Sat, Aug 04, 2001 12:59AM -0600

Speaking of Bens, it's his birthday today, but that's not the reason the subject heading came up. I actually watched the movie with my new roommate Andy and his friend Peter. Up until this point all I had really seen were the various Jesus-related sequences, the galley scene, and the world-famous chariot race scene (which we watched for Latin class in high school.) We commented about the irony of Charlton Heston professing non-violence in the movie in light of his continued leadership of the NRA.

Other sundry observations: In the beginning when Judah Ben-Hur and the Roman tribune Messala meet up in the beginning of the movie, I think there's some serious homoeroticism going on, and this from a guy who usually doesn't pick up very well on these kind of things. I also never really realized how much of a rip-off "Gladiator" was of "Ben-Hur", what with the whole motif of the general/prince turning into a slave turning into a gladiator/aurigator. (OK so I'm making up Latin words. It's late. I'm sleepy.) Hell, Commodus as played by Joaquin Phoenix even looks a little like Messala played by Stephen Boyd. And Oliver Reed's Proximo bears just a little resemblance to the Sheik. Sure, they could've cut out all the Jesus stuff, easily shaving off an hour-and-a-half or so, or at least they should've made it more action-oriented, less strict with its adherence to the Gospel. After the chariot races, maybe Judah would've had to chase Jesus around the desert, trying to get him to cure his mother and sister. Oh, and finally, the galley rowing sequence with the rhythmic drumming is quite mesmerizing in a lava lamp sort of way. I imagine it would be quite soothing if you were high, at least if you could keep yourself from laughing or freaking out. Not that I know, I can only imagine.