One of the most famous action sequences in the history of motion pictures...
... the great chariot race of Ben-Hur.
ln 1 959, this was the most expensive movie ever made.
And for the postwar era, one of the longest...
...running almost three and a half hours.
Ben-Hur, world's most honored picture.
Ben-Hur would go on to become a box-office triumph...
...and win more Academy Awards than any other motion picture ever made.
Eleven in all.
lt would also save a studio from bankruptcy.
But long before Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd...
...clashed wheel rims in the Circus Maximus...
... the story of Ben-Hur had already thrilled generations...
...of silent movie audiences.
And even before then, captivated the theater and publishing worlds.
For today's audience...
...it is this big-screen version that they remember best.
The latest incarnation of a story that has enthralled the world...
...for more than a century.
At the heart of this timeless tale...
...is Judah Ben-Hur.
You're a Roman and l'm a Jew. . .
. . .whose life you once saved.
The best thing l ever did.
Born a Judean prince, Ben-Hur...
...is betrayed by his boyhood friend, Messala...
...and becomes a slave.
Your eyes are full of hate, 41 .
That's good.
Hate keeps a man alive.
Many people think that the character of Ben-Hur. . .
. . .and Messala and some of the other people. . .
. . .came from the Bible.
But there is no Ben-Hur in the gospels or the New Testament.
The character of Judah Ben-Hur first came to life...
...in the mind of a Civil War hero, General Lew Wallace.
Wallace, a successful lawyer who had also served...
...as governor of New Mexico territory and an lndiana state senator...
...had already penned one book.
On a night in 1 87 6, Wallace decided to write a novel...
... that would begin with the three Wise Men on their way to Bethlehem...
... to seek the newborn Christ child.
But Wallace would add a twist to his story about the Three Kings.
He would also write about a fictional prince of Judea.
His name, Judah Ben-Hur.
You're a prince among your people. Rich, powerful.
Your reputation is stainless. And the people would listen to you.
Persuade your people that their resistance to Rome is stupid.
lt is worse than stupid, futile!
lt can end in only one way: extinction for your people.
This is Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Lew Wallace's title.
But it isn't a tale of the Christ, it's a tale of a war between. . .
. . .a Roman boy and a Jewish boy.
Wallace examined the political and religious turmoil of Christ's time.
So he came up with the idea of Judah Ben-Hur. . .
. . .and Messala, the opposing forces for the conflict.
Either you help me or you oppose me, you have no other choice.
lf that is the choice. . .
. . .then l am against you.
There's Messala.
Rome furnished the politics and made the evolution of Messala easy.
l'm not mad, l'm not a murderer!
l know you're not.
You are evil.
No, Judah, l am not evil.
l wanted your help.
Now you've given it to me.
When he wrote Ben-Hur, Wallace had no particular religious feeling.
But then, something happened to change his mind.
He had an occasion to meet, on a train trip, this Robert lngersoll.
" The Great Agnostic" l believe they refer to him as.
He repudiated God, Heaven. . .
. . .Jesus Christ, as far as the Divinity is concerned.
The general, taken aback by lngersoll's virulent agnosticism...
...began rethinking his story.
Lew Wallace, neither a believer or a nonbeliever at that time. . .
. . .decided that he was going to make the case. . .
. . .for the Divinity, culminating with the crucifixion at the end. . .
. . .and the conversion of Ben-Hur to Christianity.
After almost five years of writing...
... Wallace's book was published in 1 880.
lt was not an instant success.
But after two years, sales took off...
...and Ben-Hur became a publishing phenomenon.
And like the hero of his tale...
... General Wallace had also become a believer.
By 1 882, Wallace was inundated with offers...
... to adapt his bestseller for the stage.
But the newly religious general was concerned...
...how the Christ figure would be treated.
He held out. He was afraid, because of the religious theme. . .
. . .that it wouldn't be treated properly.
Finally, two theatrical producers...
...Mark Klaw and Abraham Erlanger...
...hit upon an idea that convinced Wallace.
Klaw and Erlanger would not use an actor to play Christ on stage...
...but instead, a shaft of intense white light.
Wallace liked the idea. And Klaw and Erlanger now...
...had one of the hottest theatrical properties of the time.
But they had to tackle a much more practical problem.
How to stage two of the book's most thrilling scenes:
The great sea battle and the great chariot race.
The solution for the race was to put huge treadmills on stage...
...and run live horses on them...
... while rolling an endless canvas backdrop behind them.
As the years went by and the show became even more spectacular. . .
. . .they added more chariots and more horses.
And l know that at one count they were up to at least five. . .
. . .chariots, if you can imagine that on a stage.
Klaw and Erlanger invested an unheard-of sum...
...of $ 7 5,000 to dramatize Ben-Hur. . .
...and their investment paid off.
Ben-Hur, the play, grossed an unprecedented...
... ten million dollars during its 20-year run...
...and more than 20 million people saw it onstage.
They had music, they had a chorus singing throughout this.
They had all these big scenes, including the sea battle. . .
. . .with cloth representing the sea.
People offstage doing the number with the cloth. . .
. . .with motorized waves and what have you.
lt was truly a major production.
