William Wyler, who had helmed two previous Best Pictures while picking up Oscars for both as Best Director in the process, set out to make a “Cecil B. DeMille”–type movie. He wanted to try his hand at a sweeping epic—a sword-and-sandal, cast-of-thousands, giant-scale production—and wow, did he succeed! He also added a third statue to go with his awards for Mrs. Miniver and The Best Years of Our Lives. Ben-Hur is often mistaken as DeMille’s work, due in part to the similarities with his 1956 smash hit The Ten Commandments. Mega-star Charlton Heston plays the lead in both movies, and Martha Scott (just 11 years his senior) portrays his mother in both. The stories have similar arcs about a wealthy, benevolent prince who falls from grace in society, then becomes an outcast left for dead. He survives many ordeals and improbable odds only to achieve a triumphant return to his native land. I confess these stories blur together for me at times. I have to remind myself which scene goes with what film. The Ten Commandments is shown more frequently on television today with a higher-profile cast overall, but the bottom line is that Ben-Hur is superior in nearly all respects. It’s a remake of MGM’s own 1925 silent blockbuster, which in turn is based on the 1880 novel by Lee Wallace. Until Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind was published in 1936, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was the most popular novel in U.S. history. And if you convert ticket prices for inflation, both 1950s screen adaptations still rank among the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time, with Commandments at #6 and Ben-Hur at #14. Pretty impressive stuff.

Like the novel, this film is subtitled A Tale of the Christ. I find this fascinating because, on the surface, the story isn’t really about Jesus, although the life of Christ bookends the plot, and he appears a few times as a character in profound, key moments. We never see his face or hear him, and he is photographed from behind or at a distance whenever he’s on screen. It’s almost as if the glorious, Oscar-winning score by Miklós Rózsa embodies the spoken word and voice of Jesus. The music is effective and personal, allowing audience members to decide how he looks and sounds. The story of Jesus serves only as a framework for one key witness to Christ’s initial impact on the world—a man named Judah Ben-Hur.

Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston.

Judah is a Jewish prince in Jerusalem, living in luxury with his mother Miriam (Martha Scott) and his sister Tirzah (Cathy O’Donnell). Upon his return from an extended journey, Judah’s lifelong, devoted slave Simonides (Sam Jaffe) requests permission for his daughter Esther (Israeli actress Haya Harareet) to wed in a prearranged marriage. Judah hasn’t seen Esther since childhood, and although he grants permission, the two soon fall in love. Judah is reunited with another friend from years past. Messala (Stephen Boyd) has become a tribune of Rome. The differences between Roman and Jew mattered little when they were young, but the political climate has changed. In recent years, the Romans have taken control of Jerusalem and are enemies of the Jewish people. As tensions escalate between Judah and Messala, it’s clear how little they now have in common.

Things go from bad to worse when the new Roman governor parades through town on horseback. He is knocked unconscious by accident after a loose ceramic tile falls from Judah’s roof into the path while Judah and Tirzah look on from above. It is seen as an act of protest and rebellion coming from the Ben-Hur family, and despite their attempts to explain and Messala’s knowledge of the truth about the loose tile, Judah, Tirzah, and Miriam are taken away and imprisoned. When Judah refuses once and for all to help his old friend by betraying the Jews, Messala condemns him to the galleys as an example to all who resist, where odds are fairly certain Judah will die, rowing with the other slaves inside the hull of a warship.

Much speculation and “legend” has been written about Judah and Messala’s relationship. According to Gore Vidal, an uncredited writer on Ben-Hur, Messala is in love with Judah, and the history between them goes beyond mere friendship. Vidal claims this underlying motivation was revealed to actor Stephen Boyd during filming, but not to Heston. It was a creative way to add tension between the characters. Whether or not this approach was utilized by Wyler and the writers, it works on screen. The love-hate responses between these two men register in their eyes, and the performances from both are excellent.

Judah Ben-Hur travels with the other slaves on foot through the desert, and many die along the way. When they stop in Nazareth to water their horses and allow the Romans to rest, Judah collapses, crazy from heat and thirst. A kind man kneels by his side and offers him water. We know at once this is Jesus. When Judah looks into his eyes, he realizes how unusual this man is.

Those who survive the remainder of the journey end up rowing in the hull of a warship. After three long years in the galleys, Judah is brought aboard the flagship, commanded by Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), a Roman consul of the senate. Arrius puts Judah to the test and comes to trust him, which is highly unusual for a slave. After a harrowing battle, the ship goes down, and Judah saves Arrius’s life. It’s only after they are rescued from the sea that we learn they won the battle after all. Arrius then brings Judah with him to Rome for a spectacular victory celebration.

The triumphant return to Rome.

