Anyone catch part 1 of the revamp of Ben Hur on Sunday?

[LordMortis]

They've totally changed what's moved the plot (from the Heston version) so far and have already forced a lot of the later events to come to be totally different. I cringed at the beginning for things I saw they were going to have to change. But so far I'm liking it in spite of the big differences.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1421499/" target="_blank

I may need to track down and read the novel.

Edit: I also need to buy Life of Brian one of these days.

[Isgrimnur]

I may need to track down and read the novel.

And the correct forum.

What network was this on?

[LordMortis]

aw Dammit. I'd eventually catch and delete this if there'd not have been a reply.

Maybe Ben Hur would make a good werewolf game.

[ImLawBoy]

Moving to EBG.

[hepcat]

Do they leave in the homosexual relationship between ol' Ben and Messala?

Years ago I watched a highly entertaining documentary called The Celluloid Closet and they covered Ben Hur. Apparently, Gore Vidal was one of the original script contributors on Ben Hur, but was let go after Heston started complaining that he was injecting too many gay undertones to the story. Vidal mentioned years later that he had Heston's costar, Stephen Boyd, continue with that story line though.

Charlton Heston mentions in his autobiography ("Charlton Heston's Hollywood") that Gore Vidal was an early contributor on the shooting script, but he was let go after he tried to inject too much of a homosexual flavor in the relationship between Ben-Hur and Messala. Heston believes, however, that Vidal got the last laugh by instructing Stephen Boyd that the underlined homosexuality was still in the film, and that all of Boyd's early scenes were played with that motivation in mind. Vidal more or less verifies this during his appearance in The Celluloid Closet (1995), a documentary about the history of homosexuality in cinema. Director William Wyler, who liked the gay subtext idea, was the one who decided to tell only Boyd, because Heston "wouldn't be able to handle it".

If you watch the original movie and pay attention to the scenes between Messala and Ben Hur, it's pretty friggin' obvious what's going on in Messala's mind.

[LordMortis]

They did a whole thing about Judah specifically not being Arelius'(?) catamite. Part end one ended with Judah's having left Arelius to return to Jerusalem.

[Scuzz]

I may need to track down and read the novel.

And the correct forum.

What network was this on?

I concur, I have no idea what you are talking about........

[hepcat]

by the way, when your listing on IMDB.com starts off with Kristin Kreuk, you know you're in trouble...

[LordMortis]

CBC, I think. I'm not positive. I didn't watch the commercials. I'll know before next Sunday, because I need to make sure TiVo decides to find it again.

[Rumpy]

Yep, saw it. I thought it was a rather decent production of it. Part 2 is next week.

[Kelric]

by the way, when your listing on IMDB.com starts off with Kristin Kreuk, you know you're in trouble...

But she is attractive, so that helps. Loved seeing her on Chuck this season.