotional tools in which to resolve them. As a result, instead of returning to the lost paradise of youth (One he references when he asks Judah if he still hunts jackals and wolves.) Messala attempts to indoctrinate Judah in the same way that he was. On the surface Messala is commanding Judah, but on an emotional level he is actually pleading with him, essentially saying "Look, I can't go back to what we were so let's love each other by having you become what I am." If Judah could properly identify the emotional process at work then he could possibly avert disaster. For example, he could say, "Forget about all this governing Judea stuff, let's talk about you and me." But because Judah fails to recognize the emotional process at work, he inadvertently rejects Messala's emotional advances with catastrophic results. Messala's identity is now trapped in an in-between state since he cannot return to his youthful past and Judah will not join him in his adult present. As a result, in order to prevent his own psychic annihilation, Messala must now destroy Judah-not so much because he rejected him but because his continued presence reminds him of what he has lost forever. For this reason, Messala has Judah condemned as a galley slave and imprisons his mother and sister in the local dungeon where all three face certain death. After three years in the galleys, Judah is partially freed by a Roman Consul who identifies him with his own dead son. Judah subsequently saves the Consul's life and as a result, the Consul adopts him and trains him to race horses in the Roman circus. The Consul's relationship with Judah is partly paternalistic and partly sect-chew-all-iced. In liberating Judah and training him to ride in the circus, the Consul unconsciously provides him with the sect-chew-all mentoring he requires to resolve his conflict with Messala. After all, in order to race in the Roman games, Judah must think and behave as a Roman, which means that he has now become indoctrinated in the same manner as Messala. This is apparent when Judah returns to Judea and confronts Messala, who can barely conceal his pleasure toward the fact that Judah has come back not as a Jewish prince or galley slave, but as a Roman aristocrat. The sect-chew-all conflict between the two men is ultimately resolved during the film's climactic chariot race whose sect-chew-all symbolism is all too apparent. The chariot race takes place in a public arena in which men dressed in scanty, flashy costumes drive powerful horses from chariots mounted behind them. At first Messala dominates this conflict in several manners. Messala has won this race during all the years of Judah's imprisonment and exile, which means that in a sense he has publicly declared his hoe-more-sect-chew-alit-E. Judah is popular as a hometown boy, but his racing skills (in other words, his sect-chew-all prowess) are unknown here although, ironically, they are well known in Rome. Messala acknowledges this during the start of the race when he smiles at Judah and says, "Hail Jupiter, grant me victory today." In doing this, Messala references the fact that they are now competing together in a Roman environment. In this sense, they have fulfilled Messala's original wish that, having lost their childhood bond, they at least become the same type of man. In referencing Jupiter, Messala subtly reminds Judah that the chariot race is a pagan conflict that recreates their lost youth. Messala is saying to Judah, "Good, you're finally here, let's play." As the race progresses, Messala realizes that he cannot defeat Judah and begins to whip him furiously, which is essentially an open expression of his sect-chew-all feelings toward Judah. At first Judah is indignant, but then he seizes the whip and lashes back at Messala for the first time acknowledging his own sect-chew-all feelings toward him. This sect-chew-all expression literally overpowers Messala who is mortally injured. Shortly before his demise, however, Messala attempts to destroy Judah's hope of finding his imprisoned mother and sister (and thus of returning to their pre-sect-chew-all past). In the throes of death, Messala declares to Judah that "the race" (their sect-chew-all dance) "goes on."
Rating:
Summary: THE NUMBERS DO ADD UP!
Review: Best Actor in a Leading Role
Charlton Heston Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Hugh Griffith Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
William A. Horning
Edward C. Carfagno
Hugh Hunt Best Cinematography, Color
Robert Surtees Best Costume Design, Color
Elizabeth Haffenden Best Director
William Wyler Best Effects, Special Effects
A. Arnold Gillespie (visual)
Robert MacDonald (visual)
Milo B. Lory (audible) Best Film Editing
Ralph E. Winters
John D. Dunning Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Miklós Rózsa Best Picture
Sam Zimbalist Best Sound
Franklin Milton Can any other film claim as much???
Rating: 
Summary: An unforgettable classic of a man's journey toward God!
Review: In a setting in which Christ is on earth, not yet beginning his ministry (around A.D. 26), comes a marvelous story of a man's journey toward the Lord. This motion picture, directed by William Wyler, 1959, is a non-stop chariot race from beginning to end! Charlton Heston plays Judah Ben-Hur, a regarded prince among the Jewish people, but now condemned by his once-boyhood comrade, (Stephen Boyd as Massalla), who has become a Tribune and loyal citizen of the Roman Empire. Due to major differences in cultural background and heritage, the two boys who grew up together are now mortal enemies as men. Friction comes to the surface when Massalla tries to use Judah to betray his own people. Then when an accident occurs, which causes the death of a Roman governor, Massalla uses this excuse to accuse Ben-Hur of this incident, and condemns him to the galleys to serve on Roman fleet battleships, while imprisoning his mother and sister. This journey of Ben-Hur's life is a wild bumpy ride, in which he seeks revenge, to return to his family he lost, and also an unplanned aquaittence with Christ. An unparelleled film of its timeframe, "Ben-Hur" is a passionate, heart-warming movie filled with conflict, love, and hope. From the battleship scenes to the chariot race and even to the quiet appearances of Jesus, this film remains a classic masterpiece in our minds even today. Availabe on VHS and DVD. Take it home with you today.
