Even after the slew of big-budget historical epics around the turn of the 21st Century that followed in the wake of Gladiator's critical and commercial success, none of them even came remotely close to matching the sheer grandeur and visual spectacle of William Wyler's lavish production. Still one of the most impressive achievements in Hollywood history, Ben-Hur is the definitive entry in the genre. The most expensive production in history at the time, Ben-Hur's $15.175m budget equates to over $125m when adjusted for inflation, and every single penny is up there onscreen. 300 sets, over 100,000 costumes, tens of thousands of extras and over a million feet of film were used during filming, while the iconic chariot race alone took a year of planning and five weeks of shooting. Some aspects of the movie have inevitably dated, but the chariot race remains one of the all-time great set-pieces and the movie itself is the pinnacle of Hollywood grandiosity. Ben-Hur was an expensive gamble for MGM, but one that paid off handsomely as the movie scored $74m at the domestic box office (over $600m adjusted) and swept the board at the Academy Awards with eleven wins from twelve nominations, a record the movie would hold for 38 years until James Cameron's all-conquering Titanic.
I don't do social media, so like or follow me in person but please maintain a safe distance or the authorities will be notified. Don't snap me though, I'll probably break. I was once labelled a misogynist on this very site in a twenty paragraph-long rant for daring to speak ill of the Twilight franchise. I stand by what I said, it's crap.
