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Ben-Hur
film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	Sam Zimbalist
Written by	Karl Tunberg Lew Wallace (Novel) Uncredited: Gore Vidal Christopher Fry
Starring	Charlton Heston Jack Hawkins Haya Harareet Stephen Boyd Hugh Griffith
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	Robert L. Surtees
Editing by	John D. Dunning Ralph E. Winters
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	November 18, 1959 (1959-11-18)
Running time	212 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Gross revenue	$36,992,000

Ben-Hur (or Benhur) is a 1959 epic film directed by William Wyler, the third film version of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Plot

The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Twenty-six years later, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy merchant of noble blood in Jerusalem. Preceding the arrival of a new governor, Judah's childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), a military tribune, returns as the new commanding officer of the Roman garrison. At first Judah and Messala are happy to meet after years apart, but their differing political views separate them: Messala believes in the glory of Rome and worldly imperial power, while Judah is devoted to his faith and the Jewish people. Messala asks Judah to caution his countrymen about protests, uprisings, or criticism of the Roman government. Judah counsels his countrymen against rebellion but refuses to disclose dissidents' names, and the two part in anger.

Judah's family welcomes two of their slaves who arrive with a caravan from Antioch: Simonides (Sam Jaffe), their loyal steward, and Simonides's twenty-four years-old daughter Esther (Haya Harareet), who is preparing for an arranged marriage. Judah gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and the two realize they are attracted to each other.

During the welcoming parade for Valerius Gratus, the new Roman governor, a tile falls from the roof of Judah's house and startles the governor's horse, which throws him off, nearly killing him. Although Messala knows that it was an accident, he condemns Judah to the galleys and imprisons Judah's mother Miriam (Martha Scott) and sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell), in an effort to intimidate the restive Jewish populace by punishing the family of a known friend. Judah swears to return and take revenge. En route to the sea, he is denied water when his slave gang arrives at Nazareth. He collapses in despair, but a local carpenter named Jesus gives him water and renews his will to survive.

After three years as a galley slave, Judah is assigned to the flagship of Roman Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), tasked by the Emperor to destroy a fleet of Macedonian pirates. The commander notices Judah's self-discipline and resolve, and offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer, but Judah declines, declaring that God will aid him. Arrius questions Judah's will to live, while Judah in response asks why Arrius lost his—unknown to Judah, Arrius' son and sole heir had recently died, leaving him alone and embittered.

As Arrius prepares the galley for battle, he orders the rowers chained but unaccountably orders number 41 (Judah) to be left unchained. When the pirates attack the Romans, Arrius's galley is rammed and sunk, but Judah unchains other rowers, escapes and saves Arrius's life and, since Arrius believes the battle ended in defeat, also prevents him from committing suicide during their time afloat. Eventually, they are rescued by a Roman vessel and Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory, and in gratitude petitions Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (George Relph) to drop all charges against Judah, eventually adopting Judah as his son. To signify the event, Arrius gives Judah his family insignia ring, which was to have gone to his dead son. With regained freedom and wealth, Judah learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer. However, Judah's desire to seek the fate of his family overwhelms him, and Arrius gives Judah his blessing to return.

On his journey home to Judea, he happens to become acquainted with Balthasar (Finlay Currie) and his host, an Arab sheik named Ilderim (Hugh Griffith), who owns four magnificent white Arabian horses, named for four stars Aldebran, Rigel, Antares, and Altair, and wishes to have them trained for chariot racing. Discovering that Judah had been a winning charioteer in Rome, Ilderim introduces him to his "children" and requests that he drive his quadriga in the upcoming race before the new governor, Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). Judah begins to reconsider upon learning that Messala, considered the finest charioteer in Judea, will also compete in the race. (As Judah is leaving, Ilderim warns, "There is no law in the arena. Many are killed.")

