Tonight sees our Twitter DVD Club tackle the might of Judah Ben-Hur, in the form of William Wyler's 1959 classic adaptation.
Go to find out how to get involved and watch the film with us at 8pm.
There are many myths, legends and rumours surrounding the epic productio🎃n, so we th⭕ought we'd grab our finest deerstalker and and investigate further...
Legend: In the chariot raceღ, a stuntman w𒁃as thrown from his mount and killed.
Background: During the famed and mu♔ch debated chariot race, severa♕l of the charioteers are hurled onto the track.
One, who falls under the wheels and hooves of another racer's horse and ꧅chariot, is seen to be trampled. The stuntm♐an who played the charioteer was tragically killed.
༺The footage was then supposedly left🍒 in the final version.
True or False: False
Legend Explained: It's clearly a dummy.
Several were used during the filming of the scene and when edited, the effect was so realistic, it caused contro♏versy at the time.
The source of this legend may come from the 1926 version of the film, Ben-Hur: A Story of the Christ , during wh🌜ich several ဣstuntmen may have lost their lives.
The only life-threatening incident in the filming of the chariot race happened in the scene where Ben Hur’s mount is pinned a🅷gainst the wall, approaching an overturned c🔯hariot.
According to the plan by stunt co-ordinator Yakima Canutt - whose son Joe doubled for Heston🌸 - Ben-Hur’s chariot was to jump the overturned vehicle.
In the𒀰 event, we see Ben-Hur almost thrown from his mount, only just managing to hang on and climb back in to continue the race.
This wasn♊’t planned, and Joe was considered fꦕortunate to escape with only a minor injury.
With a shot of Charlton Hes💧ton climbing back into his chariot and a touch of clever editing, a classic scene was created.[page-break]
Legend: A Roman guard extra falls under the wheels of a chariot and is ꦡkil🌳led.
Background: D൲uring the 😼race, a chariot brushes past two Roman guards, one of whom manages to keep his balance. The other falls and is trampled.
According to legend, the actor playing the guard was killed, and the filmmakers decided to leave the footage in despite protests from the maඣn’s family.
True or False: False
Legend Explained: Stuntman Nosher Powell claims in his autobiography, "We had a sౠtuntman killed in the thඣird week, and it happened right in front of me.
You saw it, too, because the cameras kept tu🐭rning and it's in the movie."
Although Powell made this claim, 🐽he offered no evidence to back it up and it's probably a case of rumour-mongerin♏g to sell books.
There are variations of this myth for every stunt in the r🉐ace wh🌞ere someone is seemingly injured or killed.
Charlton Heston states in his autobiogra💙phy ‘In The Arena’ that there were no injuries or deaths ওto any of the stuntmen or the horses.
In John Baxter’s book ‘Stunt: The Sto🍌ry of the Great Movie Stuntmen’, Baxter goes into great detail about the care that was taken in the filming of this climactic race.
Studying the modern re-master of the film, it's clear that the fallen Roman guard, much like the fallen charioteer, 🥀is actually a dummy. [page-break]
Legend: A red Ferraꦰri is visible during the chariot race.
Background: App🗹arently there is a split second glimpse of a red sports car behind one of the pillars at the stadium. The background to this legꦅend is unknown but it still persists.
True or False: False
Legend Explained: totalfilm.com , ever dedic💝ated to the facts, has spent many ไhours studying the chariot race footage.
We can conclude, with bloodshot eyes and motion sickness, that there is no sign of a sports car of a❀ny kind during the scene.
Director William Wyler vehement⛄ly denies this claim, along with Heston and others involved in the producti൩on.
Several books and websites concur with our verdict, and if it says so in a book then i🍷t must be true.
Except that book by the guy earlier who claime൩d a stuntman ﷺwas killed...[page-break]
Legend: Tyre tracks are visible during the chariot race.
Background: In sev♎eral shots during the chariot race, tyre imprints f🐎rom a car can be seen imprinted in the sand on the race track.
True or False: True
Legend Explained: Well, they are definitely there, but they're not car tracks. The marks were made by the camera dolly, tracking the chariots as they pass🍰.
They weren’t covered over between takes and ended up i♈n the final cut.
Legend: Charlton Heston is wearing a wat▨ch during♏ the chariot race
Background: In a monumental continuity error, Heston can ✱be seen wearing a watch in one sh🧔ot during the race.
The camera angle then switches, and the wa🃏tchꦬ is gone again.
True or False: False
Legend Explained: After closely watching 🌳the scenꦍe, we see no evidence of a watch anywhere about Heston’s person.
In the DVD commentary, Heston himself explains that he was wearing leather braces right up to the ꦗelbow on both 𝓡arms during the entire race.
Other꧑ continuity-error rumours claim that one of the trumpeteers around the edge of the track is also wearing a wristwatch𒉰.
It doeജs look like one of the trumpeters has s𒉰omething on his wrist, though it may just be a shadow.
[page-break]
Legend: There is an in𓄧tentional homosexual subtext between Ben-Hur and childhood friend Messala.
Background: M𒆙uch of the dialogue and interaction between Ben Hur aꦓnd Messala seems to have some hidden subtext.
There are rumors of an untold backstory where the two were 🌸lovers, and this is the spark that creates the ♑rift between the men.
True or False: True
Legend Explained: Screenwriter Gore Vidal persuaded director William Wyler to allow a thinly veiled homoerotic subtext between Messala and Ben🔯-Hur🍒.
Vidal says his aim was to explain Messala's extreme reaction to Ben-Hur's refusal to name his fe🎃llow Jews to a Roman officer🐼.
S♊ince the Hollywood production code would not permit this to appear on screen explicitly, it had to be implied by the actors.
Vidal claims that Wyler, although hꦍesitant, took his advice, and that the results can be seen in the film.
Vidal personally discussed the idea with Ste𓃲phen Boyd, who played Messala, 💛but not with Charlton Heston who, Wyler feared, would protest at the idea.
Heston has sin🐬ce denied the claim,ꦦ suggesting Vidal had little input in the final script.
So, grab your copy of the film, follow on Twitter and
