Still making waves in movies today - from The Phantom Menace's Podrace to the whole of Gladiator - little can come close to captivating the grandeur and epic quality of William Wyler's magnificent bum numb-er.
Shot in over nine months at Rome's Cincittà studio (the outdoor sets built for the chariot race - the largest ever built - are still impressive) and forged without a pixel in sight, set-pieces such as the galley ship insurrection and chariot race still fuel the blood. Yet Wyler doesn't fluff the human drama - Jewish nobleman Judah Ben-Hur (Heston) is betrayed by lifelong friend Messala (Boyd) and takes vengeance - that's anchored by a barnstorming central performance by the mighty Chuck.
