Ben-Hur: 50th Anniversary Edition (DVD)

One of the greatest movies ever made should be in your library. OG's like me understand and I think it's a requirement to put this movie on when the millennials, gen zees, and whomever is next steps into the conversation of greatest movies ever made. Make them watch this and see where everyone else got their ideas. Love, hate, betrayal, survival, revenge, plot twists, retribution, forgiveness, faith, and redemption. By the time the end credits roll, your kleenex will run out if you only have one box. Pop the non-gmo organic popcorn, dim the lights, and take a break at the the intermission. This one is in my top 10 and now I have it digitally as well.

One of the best movies I’ve seen. Not my first time watching this movie but I love it so much, I could watch it every day. Charlton Heston was the best actor in my opinion. Such an awesome movie. I highly recommend if you enjoy great movies.

This is the best epic movie ever made and the quality comes through the entire movie. This is Charlton Hestons best acting movie and nothing can top the chariot race near the end!

Always a fan of Charlton Heston.This movie is about Jesus but it's focus is on a man named Judah Ben Hur and the trials he faced because he was a Jew.Balthazar is in search of Jesus, whom he saw in the stable after He was born. Ben Hur is shown kindness by Jesus as he has been take into slavery by the Romans.The chariot races are spectacular and brutal. Edge of your seat excitement. You'll find yourself yelling at the screen because you want your favorite to win.

husband loves this movie

We enjoyed watching this 1959 original movie. It comes on a set of 2 DVD’s since the movie is so long. We had seen it many years ago - likely in a movie theater. The only issue was that it did not start playing by use of the START button. It took me a while to discover that if I went to the SCENE SELECTION button I could select the first scene and then the movie would start playing and play through all scenes on that DVD. I was happy to discover that since I really did not want to have to return it! I have a BluRay player.

I bought this set sometime ago (from Amazon) because as a kid I loved the movie along with the great theme & music. I was in 12thgrade and went on a weekend trip to Chicago with the 11th grade class to see this movie (1960). Since then I have probably becomemore of a critic of this movie than any other. MGM was beginning to decline as a great studio and this was a good attempt to reviveits market value (I think). Anyhow, 15 mill was spent on the thing based on the Wallaces book that I read (boy, some job that was!)and I think very successfully. It was faithful to the book, beautifully photographed and well acted with an astounding chariot raceat the end of the film (almost the end; still and hour or so to go). Anyhow, the villain is vanquished, family freed but the well stagedcrucifixion of Jesus was the high note and beautifully done. Few films musical themes moved me as well as the Ben Hur themes from thebeginning birth star to the blood mixing with the water at the end. I was moved though I am more of a mystical agnostic than religious. The movie was filmed in what was called Camera 65 (70mm?) and it looked well on the huge screen. I give this moviefour stars only for what I will criticize in a moment. Still, It is a masterpiece in its present form.Here we go. My primary gripe is that the costumes were not always accurate. I am a kind of Romanophile and have dozensof books (ancient & modern) on Roman, Greek & Egyptian histories. The soldiers uniforms looked chincy, shields looked madeof tin, and togas were beige, not white. The sea battle was superbly done, but I don't believe Romans used slaves as rowers;fiction ideas back in the 1860s when the book was written (Lew Wallace, Union General). Want to see good Roman uniforms,watch FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE; beautifully done costumes. And if a Roman had a stripe on their togas, it would bepurple, not red; a common error by Hollyweird. But Heston & Boyd played off each other very well. The rest of the cast waswell chosen & scripted. But can you imagine how well this film might have looked with CGI effects. Maybe it is just as well.I am beginning to tire of CGI in every film today and MGM did a great job with what was available at the time. And the film isvery respectful to Jesus as it portrayed the crucifixion. If you like films with action, spiritual portions and entertainment andsome historical elements, this one is for you.

Made my church friend happy. He had been trying to find this version with Charlton Heston.