Returning to Judea, Judah finds that Esther's arranged marriage did not occur and that she is still in love with him. He visits Messala and demands that he free his mother and sister; Messala sends Drusus (Terence Longdon) to the fortress to look for them. When the soldiers enter the cell, they discover that Miriam and Tirzah have contracted leprosy, and they turn them out of the city. Esther learns of their condition when she finds the two women after nightfall in the Hur house's courtyard; and they beseech her to conceal their condition from Judah and allow him to remember them as they were. Esther tells Judah that his mother and sister have died in prison.

Upon learning this, Judah decides to exact his revenge, and enters the chariot race at the local circus with Sheik Ilderim as his sponsor. Messala takes up the challenge and arrives driving a "Greek chariot," with blades on the hubs, designed to tear apart chariots that come too close. In the violent and grueling chariot race, Messala removes several opponents by damaging their chariots with these sharpened hubs. However, when Messala attempts to tear a wheel from Judah's chariot, the wheel is torn from Messala's chariot instead and his chariot disintegrates. Messala is dragged behind his horses and then trampled by another competitor's horses, sustaining severe injuries. Judah goes on to win the race. After receiving the victor's laurel wreath from Pilate, Judah visits Messala in the infirmary, where surgeons are amputating both legs in a futile attempt to save his life. Before dying, Messala bitterly tells Judah that the race is not over: he can find his mother and sister in the "Valley of the Lepers," cruelly adding "If you can recognize them." Judah leaves in anguish to search for his family, and he is devastated when he finds them in their diseased and disfigured condition.

After all of this tragedy and pain, Pilate tells Judah news that he as been named a Citizen of Rome—a proclamation that is one of great honor; however it turns out to be an empty honor, as Judah tells Pilate how Rome's influence has destroyed his family and poisoned his friend Messala. Pilate responds that Judah, who is now a hero of the Judean people, is too dangerous and must leave the city. Instead, Judah gives Pilate Arrius's family ring, and tells Pilate he honors Arrius too much to wear it any longer. With this act, Judah abandons his Roman status and becomes an enemy of the state.

The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and it is at this point that Jesus reappears. Esther witnesses the Sermon on the Mount and is moved by Christ's words. She tells Judah about it, but he remains bitter and will not be consoled. Learning that Tirzah is dying, they take her and Miriam to see Jesus, but they cannot get near him, as his trial has begun. (We don't hear the testimony, verdict, or sentence; but we see Pilate famously washing his hands.) Recognizing Jesus from his encounter with him as he was being taken to the galleys, Judah attempts to give him water during his march to Calvary, echoing Jesus' kindness to him, but he is shoved away by the guards.

Eventually, Judah witnesses the Crucifixion. Immediately after Christ's death, Miriam and Tirzah are healed by a miracle, as are Judah's heart and soul. He returns to his home and tells Esther that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film, which had begun with the Magi visiting the infant Jesus, ends with the empty crosses of Calvary in the background and a shepherd and his flock (a prominent Christian symbol) in the foreground.

Cast

• Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince
• Stephen Boyd as Messala, Judah's boyhood companion
• Martha Scott as Miriam, Judah's mother
• Cathy O'Donnell as Tirzah, Judah's sister
• Haya Harareet as Esther, Judah's love interest
• Sam Jaffe as Simonides, Esther's father
• Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius, Judah's Roman patron and adoptive father
• Terence Longdon as Drusus, Messala's assistant
• Hugh Griffith as Sheik Ilderim
• Frank Thring as Pontius Pilate
• Claude Heater (uncredited) as Jesus, whose face is barely shown
• Marina Berti as Flavia, Judah's Unwife and husband
• Jose Greci as Mary (mother of Jesus)
• Laurence Payne as Joseph, Jesus' Father
• Richard Hale as Gaspar, the 1st wise man / the mage
• Reginald Lal Singh as Melchior, the 3rd wise man / the mage
• Michael Dugan as seaman, from the galleys
• Finlay Currie as Balthasar, the 2nd wise man / the mage

Music

• Shofar Calls (Star of Bethlehem Disappears) - man
• Love Theme — MGM Studio and Orchestra
• Fertility Dance — Indians, MGM Studio and Orchestra
• Arrius' Party — MGM Studio and Orchestra
• Hallelujah (Finale) - MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus

The film score was composed and conducted by Miklós Rózsa, who received his third Academy Award for his work on the film. The soundtrack is one of the most popular motion picture scores ever written, and ranks #21 (out of 25) on the AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.

