100 - Ben-Hurrrrrrrr

Our progress on the AFI top 100 list feels like it's going well. We were puzzled when, on our two disc plan, with one movie already out, we received two more discs in the mail last week. It turns out that biblical epic and number 100 on the AFI list, Ben-Hur is epically long. The first disc covers the first two and a half hours, up through the intermission. Yep, it's got an intermission. Disc 2 is the next hour and a half.

I'm 95% sure that I've seen this movie before, but it was definitely Lauren's first go with it. I think she did a little better with staying conscious through it. Not that the first disc is that rough! It's a beautiful movie, with stellar production values. From reading up on it, it was apparently MGM's hail mary. They were going down the tubes and had enough money for one big movie, so they pegged it all on Charlton Heston's big gay adventure.

OK, yeah, the movie doesn't HAVE to be about a gay relationship between a Roman and a Jew in biblical times, but it sure as hell seems like it. Once you get that idea in your head, it's impossible to get out. I guess I just went and ruined the movie for you..

Basic plot - Roman guy returns to Judea after having rocketed through the ranks in the Roman empire, faces pacifying an angry Jewish population. He tries to lever his old 'relationship' with Judah Ben-Hur into a few names that he can crack down on in the resistance and sends any good will down the tubes. After an incident involving a loose tile falling on the incoming Roman governor is pinned on Ben-Hur, Roman Marsalla makes an example of him by imprisoning his mother and sister while banishing Judah to the galley of a Roman warship. Begin revenge story!

Advice on the movie - definitely see it, but not when sleepy or short on time. Make sure to fast forward through the intro music - it's 6.5 minutes of orchestral interlude on a static background. The same applies to the intermission music. Be ready for a lot of movie after the seeming climax - there's still the whole Jesus aspect of the movie to deal with.

I don't think it's a movie that could be made the same way today. The chariot race at the circus is impressive and should blow away any but the most jaded viewer. Put in the hands of any of the likely directors these days would result in a mishmash of rapid cuts, too much CGI, and a hollow experience. The real deal uses real crowds, a real set, and supposedly one real death - see if you can spot it!

One sentence assessment? Classic, epic, never to be redone the same way, story of revenge in the time of Jesus.