Ben-Hur (1959)

Ben-Hur had been released before as a silent film but the version made in 1959 by William Wyler staring Charlton Heston is really the one most fondly remembered and deservedly so! It always gives me a minute to stop and take pause when a film that was made before the invention of Blu-Ray could be updated to the format and look absolutely stunning. It is a real testament to the filmmakers and arguably proves that talented filmmakers can make a product that will look good in any format. Although I would argue that this has been a rather good year in regards to the release of quality films, Hollywood seems to have lost some of their touch in regards to the making of a truly classic and epic film in regards to the pacing and camera techniques that are used. Quite frankly the use of extras, miniature models built to scale, and carefully choreographed action sequences still hold up far better then computer generated imagery. Few actors in the history of Hollywood have had such great on screen presence as the great Charlton Heston. Who by the way was the star of many films that had supposedly liberal messages but he himself was extremely conservative politically. A person's personal politics should have nothing to do with their ability to act and act well. I have always admired Charlton Heston as an actor and he perhaps gives his greatest performance in Ben-Hur. Messala I would argue creates one of the great screen villains of all time it is sad that the actor who played him Stephen Boyd died at the very young age of 45. This film ranks in at number 171 on the IMDb top 250 list and it ranked in at number 72 on The American Film Institutes top 100 list that was compiled in 1998 and on their ten year anniversary list it ranked in at number 100. The epic scope of this film cannot be understated and perhaps a new generation will go back and discover this great film. Currently a remake is being planned and I always must ask why do it again in the same capacity when the task at hand is simply impossible. Though it wold be interesting to see how a current version of the film would handle the major subplot involving Jesus Christ. Ben-Hur I believe does a great job of portraying this angle with the right amount of reverence and awe while at the same time accurately depicting the barbarity and cruelty of the ancient Romans. I highly recommend to all of my film students to set aside time and watch this extremely engaging and influential film. Feel free to respond.