Stunts

• Michael Dugan (I)
• Glenn Randall jr
• Yakima Canutt
• Sounder Raj

Production

Financing

Ben-Hur was an extremely expensive production, requiring 300 sets scattered over 340 acres (1.4 km²). The $15 million production was a gamble made by MGM to save itself from bankruptcy; the gamble paid off when it earned a total of $75 million.

Aspect ratio

The chariot race scene, illustrating the extremely wide aspect ratio used (2.76:1).

The movie was filmed in a process known as "MGM Camera 65", 65 mm negative stock from which was made a 70 mm anamorphic print with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, one of the widest prints ever made, having a width of almost three times its height. An anamorphic lens which produced a 1.25X compression was used along with a 65 mm negative (whose normal aspect ratio was 2.20:1) to produce this extremely wide aspect ratio. This allowed for spectacular panoramic shots in addition to six-channel audio. In practice, however, "Camera 65" prints were shown in an aspect ratio of 2.5:1 on most screens, so that theaters were not required to install new, wider screens or use less than the full height of screens already installed.

Casting and acting

Many other men were offered the role of Ben-Hur before Charlton Heston. Burt Lancaster claimed he turned down the role of Ben-Hur because he "didn't like the violent morals in the story". Paul Newman turned it down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic. Rock Hudson and Leslie Nielsen were also offered the role.

Out of respect, and consistent with Lew Wallace's stated preference, the face of Jesus is barely shown. He was played by opera singer Claude Heater, who received no credit for his only film role.

In an interview for the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, screenwriter Gore Vidal asserts that he persuaded Wyler to direct Stephen Boyd to create a veiled homoerotic subtext between Messala and Ben-Hur. Vidal says he wanted to help explain Messala's extreme reaction to Ben-Hur's refusal to name his fellow Jews to a Roman officer, and suggested to Wyler that Messala and Ben-Hur had been homosexual lovers while growing up, but that Ben-Hur was no longer interested, so that Messala's vindictiveness would be motivated by his feeling of rejection. Since the Hollywood production code would not permit this, the idea would have to be implied by the actors, and Vidal suggested to Wyler that he direct Stephen Boyd to play the role that way, but not tell Heston. Vidal claims that Wyler took his advice, and that the results can be seen in the film.

Galley sequence

The original design for the boat Ben-Hur is enslaved upon was so heavy that it couldn't float. The scene therefore had to be filmed in a studio, but another problem remained: the cameras didn't fit inside, so the boat was cut in half and made able to be wider or shorter on demand. The next problem was that the oars were too long, so those were cut too; however, this made it look unrealistic, because the oars were too easy to row; so weights were added to the ends.

During filming, director Wyler noticed that one of the extras was missing a hand. He had the man's stump covered in false blood, with a false bone protruding from it, to add realism to the scene when the galley is rammed. Wyler made similar use of another extra who was missing a foot.

The galley sequence includes the successive commands from Arrius, “Battle speed, Hortator... Attack speed... Ramming speed!” The word hortator is no longer in use, and is notably absent from most modern dictionaries. It was a Latin word that on a ship meant “chief of the rowers”, or “he who has command over the rowers”,^[1] and likely has roots in the Latin verb hortor (“to exhort, encourage”). The command "Ramming speed, Hortator!", which is widely remembered and parodied, never occurs.

The galley sequence is purely fictional, as the Roman navy, in contrast to its early modern counterparts, did not employ convicts as galley slaves.^[2]

Chariot race

The chariot race in Ben-Hur was directed by Andrew Marton, a Hollywood director who often acted as second unit director on other people's films. Even by current standards, it is considered to be one of the most spectacular action sequences ever filmed. Filmed at Cinecittà Studios outside Rome long before the advent of computer-generated effects, it took over three months to complete, using 15,000 extras on the largest film set ever built, some 18 acres (73,000 m²).^{[citation needed]} Eighteen chariots were built, with half being used for practice. The race took five weeks to film. Tour buses visited the set every hour.

