Finally, the galley. We are introduced to Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), the Roman commander of a warship. Judah is chained to an oar, destined to row until he dies. But Arrius likes Judah’s ferocity. He takes the slave as a personal rower.
By the late 1950s, Hollywood faced an existential threat from the rise of television. Audiences were staying home, and major studios were hemorrhaging money. MGM risked bankruptcy and pinned its survival entirely on a remake of Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ . ben hur 1959 part 1
Judah's endurance catches the eye of the new fleet commander, Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins). Arrius is intrigued by the slave's unbroken spirit and fierce discipline. During a inspection, Arrius tests the rowers by varying the rowing speed up to a grueling "battle speed." Impressed by Judah's stamina, Arrius offers to take him to Rome to train as a gladiator or charioteer, but Judah refuses, stating that God will deliver him to seek his own justice. Prior to an imminent battle with Macedonian pirates, Arrius makes a fateful decision: he orders Judah’s foot chains to be left unlocked, a stark contrast to the standard practice of locking slaves to their deaths. The Sea Battle and the Intermission Finally, the galley
It is into this powder keg that (Stephen Boyd) arrives. A Roman tribune who spent his childhood in Judea, he has been appointed as the new commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, second only to the new governor. He is ambitious, calculating, and hardened by years of fighting for the Empire. But Arrius likes Judah’s ferocity