Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂

Ben-Hur (1959)

Lists

ranked 49 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills
ranked 54 in Empire 100 Greatest Movies (1999)
ranked 72 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
ranked 93 in Empire 100 Greatest Movies (2003)
ranked 130 in The IMDb Top 250
ranked 343 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
ranked 353 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
ranked 375 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
ranked 491 in Empire 500 Greatest Movies (2008)
one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
one of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies Nominees
one of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills Nominees
one of BAFTA Best Film Winners
one of Best Director Academy Award Winners
one of Best Picture Academy Award Winners
one of Guardian 1,000 films to see before you die
one of New York Film Critics Circle Best Film Winners
one of The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
one of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, 10th Anniversary Edition

Links

IMDb

Ratings & comments

Terrible

Ben-Hur wasted three years of my life. What is it about extreme length that transmogrifies a sorry melodrama into an "epic"?

I'm not sure what else I was expecting from a biblical epic subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", but the abominable acting was wedded to Christianity as subtle as a blow to the head. Bosley Crowther's review in the New York Times claims that Judah's meetings with Jesus are "dignified and true", with Jesus "tactfully ... never viewed in full face". I saw them as a series of mildly ridiculous sequences in which a character's head was cut off by the top of the screen.

It's for the unforgivable clumsiness that I consider Gladiator -- inasmuch as it's a Ben-Hur remake with the ham-handed Christianity and sorry acting excised, albeit replaced by wishy-washy spiritual handwaving -- a superior film. What would've been a big-budget spectacular spectacular, unmoving but watchable -- I'm thinking Lord of the Rings here -- instead became one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Never again will be too soon.

- Sam - None