Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur to me is a film that defines the term film classic. i mean it's a movie that has everything from action to romance to a great message. in my opinion it's the best of the epics from the 50s and 60s. what are your thoughts ?

It is indeed a great movie, for me it sums up the term epic. But still it does remain very much a movie of the 50's in some senses both good and bad

it may be little dated in some ways but it deserves to be seen and in widescreen especially so you get everything on your screen.

I haven't seen it yet...I'm going to though.

Interesting tidbits:

-Yakima Canutt, the great stunt man, was a second unit director who did extensive work on the chariot race. He portrayed the American Indian that goes under the stagecoach in Stagecoach, inspiring the truck scene in Raiders.

-the great Italian director Sergio Leone was a second unit director for this film

Ben-Hur is a very good if not the best epic in cinema history. The charcters are good, the story is real well written, and the message of the movie is also great. It is overall a very powerful film, and is Charlton Heston's best performance. I would venture to say that the ONLY two epics which compete with Ben-Hur are The Ten Commandments and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Even though Ben-Hur is most famous for being a film, it is actually a famous piece of literature. I have not read the book, but plan to, and I hear the novel is every bit as epic as the movie.

I'm really rather shocked. I mean, to be honest, I haven't seen Ben-Hur, but what I have heard doesn't make it sound that great to me...until now.

However, I am curious. Is it really superior to films like Spartacus, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gone With the Wind?

i think it's as good as lawrence of arabia and spartacus, of course i love those 2 movies too. trust me if you love those films you'll like ben-hur. pure epic film making