The section in the middle of the circus, the spina, is a known feature of circuses, although its size may be exaggerated to aid filmmaking. The golden dolphin lap counter was a feature of the Circus Maximus in Rome.

Charlton Heston spent four weeks learning how to drive a chariot. He was taught by the stunt crew, who offered to teach the entire cast, but Heston and Boyd were the only ones who took them up on the offer (Boyd had to learn in just two weeks, due to his late casting). At the beginning of the chariot race, Heston shook the reins and nothing happened; the horses remained motionless. Finally someone way up on top of the set yelled, "Giddy-up!" The horses then roared into action, and Heston was flung backward off the chariot.^{[citation needed]}

To give the scene more impact and realism, three lifelike dummies were placed at key points in the race to give the appearance of men being run over by chariots. Most notable is the stand-in dummy for Stephen Boyd's Messala that gets tangled up under the horses, getting battered by their hooves. This resulted in one of the most grisly fatal injuries in motion picture history up until then, and shocked audiences.^{[citation needed]}

There are several urban legends surrounding the chariot sequence, one of which states that a stuntman died during filming. Stuntman Nosher Powell claims in his autobiography, "We had a stunt man killed in the third week, and it happened right in front of me. You saw it, too, because the cameras kept turning and it's in the movie".^[3] There is no conclusive evidence to back up Powell's claim and it has been adamantly denied by director William Wyler, who states that neither man nor horse was injured in the famous scene. The movie's stunt director, Yakima Canutt, stated that no serious injuries or deaths occurred during filming.^[4]

Another urban legend states that a red Ferrari can be seen during the chariot race; the book Movie Mistakes claims this is a myth.^[5] (Heston, in the DVD commentary track, mentions a third urban legend that is not true: That he wore a wristwatch. He points out that he was wearing leather bracers right up to the elbow.)

However, one of the best-remembered moments in the race came from a near-fatal accident. When Judah's chariot jumps another chariot which has crashed in its path, the charioteer is seen to be almost thrown from his mount and only just manages to hang on and climb back in to continue the race. In reality, while the jump was planned, the character being flipped into the air was not planned, and stuntman Joe Canutt, son of stunt director Yakima Canutt, was considered fortunate to escape with only a minor chin injury. Nonetheless, when director Wyler intercut the long shot of Canutt's leap with a close-up of Heston clambering back into his chariot, a memorable scene resulted.^[6]

Differences between novel and film

There are several differences between the original novel and the film. The changes made serve to make the film's storyline more immediately dramatic.

• In the novel, Messala is seriously, but not fatally, injured in the chariot race. In the movie, Messala falls victim to an accident that is caused by his own attempts to sabotage Ben-Hur, and he dies from the wounds sustained from the accident. In the book, Messala plots to have Ben-Hur murdered in revenge, but his plans go awry. It is revealed at the end of the novel that Iras (who is Messala's mistress and does not appear in the 1959 film) had murdered Messala in a fit of anger about five years after the chariot race.
• The film has the chariot race taking place in Jerusalem, the novel however has it taking place in Antioch.
• In the novel, Ben-Hur becomes a convert to Christianity before, rather than after, the Crucifixion, and he does not display the harsh bitterness that he does in the William Wyler film. Similarly, the healing of Ben-Hur's mother and sister takes place earlier in the book, not immediately after the death of Christ.
• In the novel, the character of Quintus Arrius was acquainted with Ben-Hur's father, but in the movie there was no such prior association between the Arrius and Hur families. In the novel, Arrius dies and passes his property and title on to Ben-Hur prior to Ben-Hur's return home. No mention of Arrius's death is made in the 1959 film, so presumably he is still alive at film's end.
• The novel ends about 30 years after the chariot race, with the Ben-Hur family living in Misenum, Italy. While in Antioch Ben-Hur learns that Sheik Ilderim (who does not die in any of the film versions of the novel) had bequeathed him a large amount of money. At about the same time he learns of the persecution of Christians in Rome by Emperor Nero, Ben-Hur helps establish the Catacomb of San Calixto so that the Christian community will have a place to worship freely. The movie however ends almost immediately after the Crucifixion of Christ and the healing of Ben-Hur's mother and sister.

