A Tale of the Christ

Starring: Charlton Heston, Haya Harareet, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell, Sam Jaffe

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

DML Top 50 #15 - Dad's Full (Spoiler) Review and Deep Dive of Ben-Hur

"We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live." - Quintus Arrius

Why watch this? It's epic scale is hard to comprehend in this CGI digital age.

Plot Summary: Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy Jewish prince in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, is falsely accused of an assassination attempt by his childhood friend, the ambitious Roman tribune Messala. After being sentenced to the galleys as a slave, Ben-Hur vows to seek vengeance for his family's destruction and his own unjust suffering. His quest for justice eventually leads him to a dramatic confrontation with Messala in a high-stakes chariot race.

Dad's Preview: This is one of the few films that still impacts me spiritually. The tale centers on a Jewish man's quest to destroy the Roman who devastated his life and family. It is set in Judea at the time of Christ. Its massive scope rivals even tops the early silent film by the great Cecile B. DeMille in 1925. There were 15,000 extras employed during filming. The chariot race segment is still breath-taking.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Loew's Inc.