‘Ben-Hur’ is a famous, long, epic movie from 1959 that features Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd as the two lead roles. The characters began as childhood friends, but their paths in life led them to becoming mortal enemies.
The film’s most famous scene, and surely the one most people can recall, is the incredible chariot race between Judah Ben-Hur and Messala. It’s a scene that is full of classic action and amazing stunts, but the stories behind the scene might be even more incredible than the scene itself. Plenty of real chariots were destroyed, and over a hundred and fifty horses died.
The Form Has Been Chosen
Here's another famous film from the eighties that you're sure to recognize: This is a shot from the climax of the first 'Ghostbusters', where Gozer the Gozerian, the ancient Sumerian deity, becomes the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in order to wreak destruction on the world of mortals. The Ghostbusters must put all their wits and ingenuity together to find a way to banish this evil creature back to the pits from whence it came.
The crowd flees in terror as this Marshmallow Man stomps through New York City. How will the Ghostbusters possibly defeat this menace?
It Will be Easier Than You Think
This was another famous film where it, and its sequel, were made before the wide-spread advent of computer graphics, which means that miniature models are the name of the game. While the Marshmallow Man is still a hefty size, the road it's stomping through is pretty tiny, and the cars on it might as well be matchbox cars.
It was filmed with the pinnacle of techniques and technologies at the time, and viewers still enjoy watching this destructive force spread gooey marshmallow fluff across the city – it's impossible to tell they used miniatures at all.
Vespa Smiles on Set
Thankfully, the two lead actors remained uninjured, and are even seen here riding on a Vespa with big sunny smiles on their faces. The best ability of an actor is to pretend to be enemies with someone while enjoying their company in real life – we've already seen it a number of times on this list.
Heston and Boyd worked hard to film what turned into one of the most famous movies of all time, but they also spent some time hanging out as friends between the dangerous shots. We're always happy to see actors smiling together.
CGI Swings the Other Way
The 'Jurassic Park' series began in the early nineties and is still rolling along, having come out with a few new films recently that really show what a good action movie reboot can do. Famous actors like Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard act amazing together, as a dinosaur trainer and an operations manager at the titular dinosaur theme park.
They've used improved CGI technology, just like the originals, and brought dinosaur power to the box office. The movies were a hit, with the first claiming the top spot on the all-time earnings list until 'Stars Wars: The Force Awakens' came out.