BEN-HUR (1959)
Special Features: 20-min intermission
William Wyler's greatest screen triumph, winner of 11 Oscars® including Best Picture, finds just the right balance between the epic sweep and spectacle of its Roman Empire setting and the more personal bildungsroman of Charlton Heston's Judah Ben-Hur. In first century Judea, Heston is the proud son in a wealthy merchant family. Stephen Boyd is Messala, a childhood friend who has grown up to be an ambitious, but conflicted, officer in Caesar's army. Deprived of his family and livelihood after an opportunistic betrayal by Boyd, Heston endures prison and the virtual death sentence of galley slavery, before a reversal of fortune restores his place in the world and returns him to Judea. Here, his desire for vengeance leads him into the arena to square off with his rival in gladiatorial combat in one of the most celebrated scenes in cinema history — the breathtaking, bravura chariot race. DIR William Wyler; SCR Karl Tunberg, from the novel by Lew Wallace; PROD Sam Zimbalist. U.S., 1959, color, 222 min. plus a 20-min intermission. RATED G
AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 212 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, March 29, 2024
Genre: Adventure, drama