Charlton Heston’s religious epic, Ben-Hur, remains one of his most famous works besides Lawrence of Arabia. The film had the costliest production at the time, with a reported budget of $15.2 million (nearly $164 million when adjusted for inflation). One of the most famous action sequences from the film was a nine-minute chariot race, which in itself became a cinematic marvel.
The chariot race featured Heston’s Judah Ben-Hur racing against Stephen Boyd’s Messala, whom he believes was responsible for the deaths of his mother and sister. The dangerous sequence saw a near-fatal accident that made its way into the film. It became a badass moment for Heston in the sequence.
Charlton Heston’s Ben-Hur included a near-fatal accident in its final cut
William Wyler directed Ben-Hur, a remake of the 1925 silent film of the same name, for MGM Studios. It became the second-highest-grossing film after Gone with the Wind at the time. It went on to win a record-breaking eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Wyler, and Best Actor for Charlton Heston. The film has an 87% approval rating on RT.
One of the most iconic scenes from the movie was the chariot race, where significant time, personnel, and resources were invested. MGM brought in director Andrew Marton and Yakima Canutt, a rodeo rider and stuntman, to direct the sequence. It was reported that the planning for the scene alone took nearly a year.
Heston and Stephen Boyd learned how to drive a chariot. It took a total of five weeks to film and cost a total of $1 million. Marton and Canutt shot the entire sequence in long shot with stunt doubles and presented the edited footage to Wyler, Heston, and producer Sam Zimbalist.
A near-fatal accident during the filming of the chariot race almost killed a stuntman (via BBC). Joe Canutt, the son of Yakima Canutt, was thrown into the air after the chariot ran over the wreckage of two other chariots on the ground. Luckily, he had no major injuries, suffering only from a minor chin injury. While Zimbalist felt that the footage became unusable, Marton found an innovative way to keep it.
He edited the long shot of Joe Canutt’s accident with close-ups of Charlton Heston landing on and clinging in front of his chariot. He then managed to scramble back onto his chariot while the horses kept going. It resulted in a badass moment for the protagonist and a great shot for the film. Here’s how it came out in the final cut of the film:
The BEN-HUR (1959) chariot race was filmed on an 18-acre set with 78 horses and 18 chariots. Charlton Heston trained for weeks and did most of their own driving, while a real stunt accident—left in the film—became one of its most famous moments pic.twitter.com/zxHQRcdAuK
— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) June 14, 2025
At the end of the race, Boyd’s character, Messala, dies after being dragged behind his horses and trampled by another chariot. Interestingly, Boyd did all but two of his stunts, despite having less experience with horses than Heston.
Police had to interfere when the crowd disrupted Ben-Hur‘s filming
According to reports, nearly 2,500 horses and over 10,000 extras were used in Ben-Hur. During the chariot race sequence, the film needed 7,000 extras on the stands to cheer for the chariot racers. The extras were hired on a daily basis for the film. Each day, thousands of people came to the film’s set in Italy.
As the shooting of the scene almost came to a conclusion, only 1,500 extras were needed. It was reported that more than 3,000 people were turned away on June 6, 1958, during the filming (via Variety). The crowd didn’t go silently as a riot erupted, with them throwing stones and damaging the gates of the sets.
Eventually, the filmmakers had to involve the police, who arrived and dispersed the violent crowd. The economic conditions in Italy were in a bad state at the time, probably explaining the crowd’s reaction to being turned away from a job.
Ben-Hur is now available for rent on AppleTV.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