Religious leaders jumped on the Ben-Hur bandwagon...
...and urged their congregations to see the play.
People even had chariot races at county fairs.
But during its long run, the play did not always go as planned.
One night in Boston, because of the treadmills not operating properly. . .
. . .Messala won the race.
And of course they couldn't change the text of the play. . .
. . .so because of this, they just carried on as though Ben-Hur had won.
During its run, some of the country's top actors vied for a role...
...in the most heroic saga of the Judean prince, Ben-Hur.
But the only cast member to complete the entire 20-year run...
... was an Arabian horse named Monk...
... who just happened to belong to General Wallace.
After the turn of the century, a burgeoning new art form...
... was also eager to capitalize on the success of Ben-Hur.
Celluloid art was still in its infancy in 1 907...
... when the Kalem Company shot the very first film version of Ben-Hur.
Rather than going to the expense of staging their own chariot sequence...
... the filmmakers headed to Manhattan Beach, New York...
... where horses and firemen from the Brooklyn Fire Department...
... were performing a chariot race as part of a fireworks show.
The film was billed as ''Sixteen magnificent scenes...
... with illustrated titles.
Positively the most super motion picture ever made. ''
The motion picture, a one-reeler...
... was only about 1 5 minutes long...
...a standard length for that time. But it was quite significant...
...not only for the first filmed depiction of the chariot race...
...but also setting a legal precedent for copyright infringement.
Lew Wallace had died in 1 905, two years before the film was made...
...and his family had assumed ownership of the rights for the story.
When they heard about the Kalem Company's film, the heirs sued...
...claiming the producers failed to get permission from the Wallaces.
The suit went all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, where the heirs won.
The court ordered the Kalem Company to pay $ 25,000 to the Wallace family.
Writers today can thank Ben-Hur for the copyright protection they enjoy...
... with regard to any film version of their work.
By the 1 920s, the film industry had come a long way.
Silent pictures were in their heyday...
...and filmmakers were eager to make...
... the ''supreme motion picture masterpiece of all time. ''
A new, longer version of Ben-Hur.
lt was a colossal success.
And everybody saw the 1 925 Ben-Hur.
lt was, again, it was something you had to do.
ln prestige, and in recognition for a new company. . .
. . .that was just being put together at that time. . .
. . .to have this as one of their early releases. . .
. . .really consolidated their position.
Even though the film was immensely popular...
...it'd be almost 6 years before this version of Ben-Hur turned a profit.
The final cost of the film, after all the chips were in. . .
. . .was $4 million.
Now remember, this is 1 925. $4 million was unheard of.
An expensive, a very expensive picture in those days. . .
. . .would be $ 1 million.
lt finally was in the black, just barely, in a 1 931 reissue. . .
. . .where they added synchronized music and effects. . .
. . .so that it became a sound picture of sorts.
The studio which acquired the rights to Wallace's story...
... was Goldwyn Pictures in California.
Wallace's son, Henry, had reluctantly sold the rights to investors...
... who in turn made a complicated profit-sharing arrangement...
... with the Goldwyn Studio.
J.J. Cohn went to ltaly to see if they should make the motion picture there.
l was a production manager in 1 925.
l went to Rome before 1 925.
l came over here with Columbus.
l went over to see a man.
He didn't think any picture in the world. . .
. . .should cost more than $200,000.
The filmmakers packed up and headed to Rome in January of 1 924...
... to make what would be one of the most expensive...
...and troubled productions of the entire silent era.
There were just a multitude of problems.
The fascist and antifascist elements.
Mussolini had come into power.
There were constant strikes. One group was pitted against another.
They couldn't get things accomplished. Things were taking longer to build.
There were these warring factions.
A lot of the people wanted this shoot to go forever over in ltaly. . .
. . .because they figured this was a great way to pick up good money.
ln California, the Goldwyn Company was in the process of merging...
... with Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions.
The success or failure of the newly formed MGM was riding on one thing:
The problem-plagued Ben-Hur.
Louis B. Mayer, in charge of the studio, and lrving Thalberg. . .
. . .the legendary lrving Thalberg, as his right-hand man.
They suddenly inherited. . .
. . .this major catastrophe. . .
. . .and quickly decided something had to be done.
The first thing they did after seeing some of the dailies from ltaly. . .
. . .was to change the director.
They put Fred Niblo on, who had worked for Mayer. . .
. . .and was a known quantity.
They felt that George Walsh, who'd been cast in the role of Ben-Hur. . .
. . .was really not right.
After having earlier considered Rudolph Valentino...
...cowboy star Buck Jones...
...John Gilbert and dozens of other matinee idols...
...Ramon Novarro was finally chosen to replace George Walsh as Ben-Hur.
Virtually the only members of the original team to remain...
... were Francis X. Bushman, who played Messala...
...and Carmel Myers, who played Messala 's mistress.
An unknown 1 9-year-old actress named Myrna Loy...
... was added to the cast as an extra.
The new cast and crew took a ship over to Europe...
...and arrived in Rome in June of 1 924.
Production started over from scratch.
MGM had harnessed all the technology and magic of the movies...