Box office performance

Ben-Hur was the top grossing film of 1960, earning $17,300,000.^[7]

Awards and honors

The film won an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards, a number matched only by Titanic in 1998 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004.

• Best Motion Picture;
• Best Director for William Wyler;
• Best Leading Actor for Charlton Heston;
• Best Supporting Actor for Hugh Griffith;
• Best Set Decoration, Color for Edward C. Carfagno, William A. Horning, and Hugh Hunt;
• Best Cinematography, Color;
• Best Costume Design, Color;
• Best Special Effects;
• Best Film Editing for John D. Dunning and Ralph E. Winters;
• Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture; and
• Best Sound.

Additionally, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film also won four Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Motion Picture Director, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Stephen Boyd, and a Special Award to Andrew Marton for directing the chariot race sequence. It won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture and the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Motion Picture.

American Film Institute recognition

• 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #72
• 2001 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills #49
• 2005 AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #21
• 2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #56
• 2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #100
• 2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 #2 Epic film

Ben-Hur also appeared in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time where it ranked at number 491.^[8]

The Library of Congress added Ben-Hur for preservation into the National Film Registry in 2004.

First telecast

The film first telecast took place on February 14, 1971,^[9] as a prime time network television special on CBS. Because of the film's length, the entire evening's regular CBS lineup, beginning with 60 Minutes, was scrapped for just that one night, one of the few times in the history of CBS that 60 Minutes was preempted for a movie special. The commercials forced a longer running time on the film, which was shown between 7:00 P.M. and 12:00 A.M., E.S.T.

DVD release

Ben-Hur has been released to DVD on three occasions. The first was on March 13, 2001 as a one-disc widescreen release, the second on September 13, 2005 as a four-disc set, and the third as part of the Warner Bros. Deluxe Series.

2001 release

(2-Disc release in some countries, a 2 sided disc in the U.S.) Disc One & Two: The Movie + Extras

• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Commentary by: Charlton Heston
• Documentary Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic
• Newly discovered screen tests of the final and near-final cast including Leslie Nielsen, Cesare Danova, and Haya Harareet
• Addition of the seldom-heard Overture and Entr'acte music
• On-the-set photo gallery featuring Wyler, producer Sam Zimbalist, cameraman Robert Surtees, and others

2005 release

(4-Disc) Discs One & Two: The Movie

• Newly Remastered and Restored from Original 65–mm Film Elements
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
• Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Scene Specific Comments from Charlton Heston
• Music-Only Track Showcasing Miklós Rózsa's Score (only available on Region 1 editions, even though on other Region releases it was advertised on cover, it is absent in those regions)

Disc Three: The 1925 Silent Version

• The Thames Television Restoration with Stereophonic Orchestral Score by Composer Carl Davis

Disc Four: About the Movies

• New Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema—Current filmmakers, such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas, reflect on the importance and influence of the film
• 1994 Documentary: Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic, hosted by Christopher Plummer
• Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures—New audiovisual recreation of the film via stills, storyboards, sketches, music and dialogue

• Screen Tests

• Vintage Newsreels Gallery
• Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards Ceremony
• Trailer Gallery

Also Included in paperback form

• 36 page booklet about the production

References

Further reading

• "Charlton Heston: An Incredible Life: Revised Edition" Michelel Bernier, Createspace, 2009

External links

• Ben-Hur (1959) at the Internet Movie Database
• Getting It Right the Second Time — a comparative analysis of the novel, the 1925 film, and the 1959 film, at BrightLightsFilm.com

From Wikiquote

Ben-Hur is a 1959 film about a Jewish prince who is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, but later regains his freedom and returns for revenge. It went on to win eleven Academy Awards, including best picture for 1959.

