Gov. Lew Wallace.
Well somebody’s got a big pair of brass balls. Not sure that “Ben Hur” needs a CGI-heavy remake. I’m inclined to give it a shot though.
“But what does this have to do with the frontier?” you ask. The author of the novel “Ben Hur,” upon which the Hollywood classic was based, was Lew Wallace, a successful Civil War general who was the Territorial Governor of New Mexico during the Lincoln County War. He met with Billy the Kid, who was looking for a pardon from the governor for his actions during the war. The pardon thing did not work out…
So Lew Wallace met with an immortal Western outlaw, and wrote an immortal novel of Rome, the Jews and the Christ.
Keith West says
From my admittedly incomplete studies of the Kid and Wallace, I tend towards the position that Wallace promised Billy a pardon then went back on his word.
Not that I’m trying to stir up anything here, or nuthin’.
JimC says
That’s how I see it, too. Billy wrote numerous letters saying, basically, “Hey, guv, I’m waiting for you to do what you said you’d do.” Wallace screwed the Kid over, which is a FP lesson in the value of promises from politicians.
Keith West says
A lesson we would all do well to remember this election season, regardless of party affiliation.
john maddox roberts says
It’s a bit difficult to read much from the trailer with its fashionable 1/100th second cuts between scenes, but it looks promising. apparently they’ve cut out the subplot where Judah saves the life of the Roman admiral Quintus Arrius and is adopted by him. In the book he spends several years in Rome and that’s where he learns to be a charioteer and swordsman. It also confers Roman senatorial status, which allows him to pursue his revenge against Messala. He’s going by the name of Quintus Arrius when he calls on Mesalla, who thinks him long dead. Of course, much has to be cut from an extremely verbose Victorian novel to make a movie. I’ll just go see it for the spectacle.
JimC says
Me too.
lane batot says
HELL yeah! Me too! I don’t mind attempts to remake old classics IF they put real effort and budget behind it! What is pitiful is when they try to redo an old blockbuster at a fraction of the original effort and cost. This trailer looks FANTASTIC!