... to make the film a hit. ln making this groundbreaking epic...
...Frank Williams designed the collapse of a Roman palace...
... with his innovative traveling matte effect.
To enhance certain scenes...
... the producers experimented with an early version of Technicolor.
The two-color process, which did not render...
...a true blue or a yellow.
lt seems the director even felt the women needed enhancement.
ln this letter to studio head, Louis B. Mayer...
...director Niblo said the ltalian extras were heavy and unattractive.
He wanted to import women from Paris for the Daphne scene.
These were the days before the Hayes Office censorship.
For the extraordinary sea battle scenes...
... the art directors had full-size galleys built in ltalian shipyards.
But that's when the problems on the ltalian shoot really heated up.
Then they started the naval battle.
An actual battle that was taking place at sea. . .
. . .and there was supposed to be a fire of sorts. . .
. . .on the main flagship.
They had oilcans on fire, they had smoke things, and what have you.
But suddenly, because of the wind coming up through the oarholes. . .
. . .the draft that was created started the whole ship to blaze in a hurry.
And all of the extras immediately decided to dive into the water.
And this was not a tank, remember, this was in the ocean.
Well, some of the extras had said, " Yes, of course, l can swim. "
The old story when you're interviewed.
" Can you swim or ride a horse?" "Yes. "
ln this case, a lot of them couldn't, so they ended up in the water.
There were legends about losing some of these people. . .
. . .who weren't rescued. We don't really know.
But that footage is in the picture.
You do see that fire and you see these people leaping overboard.
And it wasn 't just the extras that experienced some real drama.
Ben-Hur himself bore his own battle scars.
ln a 1 961 interview, Ramon Novarro remembered shooting the fiery scene.
Well, yes. ln the exterior they had. . .
. . .a very effective scene.
They had a camera over an awning, it started burning. . .
. . .and as soon as the hole was large enough, it revealed me on the mast.
And l jumped through the burning hole to save Arrius' life.
l still have a few marks on my body of the burning.
ls that so?
This unexpected debauch...
... was the last Roman straw for the studio executives.
Louis B. Mayer and Thalberg ordered the entire cast and crew...
...back to Culver City to complete the picture.
New sets were constructed.
The call went out for thousands of extras for the mammoth chariot scene.
Motion picture history was about to be made.
The chariot race, of course, was a major event.
lt was at the corner of Venice and La Cienega Boulevard. . .
. . .which was a huge open lot.
They had built this big arena. They had all these extras in on a Saturday.
They had all of the notables of Hollywood coming down.
The Doug Fairbankses, the Mary Pickfords, the Harold Lloyds.
They all came to watch this. lt was like a big circus.
MGM hired 42 cameramen for 42 cameras.
More than Hollywood had ever used, or would use again.
There were cameras everywhere.
Cameras on towers that looked like oil derricks.
Cameras on flatbed trucks.
Cameras concealed inside statues, behind shields.
Cameras on mobile platforms and camera cars.
J.J. Cohn was there that day.
Mr. Thalberg came down. . .
. . .and was worried that we didn't have enough people.
l thought we did.
We had close to 3000, if l remember rightly.
And we added some more, just to make sure.
And we had to get lunch for them.
So l told the assistant director to put the horses on the track. . .
. . .so we'd be ready for them.
Mr. Niblo didn't want to do it. . .
. . .because he said the lunches hadn't been there.
l said, get the horses out on the track.
He said, " We'll have a riot. "
l said, " lt'll look as if they're cheering the race. "
Still, the producers did not think the crowds were big enough.
The new Circus Maximus built in California...
...had to dwarf any previous set built in Rome.
So it was up to the art directors to compensate.
When they did the chariot race where you see. . .
. . .what looks like thousands and thousands of people. . .
. . .you did have a lot of extras.
But the top half of that Circus Maximus. . .
. . .is a miniature that's hanging in front of the camera. . .
. . .in which there are little dolls that are moved on dowels. . .
. . .so you get a sense of movement there.
So the set looks twice as big, if not more.
lt looks like three times as many people than were actually there.
And there were a lot of people there.
To add some excitement to the chariot sequence...
... the producers offered the rodeo stars...
...and horse wranglers driving the chariots an incentive:
Five thousand dollars to the winner.
And excitement they got.
They did get a big crash. That crash is in the final picture.
lt wasn't staged. lt was an accident.
And there was a tremendous pileup of men, chariots and horses.
And when you watch it, it's really something to behold.
As to how many people were hurt? Certainly horses were hurt.
lt's hard to say. . .
. . .because they weren't releasing that kind of material at the time.
We had every assistant director. . .
. . .we could lay hands on, to help. . .
. . .in the shooting of the big scenes.
One assistant director tried to prevent the pileup...
...by attempting to warn the chariots as they came around the bend.
Another assistant director on hand to help wrangle the chariot sequence...
... was a young William Wyler...
... who, 33 years later, would have another encounter with the epic...
. . .Ben-Hur.
Generation after generation of readers have been thrilled by Ben-Hur.
No book, save the Bible, has ever been so widely read.
Now, as a motion picture, Ben-Hur has inspired enthusiastic acclaim. . .
