Ben-Hur (1959)

[Marsellus_H 118]

Inspired by the latest box-office bomb, let's consider the 1959 original - wait, that was a remake, too. Anyway. Its impact on society is immense: I guess everybody and their mother have seen parts of this film. it won a gazzilion awards, including an Oscar for everybody's favorite Bowling For Columbine contributor Charlton Heston, its seabattle sequence and the chariot race are considered masterpieces of action cinema, and last but not least, Monty Python used the tagline "Makes Ben-Hur look like an epic" for their own Life Of Brian. Buuuuut.... does it hold up that well? Is it just an overblown piece of mid-century nostalgia, that shouldn't have survived the end of the cold war?

 

Since I'm from Europe, I really can't give you any reccomandations how to get that film on streaming services... Where I'm fronm, it comes every Christmas and Estern on TV, though. And, naturally, just ask your uncle, who probably has it on VHS.

[Muthsarah 124]

Don't forget to mention the film's magnificent score. It's not just a series of action scenes, it's a surprisingly deep character study of two former friends (or more???) divided by distant politics. About sacrifices family will make for family. It's an incredibly SUBTLE epic, despite all the grandness of production.

 

Any thoughts of the film being "mid-century nostalgia", that really hurts. Lots of good classical movies get swept under the rug (if you're not a film student, it's trendy to think "Citizen Kane" is nothing but pretentious crap), but this is a highly-satisfying, wide-screen, full-color historical action epic. No CGI. No quick-cutting. No dubstep. And so it looks realer than any modern film, and sounds so much grander (and classier) to boot.

 

I remember, at a tender age, hearing that "Titanic" matched its then-record Oscar haul, thinking "does this mean 'Titanic' is the new Ben Hur?" Almost twenty years later, I still wonder sometimes. I'm certain I know which movie has aged better. There was a Leo attached, but not the one you're thinking of.

 

FWIW, Vudu, YouTube, Amazon, Google, and iTunes all have the film (in all its three-plus-hour majesty) available for $3. A good two-nighter. Even comes with an intermission. Treat yourself to a buck-fifty-a-night opera. You've heard enough about it, just take the plunge.

[Marsellus_H 118]

Thank you for the response, Muthsarah. I think there's no question, that score is teriffic.

 

As of Citizen Kane... we watched that one again a couple of months ago, and it's actually hard to think of a film more topical than Kane, especially in the wake of that awful Trump campaign. It really looks like he took Orson Welles' speeches in this film, took out all the grammar, and mixed them together.

[HoldenMartinson 221]

Thank you for the response, Muthsarah. I think there's no question, that score is teriffic.

 

As of Citizen Kane... we watched that one again a couple of months ago, and it's actually hard to think of a film more topical than Kane, especially in the wake of that awful Trump campaign. It really looks like he took Orson Welles' speeches in this film, took out all the grammar, and mixed them together.

Citizen Kane is supposedly Trump's favorite film. When I first heard this, I thought Trump was just pandering. Revisiting Kane, I feel like Trump is leaving crumbs that aids my theory that Trump's candidacy is a long con/practical joke.

[NathanGordon 1096]

Citizen Kane is supposedly Trump's favorite film. When I first heard this, I thought Trump was just pandering. Revisiting Kane, I feel like Trump is leaving crumbs that aids my theory that Trump's candidacy is a long con/practical joke.

In a 1997 New Yorker profile, Trump's favorite movie was Jean Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport.

[RobertBoberts 62]

Well there we go. Bloodsport vs Citizen Kane. Please make this episode happen.

[HoldenMartinson 221]

Well there we go. Bloodsport vs Citizen Kane. Please make this episode happen.

No question, I'm voting Bloodsport. Why make a list that has to have the same movies as every other list? I would happily put Bloodsport over Citizen Kane, which will lose no steam if it were to be denied entry into the canon.