Ben-Hur (1959)

Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic religious film with in the lead role, produced by Sam Zimbalist and directed by William Wyler. It was an adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and a remake of the silent film from 1925 bearing the same name. Karl Tunberg is given credit for writing the screenplay, while Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry also contributed.

Of all the movies made at the time, Ben-Hur had the most budget ($15.175 million) and largest sets constructed. The clothes were made by a team of one hundred wardrobe fabricators under the direction of costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden, while the hundreds of friezes and sculptures required for the movie were produced by a workshop with two hundred workers. Filming lasted for twelve to fourteen hours a day, six days a week, starting on May 18, 1958, and ending on January 7, 1959. Around October 1957, pre-production got underway at Cinecittà in Italy, and post-production took six months. Executives at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided to produce the movie in widescreen under the direction of cinematographer Robert L. Surtees. Approximately 10,000 people and 2,500 horses were utilized throughout the film's production, along with over 200 camels. Miniatures were used in a massive tank on the rear lot of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City, California, to film the sea fight. The nine-minute chariot race is now one of the most well-known action scenes in movies, and Miklós Rózsa's score—which was at the time the longest ever written for a motion picture—had a significant impact on the film industry for more than 15 years.

Ben-Hur debuted on November 18, 1959, at New York City's Loew's State Theatre, after a $14.7 million marketing campaign. It became the second highest-grossing movie in history at the time, behind Gone with the Wind, and it was also the fastest-grossing movie of 1959. In addition to winning a record eleven Academy Awards, it also took home Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for Stephen Boyd. The Academy Awards went to: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Heston), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Griffith), and Best Cinematography – Color (Surtees). It was ranked as the second-greatest American epic film and the 72nd best American picture by the American Film Institute in its 1998 10 Top 10. Ben-Hur was chosen in 2004 by the National Film Preservation Board to be preserved by the Library of Congress's National Film Registry due to its "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" nature.

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International versions

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