Ben-Hur (1959) on Netflix
G19593h 32mAdventureDramaHistory
In Jerusalem, the Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur welcomes Messala, his childhood friend, home as a Roman tribune. When Judah refuses to name Jewish rebels, Messala has him sent to the galleys.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb8.1/10273,601 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
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Plot summary
In AD 26 Jerusalem, Judah Ben-Hur is a wealthy Jewish prince who lives with his mother Miriam and his younger sister Tirzah. He is devoted to his faith and to freeing his people from Roman rule. His childhood friend Messala returns to the city as tribune under Judea's new Roman governor, Valerius Gratus, and now embraces the grandeur and power of Rome. Messala asks Judah to hand over the names of potential Jewish rebels, and Judah refuses. When tiles slip from the roof of Judah's house and startle the governor's horse, Messala turns the accident against him: Judah is sentenced to the galleys, Miriam and Tirzah are imprisoned, and the family's steward Simonides is arrested.
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ben-Hur (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- During the chariot race, stunt man Joe Canutt, Yakima Canutt's son, was tossed into the air by accident and suffered a minor chin injury. Marton wanted to keep the shot, and conceived the idea of showing Ben-Hur landing on the front of his chariot and scrambling back into the quadriga.
- Burt Lancaster turned the role down because he found the script boring and belittling to Christianity, and Paul Newman said no because he did not have the legs to wear a tunic. Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson were also offered it, and Kirk Douglas was turned down in favor of Heston.
- Vidal claimed in the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet that he persuaded Wyler to have Stephen Boyd play Messala as if he were a spurned homosexual lover, with Heston kept in the dark about the character's motivations. The claim is hotly debated.
- Producer Sam Zimbalist had a heart attack on November 4, 1958, while he was on the set. He was taken to his villa, where he died at the age of 57.
- At least one hundred horses were reported to have died during the making of the 1925 film, so director William Wyler brought in Yakima Canutt to ensure the safety of the animals. No horse was injured while shooting the chariot race sequence.
- Ben-Hur was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won an unprecedented 11. Only Titanic in 1998 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004 have matched that total.
- Vast amounts of footage were shot for the chariot race, and the ratio of footage shot to footage used came out at 263 to 1, one of the highest ratios ever for a film.
- In 1959 and 1960 more than $20 million of tie-in goods were sold, from candy and perfume to children's tricycles shaped like chariots, toy armor, helmets and swords, and matching "Ben-Her" and "Ben-His" towels.
