Best of the Big Screen
BEN-HUR
Tuesday, April 2nd at 7:30
PM
Introduction by film historian Philip Harwood
The winner of 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture,
Best Director and Best Actor, Ben-Hur
stands as one of the greatest Hollywood epics. A member of the Jewish nobility
living in Jerusalem, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton
Heston) peacefully opposes the tyrannical occupation of Judea by Rome. When
a boyhood friend, Messala (Stephen Boyd), returns to the region as a Roman
official, he and Judah become estranged. Casting friendship aside, Messala
fabricates a charge of treason against Ben-Hur, and his family, all of whom are
arrested by Roman soldiers. (1959, 212 mins)