. . .in every corner of the earth.
The year is 1 958.
Again MGM turned to Ben-Hur to save the once-mighty studio...
...from the brink of bankruptcy.
This is the '50s, the movies are desperate.
They're losing their audience to television.
You had these big, religious spectacles. . .
. . .and those pictures were doing extremely well at that time.
The average picture, the run-of-the-mill picture. . .
. . .was not drawing particularly well in the theaters.
l crown their god.
A cutter on the silent version, Sam Zimbalist...
... would return to produce the colossal picture.
Sam was one of their most successful producers.
Certainly, he was the nicest.
And Sam was assigned this with the understanding:
" lf you don't pull this off-- We'll give you the money you need.
But if this doesn't come off, there is no studio. "
Zimbalist convinced his friend William Wyler to take on the massive project.
Wyler had already directed such important films as Jezebel. . .
The Best Years of our Lives and Wuthering Heights.
Now he was ready for a change of pace...
...as he recalled in an 1 98 1 interview.
The producer of Ben-Hur said to me:
" How about doing Ben-Hur?"
l thought it would be intriguing to make a Cecil B. DeMille picture.
So l took on the job.
lt was in line with my desire to make every kind of picture.
My father used to joke. . .
. . .that it took a Jew to make a good movie about Christ.
And he wanted to make a movie. . .
. . .that a broad audience would like. . .
. . .irrespective of their religious beliefs.
l've heard of a young rabbi who says that forgiveness is greater. . .
. . .and love more powerful than hatred.
l believe it.
-Esther. -Judah.
Wyler always had a reputation for being very slow. . .
. . .and being a perfectionist. . .
. . .and dealing, of course, with more intimate dramas.
But that's exactly why Zimbalist wanted him.
And Zimbalist wanted Wyler badly enough to offer him $ 1 million.
The most any director had been paid up to that time.
Also, l thought this picture could make lots of money. . .
. . .and maybe l'll get some of it. Which l did.
Once again, the MGM studio headed to Rome to begin the new epic.
And it was a big, lumbering production. . .
. . .that needed a lot of work and a lot of attention.
There was an American crew of about 1 25. . .
. . .or 1 30 people over there.
For an entire year, Ben-Hur was the biggest film production in the world...
... with a cast of literally thousands and more than 300 sets.
Some were under construction a full year...
...before the first frame of film was ever shot.
Art director, Edward Carfagno...
... was one of the first to arrive to supervise construction of the sets.
Years of research had gone into their elaborate design.
The massive sets would eventually win Carfagno an Oscar.
He and his then 1 9-year-old son, Edward Jr...
...documented much of the early production with their home movies.
My father knew he'd be there for a while. . .
. . .so we went to live with him and go to school.
He was proud of the whole thing.
The set for Arrius' party was quite a spectacular set.
That came off very well.
That set took up pretty much all of a stage.
The fountains worked and it was quite large.
Things like Ben-Hur's house, which was on a wood frame. . .
. . .was stucco that was then dressed and painted to look like stone.
The stadium bottom, as l recall, seven feet of the wall. . .
. . .surrounding the course were built of stone. . .
. . .because the chariots were so heavy. . .
. . .they weighed about 700 pounds apiece. . .
. . .that was quite a thing to stop, so that was stone.
The city of Jerusalem alone covered 1 0 square blocks...
...including the massive gate of Joppa.
By the time the sets were completed, the crews...
...had used 40,000 cubic feet of lumber...
...more than one million pounds of plaster...
...and 250 miles of metal tubing.
Forty-thousand tons of white sand...
... were carried in from the beaches of the Mediterranean.
Meticulous research also went into the dressing of the sets.
One funny thing happened with the art department.
l took a friend of mine, an archaeologist, to see the sets.
We went into Mrs. Ben-Hur's kitchen.
And there in the kitchen. . .
. . .was a very large, ripe tomato.
And my friend said, " Oh, it's--" He was an English guy.
" Tomato's not been invented yet, you know. "
l said, " What do you mean?"
" lt comes from the New World with Columbus, wouldn't be tomato. "
So l talked to the art man. He said, "l've gotta have something red there. "
l said, " Try a pepper. " "Not invented," said the Englishman.
They hadn't invented red peppers.
l don't know what we had, but there was something red on that table.
And then they were so proud. Announcements were going out:
" This Jerusalem is the Jerusalem of Jesus Christ.
He could move through this city and feel absolutely at home.
He would know where to go and order a pizza. "
Which was a contemporary dish.
Rather than shooting the sea battle on the open ocean...
... which had proved disastrous in the '25 version...
... Carfagno supervised the digging of a man-made lake.
They even built sections of two Roman galleys.
lt took 300 oarsmen to power each of these massive battleships.
Steersman, ram course! Order below! Ramming speed!
Steersman, right.
Water is one of the most difficult illusions. . .
. . .and it was quite successfully done in the sea battle of Ben-Hur.
lt was done in a big tank with underwater tracks.
And these tracks would then move the ships along.
The costume design was elaborate.
Silk, jewelry, armor and lace were ordered from all over the world.
