Ben-Hur
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.69 You Save: $6.27 (31%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.19 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Ben-Hur
Movie Review: The best film score in history accompanies this classic.
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't wish to belabor the point that this is the most dynamic and exciting film I have ever seen. This movie succeeds on every level for me. Forget the acting; forget the excitement; forget everything about this film except the music, and you still have the best that has ever been created. Miklos Rozsa's score stands, in my opinion, as the most sensational achievement ever in film history. and that's just the beginning. The color, the costumes, the flawless direction of Mr. Wyler as many have alluded to, drew once-in-a-lifetime performances out of the entire cast. When I was a senior in high school, my girl and I double- dated with another couple and we saw this movie. As soon as the opening fanfare caught my attention, I was hopelessly hooked. I have owned the music for this movie for over forty years. It is something I have never tired of. There is something new in the score each time I listen to it. It, like the film itself, is timeless. And I agree with others that Titanic, while it is a nice expensively-done film, cannot match the majesty of Ben-Hur for its marvelous sequences that offered little in the way of special effects. The Chariot Race alone is worth the price of admission. I have given this movie the five stars only because that's all that is allowed.Movie Review: BEN-HUR
Summary: 5 Stars
So much has been written about this movie that it is nearly impossible to say anything new. This DVD is the best rendition of the film. (Turner video artists have told me that they made several attempts to get the aspect ratio right and this is the one that finally succeeded. The film led me to the book and then to the silent version. If you are looking for film-to-screen accuracy, then the silent film is more faithful to Lew Wallace's novel. For example, in his diaries, Charlton Heston says he argued with William Wyler about the character of Esther, who was far less prominent in the book and silent movie. But, this is Hollywood movie making and you need a beautiful woman on the screen, although in the later part of the film, when Judah returns, she still looks ravishing, hardly a woman who has fallen from social grace. There are several stars to watch for: Hugh Griffith as the Shiek; Finlay Currie as Balthasar; Frank Thring as Pilate. Finally, the magnificent music score by Miklos Rozsa, who is often over-the-top in other films, but properly underscores this film and gives it a terrific dramatic impact. The hour-long documentary also makes fascinating watching, even if you see it first, like a preview.Movie Review: Emotion packed Epic
Summary: 5 Stars
If someone described this entire movie to you and told you how it ended you would probably still enjoy watching it. For 1959, some of the scenes are so spectacular. I still remember my Mom telling me that when she saw this movie she cried and I thought that was silly. When I went to see it at age 13 I kept trying to hold back the tears myself, but I just couldn't do it. At the end of the chariot race I cried like a baby. They were tears of joy and sorrow. The story of Judah Ben-Hur (played by Charlton Heston) is so full of sorrow, triumph and courage. All the things this man endured were remarkable. He starts out a wealthy man in good standing but fate and irony take his life over. He becomes a slave and lives only to avenge the injustice put upon him by his one-time friend, Messalah, who imprisons his mother and sister. As a rower on a Roman battleship he is determined to live. The ship is cut to ribbons by an enemy battleship but he escapes and saves the Roman commander. This wins him back his freedom, but not happiness. He has to find his mother and sister, who have been imprisoned for years now. This puts him back at odds with his one time friend Messalah.Movie Review: A towering achievement
Summary: 5 Stars
Along with The Ten Commandments, one of the two greatest epic movies ever made. Charlton Heston in his finest role as a Jewish prince wrongly imprisoned along with his mother and sister and his subsequent, miraculous adventures on the high seas, in Rome, and back in Judea. However wooden Heston may have been in some of his roles, not so here, he is wonderfully human even if some of his one liners are a bit clipped. Stephen Boyd is magnificent and chilling as his boyhood friend and Roman antagonist. The climactic chariot race between Heston, racing for Judea with a team of white horses owned by an Arab sheik, and Boyd, racing for Rome with his team of black horses, is one of the very few greatest scenes ever filmed, one can scarely breathe even if one has seen it a dozen times. Wonderful supporting acting throughout, and of course the story is all the more profound because ultimately it is a tale of the rise and death of Christ, woven into the plot ever so gracefully and subtly, and ending on a beautiful note of redemption and peace. They don't make em like this any more. Absolutely compelling and mandatory.Movie Review: Take Your Breath Away
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best action-drama-religious-collossal movie I have ever watched! Considering the year it was made, it is considered as the best movie of the 20th century.It certainly did't use CG. The background was painted by artists and the real movie set was only a part of it (mainly the foreground). All were composed and the result is the grandeur of the Roman empire. It was emphazised in the tribune set and especially, the horse racing set, which has stunned me the most.
The story was set in the first Century, begun at Christ's birth and ended by His crucifixion. The main character was a young man named Juda Ben Hur (Charlton Heston), a Jewish leader, and as a respected member of his tribe, he had a Roman bestfriend from childhood, Messala (Stephen Boyd), who was really eager to be Romans 'general'. The friendship was beginning to crack by their own perspectives and soon turned into enemies when Romans wanted to empower its reign over Juda's territory because there was a rumour about the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
To say it short, Watch it and then you'll now what a best movie really means.