Rating:
Summary: Cheap Packaging!
Review: Commenting on the actual movie itself is not necessary. I am, however disgusted and disappointed that this movie, which cost me $22, packaged in one of those cheezy cardboard boxes that bargain DVDs come in. I expect that in a DVD that is under $10, but not something over $20.
Rating:
Summary: Dated? No, timeless.
Review: Is the movie completely realistic? No. But neither are movies made today. Remember that it's storytelling -- and in the case of Ben-Hur, grand storytelling.
One more point: Although I enjoy the computer graphics of modern blockbuster movies, I must say that I'm far more impressed by the logistics, direction, stunt-work, and sheer scale of the chariot race scene than by anything I've seen in the Matrix or Terminator films.
Rating:
Summary: Emotion packed Epic
Review: If someone described this entire movie to you and told you how it ended you would probably still enjoy watching it. For 1959, some of the scenes are so spectacular. I still remember my Mom telling me that when she saw this movie she cried and I thought that was silly. When I went to see it at age 13 I kept trying to hold back the tears myself, but I just couldn't do it. At the end of the chariot race I cried like a baby. They were tears of joy and sorrow. The story of Judah Ben-Hur (played by Charlton Heston) is so full of sorrow, triumph and courage. All the things this man endured were remarkable. He starts out a wealthy man in good standing but fate and irony take his life over. He becomes a slave and lives only to avenge the injustice put upon him by his one-time friend, Messalah, who imprisons his mother and sister. As a rower on a Roman battleship he is determined to live. The ship is cut to ribbons by an enemy battleship but he escapes and saves the Roman commander. This wins him back his freedom, but not happiness. He has to find his mother and sister, who have been imprisoned for years now. This puts him back at odds with his one time friend Messalah.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most boring epics ever made
Review: How the great director William Wyler could have made a 212-minute movie that is both visually and emotionally uninvolving is a mystery. Another is the cascade of Oscars it received - especially one to Charlton Heston for smouldering (considering that alternatives that year included Jack Lemmon in "Some Like It Hot," Cary Grant in "North by Northwest," and James Stewart in "Anatomy of a Murder"). This is not even one of Heston's best films. The women's parts are not large, but entirely devoid of characterization. Stephen Boyd is somewhat more interesting in it that Heston or the ultra-bland women, and Hugh Griffith enlivens things for a few minutes. The galley-rescue-adoption middle is ludicrous, the music for Jesus's appearances is overwrought to the point of parody. Even the chariot race is overlong (not to mention that the movie goes on for another 45+ minutes after that climax).
Rating:
Summary: Fine DVD of a classic
Review: This DVD version of "Ben-Hur" is excellent, with very good extras. It has a documentary on the several renditions of "Ben-Hur" since the book, going through the 19th-century stage shows, the silent movie, and the present movie version. It includes interviews with historians and with people involved in making both movie versions, and it is interesting to watch from start to finish - Gore Vidal's stories are particularly amusing. There are also a couple of screen tests and a commentary by Charlton Heston, which unfortunately does not run throughout the whole picture but at least you can skip from one commented bit to the next. Heston's comments are sometimes interesting, sometimes not; and he actually seems to think that the village where Jesus spent his early adulthood was Bethlehem rather than Nazareth! But it was definitely wórth listening to it. As for the film itself, it is great, if flawed. All the main actors give fine performances, especially Stephen Boyd as Messala and Jack Hawkins as Arius. It takes some liberties with the book - which is not a bad thing since I think the book wasn't a very good piece of work - and with history, but nothing too outrageous, apart from having a Circus Maximus in Jerusalem rather than Rome. On the other hand, the recreation of small details of daily life is very good - the business-as-usual manner of the jailer trying to find out where in the dungeons Ben-Hur's mother and sister might be; the backstage arrangements of the chariot race. It does contain some historical absurdities, but less so than "Gladiator", for instance. And it does get a bit slow towards the end - - but altogether it remains a great film, and it certainly deserved its Oscars far more than, say, "Titanic".
Rating:
Summary: Benni.
Review: They used to know where to place academy awards which movies those days....Know days they ignore a superb movie like.Lord of the Rings and give to Chigago best picture.11 academy awards for one movie like Ben Hur.Not far fetched at all.Befor I get into plot and diolage,it seems this movie rating is not quite acurate.Rated G.Know I watched this movie when I was say 9 or 10 again.I found some scenes a little strong.Messala about to be amputated and is screaming aloud,The leper cave dark and fearful.I think parents probaley should watch this with their children.So PG might be a better rating.Rankin Bass's Cartoon The Return of the King had a PG rating.It is not even that scary.This is a truly wonderful movie.The parts with Jesus are really stirring and vibrant.Chaleston Heston is a very strong actor.(funny thing.I found Bradford Dillman has also some very same expresions and looks like his brother.Watch Francis of Assisi.)His love Esther and him have a passion to their love. The Chariot Race is Fantastic.Christians will love this movie best.A movie for the whole family.
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