After a year in England embroidering woolens and tooling leathers...
... the designers moved headquarters to the Cinecittà Studios in Rome.
More than 1 00 seamstresses, armorers, and leather-makers were employed.
With work on the sets and costumes well underway...
...producer Sam Zimbalist, director William Wyler...
...and the rest of the production staff...
... traveled to Rome to begin shooting.
But there was a slight hitch:
The script.
They'd also built Charlton Heston out of solid balsa wood.
There he stood, greeting us warmly. . .
. . .surrounded by paparazzi, and there's no script.
And there's a start date and the studio is slowly going down the drain.
Sam did show me the script where Willy had written into the margin:
" Terrible. " " Awful. " " Rewrite. "
Over the years, MGM had accumulated over 40 scripts for Ben-Hur.
And it was a screenplay written by Karl Tunberg...
... that Wyler carried to Rome.
l certainly remember him agonizing over the screenplay. . .
. . .as he did over every screenplay he worked on.
Tunberg had a script, a completed script. . .
. . .which everybody agreed on. Then they got to Rome. . .
. . .and Willy started looking at the script. . .
. . .and decided there were many things he didn't like.
Gore Vidal, already under contract to MGM...
... was hired to revise it.
So, Sam turned to me and he said, "Will you have a go at it?"
And l said, "l would rather die, Sam. "
And l said, " This is a piece of junk. "
He said, " l know, but l'm asking you. . .
. . .as a personal favor. "
And l said--
Love only goes so far in the movies--
" Will you let me out of the rest of my contract?"
l had two more years.
He said, " Yes, if you come to Rome with William Wyler and me in April. "
We start in on the script and at one point--
l had done about 1 0 versions of the scene where the two boys meet--
l said, "Willy, let's try something here.
Let's make it a lovers' quarrel. "
Judah, we must believe in one another.
Will you drink to that?
With all my heart.
Willy had-- One ear was deaf and the other he could hear.
When he didn't like what you were saying. . .
. . .he would turn this way and he didn't hear a word.
When l said " lovers' quarrel," l got the good ear swung my way. . .
. . .and he said, "What do you mean?"
l said, " Well, could it be. . .
. . .that the two boys had had some sort of emotional relationship. . .
. . .first time around?
And now the Roman. . .
. . .wants to start up again. . .
. . .and Ben-Hur doesn't.
And doesn't get the point. "
Willy said, " Gore, this is Ben-Hur!
You can't do that to Ben-Hur. "
l said, " lf you don't do something like that, you won't have Ben-Hur.
You're going to have a motiveless mess on your hands. "
And he said, "Well, you can't be overt. "
l said, " l'm not going to be overt. There won't be one line.
But l can write it in such a way that the audience will feel. . .
. . .that there's something emotional between these two. . .
. . .which is not stated. . .
. . .and which blows a fuse in Messala. "
Beg?!
That he is spurned.
Didn't l beg you?
So it's a love scene gone wrong.
And then, over the years, the subject would come up.
And l would mention this.
Willy said, " That isn't true. "
And he said, " l don't remember we ever had that discussion. "
And this has. . . .
This has become a famous point of contention. . .
. . .between Wyler and me.
Eventually, British playwright Christopher Fry...
... was called in to rewrite much of the dialogue.
So Sam Zimbalist, the producer, and Christopher. . .
. . .started rewriting much of the script. . .
. . .behind Willy shooting.
He'd shoot one day what they wrote the previous day.
They were just a jump ahead of the devil all the time with him.
He was very keen for the language. . .
. . .to reflect. . .
. . .the times.
And the fact that this was a story. . .
. . .that was actually taking place 2000 years ago. . .
. . .so that the language not be current language, but also not be. . .
. . .ridiculous sounding, that it have some poetry to it.
What Christopher Fry was doing was changing a line like:
" How was your dinner?" . . .
. . .to " Was the meal to your liking?"
Was the food not to your liking?
lndeed.
Thank you, thank you.
Nevertheless, despite all the rewrites...
...it was the original screenwriter, Karl Tunberg...
... who would go on to receive sole writing credit for the film.
Wyler told the Screenwriters Guild that the script was written by Fry.
He wanted Fry to have sole credit because l had left. . .
. . .and Fry had stayed with him for six months.
Fry, like a gentleman, said: " l can't take credit for what Gore has written.
And Gore wrote everything up to the chariot race.
So it should be a co-credit. "
Wyler said, " Fine. "
Next thing we know the Screenwriters Guild arbitration has said:
" This is the sole work of one Karl Tunberg. "
l think Wyler got upset and crusaded against him winning an Oscar.
He was nominated, but didn't win.
Despite the tremendous pressure behind the scenes...
... the producers and the cast put up a relaxed and glamorous front.
And the allure of this blockbuster-in-the-making...
...drew everybody to Ben-Hur.
Everybody who was anybody, from Bette Davis...
... to Kirk Douglas...
... to Ed Sullivan...
... visited the set in Rome.
And the hottest ticket in town...
... was a ride in the chariot.
Even the ltalian aristocracy was caught up in Ben-Hur fever...
