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Ben Hur
1959
Anno Domini: the seventh year of Augustus Caesar's reign. In the Roman province of Judea, Jews return to the city of their birth for the census. A bright star in the night over Bethlehem marks the birth of Jesus Christ. Years later, Roman commander Messala (Stephen Boyd), who was brought up in Judea, takes command of the Roman .. Read more
| Starring | Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith |
|---|---|
| Director | William Wyler |
| Genres | Action/Adventure |
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Ben Hur
Anno Domini: the seventh year of Augustus Caesar's reign. In the Roman province of Judea, Jews return to the city of their birth for the census. A bright star in the night over Bethlehem marks the birth of Jesus Christ. Years later, Roman commander Messala (Stephen Boyd), who was brought up in Judea, takes command of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. His Jewish boyhood friend Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) greets him. Messala is delighted. But when Judah refuses to name Jewish patriots, Messala sentences him to the slave galleys and imprisons his mother, Miriam (Martha Scott), and sister, Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell). Judah vows revenge. In BEN-HUR, William Wyler's much-lauded epic, the story of Judah's search for his mother and sister and his quest for revenge intersects with crucial biblical events such as the Sermon on the Mount and the crucifixion. Wyler gets fine performances from Heston, Boyd, Jack Hawkins (as a Roman admiral who befriends Judah), and Hugh Griffith (as an Arab sheik who dreams of racing his beautiful white horses against Messala). Among BEN-HUR's vivid dramatic sequences are a violent sea battle and the famous chariot race that pits Judah against Messala in one of cinema's great action sequences.
| Starring | Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Sam Jaffe, Finlay Currie, Terence Longdon, Andre Morell, George Relph, Frank Thring, Cathy O'Donnell, Haya Harareet |
|---|---|
| Director | William Wyler |
| Studio | WARNER HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 3 hrs 33 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | French |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Romanian, Spanish |
| Released | DVD: 01 Nov 2001 Production year: 1959 |
| Format | DVD |
Ben Hur (1959)
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Critics' reviews
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"...William Wyler's 1959 Roman drama still has a self-confidence and sheer scope that's jaw-dropping..."
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Most helpful member's review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
BEN HUR
Ben-Hur tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in Judea in the time the Roman Empire Tiberius rules, the time that Pontius Pilate was ruler of Judea, the time Jesus Christ was on earth. An old friend of Ben-Hur, Messala, has become a Roman tribune and arrives in Judea. Ben-Hur doesn't want to betray his people and Messala takes the first chance to arrest him, his sister and his mother. He becomes a rower in the galleys, saves the life of a Roman leader, Quintus Arrius, and gets the chance to come back to Judea. All he wants is revenge on Messala. In the movie the famous race in the circus is around that point.
It is an epic story, with beautiful settings and costumes. The battle at sea and of course the race in the circus look great and are highlights in movie history. Stephen Boyd as Messala is great, Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius and Hugh Griffith as a sheik are good too. -
Most recent members' review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
BEN HUR
Ben-Hur tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in Judea in the time the Roman Empire Tiberius rules, the time that Pontius Pilate was ruler of Judea, the time Jesus Christ was on earth. An old friend of Ben-Hur, Messala, has become a Roman tribune and arrives in Judea. Ben-Hur doesn't want to betray his people and Messala takes the first chance to arrest him, his sister and his mother. He becomes a rower in the galleys, saves the life of a Roman leader, Quintus Arrius, and gets the chance to come back to Judea. All he wants is revenge on Messala. In the movie the famous race in the circus is around that point.
It is an epic story, with beautiful settings and costumes. The battle at sea and of course the race in the circus look great and are highlights in movie history. Stephen Boyd as Messala is great, Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius and Hugh Griffith as a sheik are good too. -
News and features
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Red Cliff
- 15 Jun 2009
A mere slip of an epic at 146 minutes (you think I’m kidding, but I watched the original two-part, five-hour Asian-market version), John Woo’s first Chinese film in nearly two decades is both a triumphant homecoming and too much of a good thing. When Woo went to Hollywood in the run up to the handover of Hong Kong in the early 90s he was riding the crest of a wave: hyper romantic urban thrillers like The Killers, A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled had earned him a reputation as the... Read more
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