#100 Ben-Hur (1959)

Movies like Ben-Hur are why I'm taking the time to do all this movie-watching. It was excellent, and I think I have found a movie to add to my favorites list. I'm also tempted to eventually watch the original Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (from 1925).

I honestly knew nothing about this one. If you aren't familiar with it, either, it is the story of Judah Ben-Hur, prince of Judea during Jesus's lifetime. Messala, a Roman tribune (officer) stationed in Judea and childhood friend of Judah's, abuses their friendship and tries to convince Judah to betray his people and help the Romans kill those who do not support the emperor. When Judah refuses, Messala unfairly imprisons Judah, his mother, and his sister. Through pure chance, good luck, and faith in God (kinda Count of Monte Cristo-ish), Judah again becomes a free man who seeks revenge on Messala. That's about as much as I can tell you without ruining it.

I kept thinking as I was watching that his character was oddly similar to the heroine of my favorite book and movie, Scarlett O'Hara. They both were changed so drastically by the lives that they had to live, and after their entire worlds crumbled, the only things keeping them alive were anger and their desire to keep the vows they had made to themselves. Scarlett's was to never be hungry again, and Judah's was to return to Messala for revenge. This epic film was also almost as long as Gone with the Wind so maybe that's why I was looking for similarities.

The chariot race in this movie was, especially for 1959, phenomenal. There were no computer-generated effects, so the actors were literally racing. It was probably 30 minutes long, but I was still too excited to look away even for a second. The scenes with Jesus in the flesh were particularly moving, but it was interesting that while Jesus was rarely mentioned by name, his teachings were, in some way, present throughout the story.

I highly recommend this one for a rainy (or in my case today, snowy) day with enough free time to devote 3.5 hours to a movie.

Rating: 10/10

Big Names: Charlton Heston (quite the hottie)... I don't actually recognize anybody else in this movie, but then again, I don't watch a whole lot of movies from the '50's.