A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge. Ben-Hur looks and sounds beautiful unfortunately it's also way too long and it's a patience that i don't exactly require and as much as good as Heston's perfomance was the end result wasn't anything special or the movie that everyone makes it sound like and to be honest i liked the 2016 remake with Morgan Freeman way way better than this one and it actually pains me to say this but Ben-Hur is overrated and alot. (5/10)

A perennial Xmas favourite on TV during my childhood, spectacular biblical epic Ben-Hur opens with the birth of Jesus: manger, star, wise men, shepherds... the whole nine yards. Those TV programmers knew what they were doing.The film then scoots to XXVI A.D.-Jesus is now a grown man doing God's work; meanwhile, Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (played by distinctly non-Jewish blue-eyed hunk Charlton Heston) is reunited with his Roman childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), who has just been appointed tribune of Judea. Messala, desperate to keep the Jews under control, asks Judah to help him quell any potential rebellion, but his friend refuses to betray his people. As a result, the pair part as enemies.This animosity proves problematic for Judah when his sister accidentally knocks a roof tile onto the Roman governor as he arrives in town. Seizing an opportunity to make an example of the influential Hur family, Messala sends Judah's mother and sister to jail, and has Judah thrown into slavery as a rower on the Roman galleys. After several years of 'battle speed', 'attack speed', ramming speed' and 'warp speed', Judah earns his freedom by saving the life of a Roman consul during a sea battle. Returning home, Judah searches for his mother and sister, seeks revenge on Messala, and has a profound encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.In the wrong hands, Ben-Hur could have been an epic bore, but director William Wyler proves himself more than worthy of the task, commanding great dramatic performances from his superb cast, and mounting some stunning action scenes, the highlight being the film's iconic chariot race, a breathtaking piece of cinema that still holds up as one of the most exciting sequences ever committed to film. Every last cent of the massive $15,900,000 budget is up there on the screen, with impressive sets, excellent production design and a cast of thousands. Miklós Rózsa's wonderful score complements the action perfectly, the deserved winner of one of the film's eleven Oscars.Sadly, Ben-Hur no longer pops up on TV every Christmas, meaning that it's probably not found much of a new audience in recent years-a shame, because it really is worthy of any film fan's time-all three and a half hours of it!

Miklos Rosza's score for this film was one of the finest and most memorable ever. One of the reasons I find it so memorable is because he borrowed some phrases from a previous score. I hear several snippets that remind me of his score from "Thief of Baghdad." That's the film that began in England, but was moved to La-La land because the Germans kept blowing up Alexander Korda's studio. Rosza finished scoring this film, then had himself a long career as a Hollywood film composer, winning an Oscar for the score for this film.

Hollywood, in trying to distance itself from television, produced many epics, several of which were and still are highly acclaimed (ie: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, The Ten Commandments, etc.). Ben-Hur is the best of the epics, and everything about it seems to define the very genre itself. The sheer scale of the production is nearly unfathomable, but it is not big for the sake of being big, and it never gets lost in itself. Despite the magnificent scope, William Wyler's magnum opus is a remarkably personal tale of friendship, betrayal, revenge, and forgiveness.The acting is excellent, the cinematography is excellent, the pacing is excellent (it never drags throughout its more than three hour running time), Miklos Rozsa's score is a symphonic masterpiece, the religious aspects are treated with great tact and respect, and so much more about this picture reaches the pinnacle of anything Hollywood has ever produced. Perfection is what it takes to win eleven academy awards, and Ben-Hur delivers. If it sounds like I'm gushing unblemished praise on this movie, it's because I am and it deserves it. This film is an absolute must see.