I had misgivings even before watching this one but wanted to check it out nonetheless. I mean, how could they possibly top the 1959 version with Charleton Heston? Answer: they can't! This made for TV version has a weak cast with mediocre acting. The characters that were so memorable and likable in the Charleton Heston version were poorly developed in this one. I couldn't get myself to care about any of them at all, not even the title character. The movie seems hurried throughout and the scenes that were so spectacular in the 1959 version, particularly the galley battle scene and the chariot race, left me utterly disappointed in this one. I would dare say the silent version from 1925 was better than this one. I don't know what the director and producer of this mini series were hoping to accomplish, but whatever it was, they failed miserably. Lew Wallace must have been turning over in his grave, it simply did not do his book justice the same way the previous two film versions did and even the early 1907 version as a matter of fact. I can see the need to make a remake for the silent black and white movie to update with sound and color. And the 1959 MGM Technicolor version was one of the greatest movies ever made. A monumental epic with a cast of thousands, great stars in the leading roles and William Wyler as the director, they just don't make movies like that anymore.
Just like with the remakes of War Of The Worlds and Planet Of The Apes, this remake was totally unnecessary and can't hold a candle to the much better 1959 version. I say: Leave the timeless classics alone! A great movie can stand on it's own without the need for an "updated" version.
Just like with the remakes of War Of The Worlds and Planet Of The Apes, this remake was totally unnecessary and can't hold a candle to the much better 1959 version. I say: Leave the timeless classics alone! A great movie can stand on it's own without the need for an "updated" version.