Directed by William Wyler. Written by Karl Tunberg, based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace.

Judah Ben-Hur

• You may conquer the land, you may slaughter the people. That is not the end. We will rise again.

• Rome is an affront to God. Rome is strangling my people and my country and the whole earth, but not forever. I tell you, the day Rome falls, there will be a shout of freedom such as the world has never heard before.

• [to Messala] May God grant me vengeance. I pray that you live till I return.

Messala

• Be wise, Judah. It's a Roman world. If you want to live in it, you must become part of it...I tell you, Judah, it's no accident that one small village on the Tiber was chosen to rule the world...It wasn't just our legions...No, it was fate that chose us to civilize the world - and we have. Our roads and our ships connect every corner of the earth, Roman law, architecture, literature and the glory of the human race.

• It's an insane world, but in it there's one sanity, the loyalty of old friends. Judah, we must believe in one another.

• [to Judah] I wanted your help. Now you have given it to me. By making this example of you, I discourage treason. By condemning, without hesitation, an old friend, I shall be feared.

Quintus Arrius

• [to Judah] You have the spirit to fight back but the good sense to control it. Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-One. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.

• [to Judah] In his eagerness to save you, your God has also saved the Roman fleet.

Sheik Ilderim

• One wife? One god, that I can understand - but one wife! That is not civilized. It is not generous.

• [to Judah] The Star of David, will shine out for your people and my people together and blind the eyes of Rome.

Others

• Simonides: Do not pity me, Master Judah. In fact, I'm twice the man I was. There's Mallet, my other half. We met in the dungeons at the citadel. We were released on the same day, Mallet without a tongue and I without life in my legs. Since then, I have been his tongue and he has been my legs. Together, we make a considerable man.

• Sextus: There's also a wild man in the desert named John the Baptist and a young carpenter's son who goes around doing magic tricks, miracles they call them...This man is different. He teaches that God is near, in every man. It's actually quite profound, some of it.

• Esther: I've seen too much what hate can do. My father is burned up with it. But I've heard of a young rabbi who says that forgiveness is greater and love more powerful than hatred. I believe it.

• Pontius Pilate: Where there is greatness, great government or power, even great feeling or compassion, error also is great.

Dialogue

Sextus: You can break a man's skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you fight an idea?

Messala: Sir, you ask how to fight an idea. Well, I'll tell you how... with another idea!

Arrius: What is your name, Forty-One?

Judah: [pause] Judah Ben-Hur.

Arrius: Judah Ben-Hur... Let me die.

Judah: [repeating Arrius' words on board the galleys] We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well and live.

Messala: What do you think you see? The smashed body of a wretched animal? There's enough of a man still left here for you to hate. Let me help you...You think they're dead. Your mother and sister. Dead. And the race over. It isn't over, Judah. They're not dead.

Judah: Where are they? Where are they? Where are they?

Messala: Look for them in the Valley of the Lepers, if you can recognize them. It goes on. It goes on, Judah. The race, the race is not over.

Judah: Almost at the moment He died, I heard Him say, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Esther: Even then.

Judah: Even then. And I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand.

Judah: If you were not a bride I'll kiss you good bye

Esther: If I were not a bride there would not be good bye to say

Taglines

• A Tale of the Christ

• The World's Most Honored Motion Picture

• The Entertainment Experience of a Lifetime!

Cast

• Charlton Heston - Judah Ben-Hur
• Jack Hawkins - Quintus Arrius
• Haya Harareet - Esther
• Stephen Boyd - Messala
• Hugh Griffith - Sheik Ilderim
• Martha Scott - Miriam
• Cathy O'Donnell - Tirzah
• Sam Jaffe - Simonides
• Finlay Currie - Balthazar/Narrator in pre-credits sequence
• Frank Thring - Pontius Pilate
• Terence Longdon - Drusus
• George Relph - Tiberius Caesar
• André Morell - Sextus

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Ben-Hur (1959 film)

• Ben-Hur quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben-Hur at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ben-Hur at Filmsite.org