William Wyler's 'Ben-Hur' (1959) | Patreon #60

This is a free sample from our conversation on William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959), the epic that helped shape George Lucas’s cinematic imagination and paved the way for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. We talk about Ben-Hur's blend of myth, spectacle, and spirituality, how its structure mirrors the Skywalker saga, and why Judah Ben-Hur walks so Anakin Skywalker can...get his legs cut off. For the full episode, including our complete deep dive on Ben-Hur and how it spiritually (and structurally) leads into The Phantom Menace, head to our Patreon in the link below.

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Episode Transcript

(00:14):
Music Hello, welcome to the Extra Credits Plus of William
Wyler's Ben Hur. I'm try it.
I'm Kelsey. This is the next installment of
the Number One Boy Movie Club, our new monthly series on
Patreon, where we pair one of our living plus deep dives with
a foundational classic, I guess from Hollywood's past.

(00:35):
Yeah. And today, ahead of our deep
dive on George Lucas's The Phantom Menace, we're going back
to 1959 to visit this biblical blockbuster that feels like a
kind of Shakespearean tragedy that is very, you know, much a
huge inspiration to Star Wars clearly when you re watch it.

(00:56):
Yeah, I mean, George Lucas like talks about the pod racing
influence and we're pairing thismovie with Phantom Menace.
But I mean, you also just there,there's so many parallels as as
we're watching also. So we'll definitely be like
working in some Star Wars talk that people who are just

(01:18):
clicking on Ben Hur might might be like, I thought I was here
for Ben Hur, but you're here forStar Wars and Ben Hur today.
We considered several other movies that inspired Lucas and
Phantom Menace, but Ben Hur looklike the best example.
Because it's got the Imperial politics, it's got the tragic
brotherhood relationship. It has a mythic chosen 1 arc

(01:41):
that is Jesus in this movie verse.
And I guess Ben Hur and Judah Ben Hur that reminds you a lot
of how George Lucas took the Anakin character and then
probably twisted it in his own imagination.
And there is this massive inventive and experimental
production design across Ben Hurthat took thousands of extras,

(02:05):
hundreds of horses, even the lives of some people and animals
in tragic ways. That isn't quite the, I guess
the scale of Phantom Menace. But in terms of massive,
massively designed projects, I feel like Ben Hur kind of broke
new heights and new boundaries and new staying elevated

(02:25):
standards across the industry. And Phantom Menace did in a lot
of ways. So I thought this was going to
be sort of perfect for this movie, but in terms.
Of scale, it feels right like a a good comparison in terms of
like an epic. Yeah, though I will say this
film was treated way more seriously.
It won 11 Oscars, which is tied for the most wins ever.

(02:48):
And it made like $150 million ona $10 million budget, which is a
similar ratio to what Phantom Menace ended up making on $100
million budget, making over a billion.
But at this time, 1959, it was really this movie in Like Dawn
with the Wind as being some of the most important movies in

(03:08):
this era of Hollywood history. So this is a massive episode
because how influential this movie is and how famous it is in
Hollywood history. And then we'll lead it up with
Phantom Menace, which is probably the the biggest episode
we've ever. Done, Yeah.
So Ben Hur, what did you enjoy about this almost 4 hour long
movie? That really surprised us because

(03:30):
we hadn't seen this before. Or at least I hadn't seen.
It before I saw it when I was really young, OK, but I forgot a
lot. I actually only really
remembered the horse race, but Ididn't even remember like who
won. I assumed Ben Hur would.
But yeah, I mean, for for me, because it's almost like my
first experience watching again,I was really impressed by how it

(03:52):
felt like a really interesting play in the first half.
And then, you know, we watched it on on DVD and there's like an
intermission and you have to switch discs, which is reminded
me of when I had to switch VH s s for Titanic growing up.
But in the second-half, you know, I think the horse races in

(04:14):
the second-half, but then it kind of loses me towards the
end. What's it once it starts
becoming like a Bible story? But I just like, I'm almost not
counting that as a part of my experience because I had such a
good time with the first half. And also, we were doing so much
like Leo pointing at the screen in terms of the dialogue that

(04:36):
George Lucas literally like tookalmost word for word sometimes
to put in Revenge of the Sith and just the the relationship
between Ben Hur and Masala. The You're my brother, you know?
From my point of view, I think there's something to that.
Oh yeah, yeah. Here, Yeah.
Yeah.