- Adaptation Displacement: Everybody knows about this film, few have read, or even heard about the novel, nor are they aware of the previous film adaptations. Although to be fair, it was the best-selling novel of the nineteenth century, and it was second only to, ironically enough, The Bible itself as the best-selling book in America until Gone with the Wind dethroned it over fifty years later. The 1925 silent film doesn't appear to get much acknowledgment nowadays and the 2016 film didn't leave a lasting impression, with the 1959 version often being called "the original".
- Award Snub: Stephen Boyd won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Messala, but didn't even get a nomination at the Academy Award for that category, it went to Hugh Griffith for the role of Sheik Ilderim in the same movie instead.
- Awesome Music: Miklós Rózsa for the win. Big Fucking Movie gets Big Fucking Score.
- Billing Displacement: Jack Hawkins, who appears as Quintus Arrius, is billed second, only below Charlton Heston’s credit. Love interest Haya Harareet and primary antagonist Stephen Boyd are billed below him despite having more screen time and, arguably, story importance.
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Andre Morell as Sextus, Richard Hale as Gaspar, Duncan Lamont as Marius and Laurence Payne as Joseph.
- The Roman decurion (cavalry officer) — played by Remington Olmsted in an uncredited role — who denies Judah water and comes face-to-face with the Christ himself. The myriad of expressions he portrayed in just one scene left quite the impression on viewers and Heston himself praised the actor.
- Ho Yay:
- Legend has it that Stephen Boyd had to play his part as if Messala was a gay man when both he and Judah Ben Hur are reunited, while Charlton Heston played Judah straight. If it's true, it shows.
- There seems to be a little something between Messala and his henchman Drusus. Watch Drusus when Messala gets trampled in the race.
- The guys in the bathhouse when Ilderim arrives to make book on the upcoming race.
- Retroactive Recognition:
- Younger French viewers who watch the dubbed version might find Messala's French voice familiar — it's that of Marc Cassot, who dubbed Albus Dumbledore (both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon) much later in the whole Harry Potter film series.
- An uncredited doctor is played by John Le Mesurier, who would later be best known for playing Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army.
- Signature Scene: The chariot race and the naval battle.
- Tough Act to Follow: After the 1959 adaptation became one of the all-time cinema masterpieces, it was a bit eyebrow raising to hear about a new version in 2016. That one ended up critically lambasted and one of the biggest busts of the infamously Box Office Bomb-laden 2016 summer.
- Values Resonance: The argument Messala and Judah have about Rome conquering the Jewish people can easily be mistaken for a modern-day debate on American involvement in The Middle East.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: Even today the sea battle sequence is spectacular (even if the bright blue water breaks suspension of disbelief somewhat), to say nothing of the chariot race.
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