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BEN HUR -- A Genuine Move Lollapalooza
by Wyatt Newman
Of course you saw it. Everyone in Christendom saw the blockbuster
of all blockbusters, Ben-Hur. It came out in 1959, the Fifties being
a decade with many epic movies, the type that are so long (Ben-Hur
was 3 hours, 42 minutes) that there was an intermission. That and
the opening overture added significantly to total theater time. Not
a movie to be stuck with a boring date, pity anyone who was. A movie
so engrossing that one couldn't possibly munch popcorn and watch at
the same time. And, being a movie with a heavy religious theme, it
almost seemed disrespectful to do so.
In one of my undergraduate years at Rogers I read the book by Civil
War general, Lew Wallace, fully titled "Ben-Hur; A Tale of the
Christ," which I thought was an unusually worded subtitle. MGM
Studios wisely chose to drop it. Ben-Hur wasn't a required book for
an English class, and I don't even think it was for book report
credit for reading it. For some reason I read many of the classics
in my high school years, Don Quixote being another memorable.
There's a long-standing debate to either read the book before seeing
the movie or see the movie before enjoying the book. I'm sure I just
went to see Ben- Hur because it was about Romans, a topic of great
interest to me. I certainly didn't go for religious reasons.
I read recently someone who was involved in the making of Ben-Hur
still dismissing the rumor that an actor was killed in the chariot
race. It was just good special effects. I recently watched it on
home video and that crash of a chariot and the driver being tossed
underfoot by oncoming horses' hooves deserved an academy for special
effects itself in a movie that collected a record eleven Oscars.
Notes on the video jacket claim 15,000 extras were used in the
chariot race, part of 50,000 for the entire film. No studio, today,
could possibly afford to make such an extravaganza, so my calling
Ben-Hur "the blockbuster of blockbusters" will stands as
far as I'm concerned. Blockbuster, lalapalooza, epic "cinematic
masterpiece...colorful spectacle that will linger long in the eye of
the beholder," (Hollywoodese used on the video jacket)all are
appropriate.
I believe I saw it at the Post. Why is it The Post Theater seemed to
show the best movies? Maybe my memory has a Post-lock. I would think
the Fox would have shown Ben-Hur, but I recall leaving the theater
with Dick Churchill the summer of 1960. I'm positive it was summer
because I drove elevators at the Paulsen Medical Dental Building at
that time, and one of the doctors (Dr. Jurdy) who had an office
there said to me when the lights came on after as he was leaving,
"Powerful." The doctor was correct. That a noted doctor
would speak to a lowly elevator operator is quite memorable. I'm
puzzled, though, why we would see a 1959-made movie in the summer of
1960.
Churchill and I palled around that summer, becoming pretty good
friends. We both liked the Roman handshake, more of an armshake,
that Ben-Hur (Charleton Heston) and Masala (Stephen Boyd) used when
Masala returned to Jerusalem to command the Roman legion. As boys
will often copy what they see on film, we adopted the Hur-Masala
armshake.
Ben-Hur and Masala parted ways. So did Dick and I when we went off
to Wazzu, he choosing to go independent and I pledging a greek
house. We didn't see each other until the 2000 40th reunion. No
armshake, just a gentlemanly handshake sufficed.
- Wyatt |