This sequence is truly jaw-dropping, considering no CGI was available in 1959. Matte paintings were utilized for the tops of structures and as background landscapes, but much of what is seen is a full-scale set, built on location at Cinecittà Studios in Rome and populated with thousands of extras. After the parade, a grateful and transformed Arrius asks the emperor (George Relph) to free Judah as reward for saving a Roman consul’s life. The request is granted, and the emancipated Judah is subsequently trained as a first-rate charioteer by Arrius, who in time adopts Judah as his son. Judah is now successful and wealthy again, but he makes it clear to his adopted father that he cannot rest until he takes vengeance on Messala. He must return to Jerusalem for this purpose, as well as to learn the fate of his sister and mother.

Hugh Griffith as Sheik Ilderim.

Along the way, he meets Balthazar (Finlay Currie), one of the three wise men who witnessed the birth of Jesus. Balthazar is now searching for the grown Messiah and has heard of a man in this region who might fit the description. Judah also meets the delightful Sheik Ilderim, played in “brownface” by Hugh Griffith, who won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance. It’s a shame that only two years after the refreshingly realistic casting in The Bridge on the River Kwai, snafus still surfaced for prominent film roles. It was commonplace in Hollywood to cast White actors in non-White roles, a practice that went on well through the 1960s and beyond. I take nothing away from Griffith’s fine work, but I do note that he shouldn’t have been cast in the first place. It seems muddled that Wyler, producer Sam Zimbalist, and MGM went so far as to hire an authentic Israeli actress for the romantic female lead of Esther yet opted to darken Griffith’s skin for Sheik Ilderim. A sign of the times, no question.

Griffith is appealing and offers much-needed levity as a wealthy Arab who owns and trains thoroughbred horses for chariot races. After witnessing Judah’s skill in the arena, Ilderim attempts to entice Judah to drive his prized team of white stallions in a race before the new Judean governor Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). Even after learning that Messala will participate in the race, Judah declines. He is returning to Jerusalem to find his sister and mother first.

As he walks around the remains of his neglected home, he encounters Esther. She has been living there with her beloved father Simonides, who is now an invalid. Judah learns that Esther never married. She was waiting and hoping that by some miracle Judah would come back. After their romantic interlude, he is told of his sister and mother’s imprisonment. He then leaves to confront Messala as a freed Roman citizen and son of Arrias, demanding that his family be released if they are still alive.

Out of morbid curiosity more than anything else, Messala orders his men to go down into the depths of the dark prison, where they discover Miriam and Tirzah are indeed alive after five long years—but they have contracted leprosy. The two women are removed from their cell and released beyond the city walls as banished outcasts. After making their way home, they are spotted by Esther. They beg her not to tell Judah what has become of them, because it would destroy him. Esther agrees to say they are dead instead, but the fabricated news that they have perished evokes even more hatred in Judah. He enters the chariot race as a driver for Ilderim, fully intent on killing Messala for revenge, since there are no rules in the arena other than to finish in first place.

Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur in the iconic chariot race.

What follows is one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed. It took five weeks to complete the chariot race under the supervision of second-unit director Yakima Canutt, a former Hollywood stuntman who puts these actors to the ultimate test with a thrilling scene. It’s hard to fathom the risks for all concerned, particularly Heston and Boyd, who would have been irreplaceable had they sustained serious injuries. Spoiler alert: in the end, Judah wins the race and Messala is trampled by another chariot. He dies a broken man in both body and spirit, but not before rejoicing with resentment in his heart as he watches Judah suffer one last time. Messala informs Judah that his mother and sister are not at peace after all. In fact, they live. He tells Judah to look for them in the Valley of the Lepers.

Filled with hatred for all things Roman, Judah renounces his citizenship before Pontius Pilate when he is summoned for congratulations. Judah then secretly follows Esther into the quarantined valley and learns that she has been providing Miriam and Tirzah with food. After confronting Esther for lying, Judah reveals himself to his mother and discovers that his sister is dying. I must admit I found myself moved even though I’ve watched this movie countless times. Seeing the family of Ben-Hur reunite after all they’ve been through gets the tears flowing—plus the acting from Heston, Scott, O’Donnell, and Harareet is raw and real. Out of desperation and with no alternatives, Judah takes Esther’s advice and brings his ailing sister to see Jesus of Nazareth, hoping he might be able to make her well again.

Judah, Esther, Miriam, and Tirzah arrive in time to witness the final hours of Jesus’s life. As Christ stumbles through the streets carrying his cross, it is Judah who breaks through the Roman guards and offers him water, just as Jesus did for Judah years ago. And in this moment, gazing into his eyes, Judah sees the power of forgiveness. His pain is lifted. His burden is gone. The story concludes with the Crucifixion. A violent thunderstorm rages, and the earth trembles. In the flashes of light, Miriam and Tirzah discover they no longer have leprosy. They have been miraculously cured.

As far as religious epics go, Ben-Hur tops the list. It’s a great story, teaching the power of forgiveness as a way to rid oneself of hatred, pain, and suffering. At the time of its release, MGM held the record for the most Best Picture wins, but Ben-Hur marks the ninth and final time they would take home this honor. The once-mighty giant of a studio faded in the coming years. But oh, the glory that was Rome—and oh, the glory that was MGM!

Ben-Hur