The 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur is considered one of the greatest films ever made and was seen by tens of millions, going on to win a record 11 Academy Awards in 1960, after which the book's sales increased and it surpassed Gone with the Wind.
Ben-Hur received 12 Oscar nominations and won 11 statuettes, a number that, over the following 50 years, would be equaled only by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
It has the appeal of a rollicking historical adventure combined with a sincere Christian message of redemption. Victorians who swore off novels because of their immoral influence eagerly picked up Ben-Hur—were even encouraged to by their pastors. It became required reading in grade schools across the United States.
Following a $14.7 million marketing effort, Ben-Hur premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. It was the fastest-grossing as well as the highest-grossing film of 1959, becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time, after Gone with the Wind.
Several actors were offered the role of Judah Ben-Hur before it was accepted by Charlton Heston. Burt Lancaster claimed he turned down the role because he found the script boring and belittling to Christianity. Paul Newman turned it down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic.
Yes, in close-up shots, that's really Charlton Heston (as Judah Ben-Hur) and Stephen Boyd (as his rival Messala) driving the chariots. They trained for months to learn how to drive the four-horse teams. In long shots, however, the chariots are driven by stuntmen.
Ben-Hur. After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge. Banned for "propaganda of superstitious beliefs, namely Christianity".
Why did Ben-Hur only gross 147 million even though it won 12 Academy Awards? Actually the gross of Ben-Hur (1959) was very impressive considering that the budget of the movie was $15.2 million (in 1959 dollars).
Ben-Hur also won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Charlton Heston), Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith), Color Art Direction-Set Decoration (William A. Horning, Edward Carfagno, and Hugh Hunt), Color Cinematography (Robert L.
Not very. While many details are correct, there is one glaring error: the Roman admiral Quintus Arrius would not have been granted a triumph after defeating the pirates.
The 32nd Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 4, 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre, to honor the films of 1959. William Wyler's Bible epic Ben-Hur won 11 Oscars, breaking the record of nine set the previous year by Gigi.
However, the film failed to generate the same kind of excitement as the Heston epic. The filmmakers had some success attracting faith-based consumers, but couldn't grow the audience beyond the devout. Kids stayed away, critics lobbed bombs, and secular consumers took a hard pass.
How long did it take to film the chariot scene in Ben-Hur?
The race took five weeks to film. During the 18-day auction of MGM props, costumes and memorabilia that took place in May 1970 when new studio owner Kirk Kerkorian was liquidating the studio's assets, a Sacramento restaurateur paid $4,000 for a chariot used in the film.
Clocking in at three hours and 32 minutes, William Wyler's Technicolor epic Ben-Hur is the behemoth entry at the 32nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, held on this day in 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.
(at around 3h 10 mins) Christ is always seen from the back, but when He is condemned to death He is facing Pilate and His face is obscured by a shadow added optically in post production when William Wyler determined that actor Claude Heater's face was too clearly seen, even at a distance.
The bigger problem is that it's another movie made by Christians that fails to do justice to their faith. The original novel, Ben-Hur was published in 1880. It tells the story of a Judean prince, betrayed and condemned to slavery by his Roman friend, Messala, who then returns to seek revenge.
One of the first widely banned movies in the U.S. was “The Birth of a Nation” in 1915. It was controversial for its portrayal of the Civil War, the post-war era and race. The NAACP led some efforts to ban it. “Babe Comes Home” was banned in Chicago in 1927 for a scene portraying baseball star Babe Ruth chewing tobacco.
Legendary second unit director B. Reeves Eason's nickname "Breezy" was certainly not earned by his work on the BEN-HUR set, for his merciless pace cost the lives of over a hundred horses.
There was, from the start, something monumental, something reminiscent of Mount Rushmore, about Heston with his 6ft 3in height and chiselled features. He could be angry, threatening and cruel, but he couldn't be commonplace, diffident or funny.
The dramatic scene of the chariot race was shot at Cinecittá Studios, in Rome, on an arena track that covered 18 acres, the largest single set in motion picture history at the time. To set the track, many tonnes of white sand were brought over from Mexico.
Ben-Hur was shot in Rome, Lazio, Italy. Filming also took place at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in California, USA. Rome, Italy. Photo by Julia Solonina on Unsplash.
Ben-Hur is a story of a fictional hero named Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman who was falsely accused and convicted of an attempted assassination of the Roman governor of Judaea and consequently enslaved by the Romans. He becomes a successful charioteer.
He is sent to be a slave, and his mother and sister are imprisoned. Years later he returns, wins a chariot race against Messala, and is reunited with his now leprous mother and sister. The mother and sister are cured on the day of the Crucifixion, and the family is converted to Christianity.
