Directed by:
William Wyler

Starring:
Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur
Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius
Haya Harareet as Esther
Stephen Boyd as Messala
Hugh Griffith as Sheik Ilderim
Martha Scott as Miriam
Cathy O'Donnell as Tirzah
Sam Jaffe as Simonides
Finlay Currie as Balthasar
Frank Thring as Pontius Pilate

• After the chariot race, Ben-Hur visits Marsala, he places his laurel wreath on a chair near the doorway. When he leaves the wreath is missing. - pat

• There's a rumor that a red sports car can be seen during the chariot race.
  • Can someone confirm this?

• In some scenes at he end of the chariot-race there are to many competitors left, since several of them have crashed earlier in the race. - Olav Westerman

• When Messala stands on the roof-terrace at Ben-Hur's house after the accident with the Consul, he takes a loose tile and throws it to the floor. Despite we haven't seen him throw other tiles, there lies already another broken tile by his feet. - Olav Westerman

• When the slaves are walking through the desert on their route to Tyros, in a couple of scenes one can see that not Charlton Heston, but a stand-in plays the part of Ben-Hur. - Olav Westerman

• I forget which scene, I think it's when a whole bunch of soldiers are lined up, you can see a watch on one of the soldiers hands. - Vic Cherubini
  • Similar goof in Spartacus and Glory.

• Early in the movie when Judah Ben-Hur meets his servant, Simonides, he removes his turban. His hair is sweaty and flattened. As he is speaking, the camera pans to his mother. Simonides says his life is only meant to serve the House of Hur. When the camera pans back to Judah, his hair is neatly combed and dry. - Albert Palumbo

• When workers are loading the baskets to let down to the Valley of the Lepers, one man loads two heads of lettuce onto the basket. Just as the basket is being lowered, somebody throws on three more heads of lettuce. When the basket reaches the bottom, there are three head of lettuce. What happened to the first two? - april

• There are two scenes of people wandering through downtown Jerusalem, one at the beginning at the time of Joseph and Mary, and one twenty years later when Ben-Hur returns home. The camera focuses on Charlton Heston in the second scene, but you can see him in the first scene too, when Ben-Hur wasn't even born yet. - april

• Last scene where Judas meets Messala, he comes in and puts down his laurel. Going out, the Laurel isn't there. (TV)

Commented Goofs

• Messala damages Ben-Hur's chariot by "sawing" in it with his "Greek" wheel-hubs. Yet, when Ben-Hur drives up to Pontius the Pilot to receive his prize after the race, his chariot is undamaged. - Olav Westerman
  • Comment: It is not a "Greek" chariot Messala drives, but a "beaked" chariot, referring to the vicious beak-like steel cutting blades on the hubs of the wheels. - Honoria Granger