...and jockeyed somehow to be included in the production.
For this scene, the Duchess Nona Medici and Count Mariliano.
... were among the real noble names cast.
All of Rome knew. . .
. . .that Ben-Hur was being filmed at this studio called Cinecittà.
And l think when he decided to cast the party scene, he thought:
" Well, the aristocracy of Rome went to that party then. . .
. . .and they should come to this party now.
They certainly will know how to behave. "
Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur...
...at the reins of his chariot.
lt is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role.
Heston was never on the list.
The first person Metro wanted. . .
. . .was Paul Newman, who had just made his third picture at Warner Bros.
Paul had been in a Biblical epic called The Silver Chalice...
. . .in which he was terrible. . .
. . .and the picture was terrible.
Newman and Joanne Woodward and l were all living at the beach at Malibu.
l was delegated to get Newman to play Ben-Hur.
Paul said, " Never again will l act in a movie. . .
. . .in a cocktail dress. "
" That's not for me," he said, " And besides, l don't have the legs for it. "
For Ben-Hur, at one time or another, Marlon Brando was considered. . .
. . .Kirk Douglas was considered, Burt Lancaster. . .
. . .Rock Hudson. . . .
Then they did something. . .
. . .that l have never seen a major studio in that period do.
-They had an open call. -Turn round.
Anybody could test if they could pass through the assistant directors.
-Have you ridden a lot? -Since l was 4.
Have you? You ever driven a chariot?
Never. Yet.
They tried everybody and there was still no actor. . .
. . .and they were still building sets.
The actors given more careful consideration took screen tests.
Here Leslie Nielsen plays Messala against Cesare Danova as Ben-Hur.
l can't down Eros with much conviction anymore.
Met too many ladies to go about insulting the god of love.
The picture my father made just before Ben-Hur was The Big Country...
. . .and Charlton Heston had a leading role in that.
At whatever point he realized. . .
. . .that he'd just worked with somebody that was perfect for Ben-Hur...
. . .must have been a great relief.
l do remember when he first agreed to do Ben-Hur...
. . .and was first looking. . .
. . .for the actor to play Judah Ben-Hur. . .
. . .that there were a certain number. . .
. . .of ltalian strongmen. . .
. . .whose pictures arrived at the house.
And there was some consternation about the fact that. . .
. . .could they speak English? What was their accent like?
And they did have a beautiful body. . .
. . .but that wasn't gonna be enough.
When l was a boy, l dreamed of commanding this garrison.
Stephen Boyd was cast opposite Heston as the Roman Messala.
The young lrishman was a relative newcomer to the screen.
He was an enigmatic young man with that lrish look that he could do anything.
Which really helped the part.
Particularly as l saw the part.
But the blue-eyed Boyd would have to play the part with brown eyes. . .
. . .decided director Wyler after taking a look at his cast.
But he suddenly realized that he'd cast all these blue-eyed actors.
Just seemed as though everybody in this movie had blue eyes.
And suddenly it drove him crazy.
So he decided that the actor who played Messala. . .
. . .had to be brown-eyed.
Somebody had to be brown-eyed, and he was chosen.
And he had to wear contact lenses.
We were rascals, weren't we?
No, you were good boys. l would have that time again.
Martha Scott was cast as Miriam, Ben-Hur's mother.
A part she was familiar with having played Heston 's mother...
...in The Ten Commandments.
And yet, why is it. . .
. . .l'm not afraid anymore?
Ben-Hur's younger sister, Tirzah...
... was played by Cathy O'Donnell...
... William Wyler's sister-in-law.
She had a particular quality. . .
. . .of innocence. . .
. . .and naiveté. . .
. . .actually, through her whole life. . .
. . .that most people lose. . .
. . .by the time they leave their teens, if not before.
He hasn't changed, has he, Mother?
What? Yes, yes.
Yes, l love you too. There's my good Antares.
Hugh Griffith won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as Sheik llderim.
Four-to-one, sheik.
The difference between a Roman and a Jew?
Or an Arab?
Bravely spoken.
The highly acclaimed Jack Hawkins plays Quintus Arrius...
...a stern taskmaster who, through a twist of fate...
... would come to adopt Ben-Hur.
Now listen to me, all of you.
You are all condemned men.
We keep you alive to serve this ship.
So row well. . .
. . .and live.
Haya Harareet was cast as Ben-Hur's love interest, Esther...
...seen here in a makeup test.
Harareet was born in Palestine and, in fact...
... was the only non-American actor cast as a Hebrew.
Do you love this man?
l will learn to love him.
British actors portrayed the Romans.
The grown man knows the world he lives in.
And for the present, the world is Rome.
The Romans were. . .
. . .the aristocracy of the time.
So they spoke in what we sort of think of as the more. . .
. . .aristocratic English.
You have become victor and hero to these people.
They look to you, "their one true god," as l call you.
lf you stay here, you will find yourself part of this tragedy.
ln the middle of the picture, Sam Zimbalist dies.
Ben-Hur killed him, just the sheer pressure of that movie.
Sam Zimbalist dropped dead one day of a heart attack.
l think that the pressure. . .
. . .which was already severe. . .
