Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur (1959) is William Wyler's historical epic you can watch online on iFILM. Set in Roman-ruled Judea, it follows Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman whose boyhood friendship with the Roman officer Messala curdles into something far darker.

Messala wants names — the men who resist Rome. Judah refuses to betray his own people, and the price falls on his whole household. Sent to the galleys on a false charge while his mother and sister rot in prison, he survives years of chained labor with one thing keeping him alive: getting back. Charlton Heston carries the film from the oars to the arena and the chariot race that audiences still come for.

The picture won 11 Academy Awards, a record that stood for decades. That chariot sequence was staged for real on a vast set outside Rome, with no digital help, and remains one of the most dangerous stunts ever filmed. At three and a half hours it never drags, because behind one man's revenge stands an entire age. Stream Ben-Hur (1959) online on iFILM.