. . .because Ben-Hur was designed. . .
. . .to save MGM Studios at the time.
Well, the pressure just mounted exponentially. . .
. . .when suddenly the producer was no longer there.
MGM turned the overwhelming production over to William Wyler...
...and J.J. Cohn...
... who 33 years earlier had helped make the 1 925 Ben-Hur film a success.
l was the only dog around, so l took charge.
Authority is something you take. . .
. . .they don't give you.
l remember my father saying that not a week went by. . .
. . .that someone didn't appear from the home office in Rome. . .
. . .to see what was going on.
He was under. . .
. . .intense pressure all the time.
One of the sources of that pressure was the religious aspect of the story.
l have found him. The child has become a man.
And the man, oh, l know it now. . .
. . .is the Son of God.
The studio had consultants from the Vatican...
...as well as from the Protestant and Jewish faiths.
The '59 version of Ben-Hur...
. . .as opposed to the 1 925 version, the stage version, and the novel. . .
. . .was a little more on the vague side. . .
. . .with regard to Judah Ben-Hur's conversion to Christianity.
lt was very direct in the earlier versions.
Christ is on his way to the cross and cleanses the lepers. . .
. . .and performs miracles and so forth.
ln the '59 version. . .
. . .it's indirect.
We have the big storm and so forth. . .
. . .and then the family no longer has leprosy.
But there is no overt conversion.
lt's more the " Brotherhood of Man" kind of thing. . .
. . .that he is embracing and that the family is embracing.
That was probably done because of the changing times.
The studio was especially concerned...
...about the treatment of the Christ figure.
Willy has something in his mind. . .
. . .as to how the man walked. . .
. . .with dignity and that sort of thing.
And with a man like Willy Wyler handling it. . .
. . .it wouldn't be anything but dignity.
You! l said no water for him!
The subtitle of Ben-Hur...
. . .is " A Tale of the Christ. "
lt was one of the things that was a challenge, to portray the Christ.
lt's something that's a bit scary. . .
. . .when he may be the best known man who ever lived.
So l staged all the scenes with him. . .
. . .in such a way that you only saw the back of his head. . .
. . .and you saw the way other people reacted to him.
You think you saw him, you think you heard his voice. . .
. . .but you didn't really.
This rare costume test reveals the face of Claude Heater...
... the actor who portrayed Christ.
To embody the Passion of Christ...
...Zimbalist and Wyler called on renowned composer Miklos Rozsa...
...for a masterful music score.
ln responding to the challenge of the picture in terms of his own spirit. . .
. . .l think he came close to the soul of the movie.
lt's many things. . .
. . .and it's music which can do that better than almost any other factor.
l can't say enough how important l think music is to a picture. . .
. . .if it's done properly.
So did William Wyler.
ln fact, we changed the cutting in some sequences. . .
. . .to fit what the music would be.
Take him.
Those are very powerful scenes between Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston.
And there you have to accentuate. . .
. . .the underlying combination. . .
. . .of what was formerly affection, love and respect. . .
. . .and the change to this hard attitude.
Not only the music sets the mood and atmosphere of a film.
Matte paintings can also transport the audience to another time and place.
The matte shot is basically the means. . .
. . .of painting in part of a scene that you don't have to build. . .
. . .and you can create a shot that would give the film. . .
. . .an incredible sense of grandeur.
The producers used these to cut costs in shooting the parade sequence.
There are scenes where Roman legions are coming for forever, it seems.
And, in fact, there were only 40 or so troops. . .
. . .that were used for that scene. . .
. . .shot in different positions. . .
. . .then reduced and put back into the distance.
Mattes were also used to make the Circus Maximus...
...appear larger than life.
Here, without the paintings in place...
...modern Rome is visible in the background.
This is the way filmmakers envisioned the Circus Maximus...
...in all its magnificent splendor.
Ben-Hur was shot in. . .
. . .what they call Camera 65.
That is, a 65-millimeter camera.
The images are something like almost four times the size. . .
. . .of a normal release that you see in most movies today.
lt also had what they call an " anamorphic" process. . .
. . .that stretched the image, so it was almost three-to-one.
Three times as wide as it was high. . .
. . .which also gave the chariot sequence, for instance. . .
. . .the grandeur that it had. . .
. . .because you can see so much action happening at once. . .
. . .because of this incredibly wide frame.
The massive chariot sequence took a full year of preparation...
...and required the best stuntmen Hollywood had to offer.
We went over in February. . .
. . .about four months preceding the filming of the race. . .
. . .and worked on the teams, drove the chariot teams. . .
. . .and got them down to where you could handle them. . .
. . .and they were fit for a race.
During that period of time. . .
. . .we set up time in the morning where the actors involved in the race. . .
. . .could come out and drive and get familiar with the teams themselves.
lf an actor can do that. . .
. . .it'll enable the director to get in closer with the camera. . .
. . .whereas with a double he has to stay back further.
lt was funny because the only one that showed up was Chuck Heston.
He was out there every day. . .
. . .and consequently when the picture started. . .
. . .he could drive a chariot about as well as anybody in the business.
But, of course, when we found that Messala and Ben-Hur. . .
. . .could each drive the chariot it was pretty exciting. . .
. . .because we could go in and get some good shots.
Even though Heston handled the horses with ease...
...for the more dangerous scenes Joe Canutt stepped in as his double...
...under the careful guidance of his father...
... the highly respected Second Unit Director...
... Yakima Canutt.
Where the team jumps two wrecked chariots and Heston rides over it. . .
. . .well, my son was doubling him.
The thing had me a little bit worried because it could've been a bad mix-up.
So l went over. . .
. . .and give them all their last-minute instructions.
And l told Joe, " Joe. . .
. . .have them wide open. . .
. . .before you get there, settle the team so they can make a good jump.
That will keep from throwing you over the chariot. "
And he said, " Well, okay. "
So l figured he'd bought my way.
And when we started the scene. . .
. . .he come around, beautiful turn around the corner and into the wall. . .
. . .and he hit this thing wide open, he never settled the team.
When the team started the jump, he dropped the reins. . .
. . .and both hands in front.
l just swallowed my Adam's apple-- "Here goes a wreck. "
Well, it turned him a complete handspring over the chariot.
He managed to hang with one hand and get ahold of the hitch. . .
. . .and turned to flip off into the spina wall.
He cut his chin, a couple of stitches, didn't amount to anything.
Thirty minutes he was back on the job, working.
People have asked me. . .
. . .about somebody getting hurt and people being killed.
Nobody was hurt, nobody was killed.
The double for Ben-Hur. . .
. . .that time when he went over the front of the chariot. . .
. . .that also was an accident.
So we just went in and shot a close-up of Chuck Heston.
l had two trick things there. . .
. . .that l wanted to give the effect of somebody really being killed.
l had the guard standing along the spina wall. . .
. . .and l put a dummy in between two of these fellas. . .
. . .and when one of the teams comes in close. . .
. . .they shove the dummy over enough that he gets hooked by the horse. . .
. . .and it spins him and then hauled off and the next team runs over him.
l had another one where the wheel come off and he's drug behind the team. . .
. . .and turned the chariot over.
l had him turn loose. . .
. . .and as he started to get up, there was a team coming right at him. . .
. . .and he done a dive out of the way, hit the ground and rolled. . .
. . .and ended up on his hands and knees. . .
. . .getting up, not cut.
Then l moved in close, put the team back. . .
. . .and put a dummy on a board on its knees. . .
. . .on the ground where l could trip it.
And as l did, the spring would flip it up and that threw his arms up.
And timed it and put it in there. . .
. . .and everybody swore it was a real man and we got him hurt.
Not counting Messala, perhaps the biggest loser in the chariot race...
... was one of the $ 1 00,000 65-millimeter cameras...
...of which there were very few in the world.
l have the distinction. . .
. . .of completely demolishing the first 70-millimeter camera.
They had a scene where Messala and Ben-Hur. . .
. . .were locked together, neck-and-neck. . .
. . .and do a 1 80-degree turn around the end of the spina.
They had a camera shooting toward the spina. . .
. . .so when we come around the spina, we go between the camera and the spina.
We tried it two or three times, and it seemed to work. . .
. . .but l don't know what happened.
When they shot it, we came around the turn. . .
. . .and just everything started drifting out.
There was ground glass and film and cameramen running every direction. . .
. . .it was kind of a mess.
We were very unpopular around MGM for a year or two after that.
The final cost for Ben-Hur:
Fifteen million dollars.
The most expensive film made up to that time.
The MGM epic would go on to earn 80 million dollars.
The costliest motion picture ever made wins Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acclaim. . .
. . .for faith in an industry ever new and changing.
With the movie completed...
...a massive advertising and PR campaign ensued.
Coffee break with the star while purchasing tickets.
A rare treat! The girls will hear about this.
Ben-Hur merchandise swept the nation.
Everyone wanted something with a Ben-Hur motif.
At a reception before the premiere. . .
. . .Heston is greeted by the Ben-Hur of the 1 925 silent screen version. . .
. . .Ramon Novarro.
A nostalgic touch. And Novarro looks so youthful.
Eleven Oscars are won by MGM's Ben-Hur.
l would like especially to thank. . .
. . .Willy and Christopher Fry. . .
. . .and Sam Zimbalist, who gave more than any of us.
Thank you.
lt's full of life. . .
. . .and that was the Wyler touch.
These aren't just cutouts. . .
. . .these really are people. . .
. . .driven by powerful emotions. . .
. . .set in time.
When you had a script. . .
. . .that was improved by Sam Zimbalist. . .
. . .when you had Christopher Fry. . .
. . .entering the picture. . .
. . .you weren't talking about people who were good. . .
. . .you were talking about gods.
Today, more than 30 years...
...after the final frame was shot...
. . .Ben-Hur remains one of the crowning achievements...
...of the Hollywood studio system.
The story that began in the mind of a Civil War hero...
...more than a century ago...
...still retains the dramatic power...
... the majesty...
...and the compelling grandeur...
... that will thrill audiences for generations to come.
To the best of thee. . .
. . .the crown of victory.
The race begins!