Revealing mistake: During the chariot race, when they're about to make a left turn around a corner, the people wave their arms. Right when they're making the turn, the arms move awkwardly fast, revealing the scene was speeded-up. (02:48:37)
Visible crew/equipment: During the chariot race, just as Judah (stunt double) flips over in his chariot in the wide shot, a low angle camera is visible on the track under a canopy, at the right side of the screen.
Continuity mistake: When the chariot race ends, Messala disappears from the track, only to reappear a shot later.
Continuity mistake: During the chariot race, Judah's chariot has a decorative front metal rail, and in some shots there is a plump curved cushion attached to the rail, on its inner side. It repeatedly disappears and reappears throughout the scene.
Factual error: The galley during the battle scene is rowed by slaves. Romans during this time period didn't use slaves to row their galleys. Rowers had to be able fight. If not, the Romans would be outnumbered 200 to 30 when they boarded the pirate ship as the pirates rowers would be able to fight.
Continuity mistake: When Judah goes to the place where the leper lives, a man tells him it's a cursed place and puts a lettuce or a cabbage on a plate. It has disappeared the shot later.
Continuity mistake: Count the number of chariots that start the race. Then count the chariots that get thrown out and the number that finish - there's one too many. There are 9 at the start, 6 get thrown out, and 4 finish.
Deliberate mistake: During the chariot race, the chariots crash together but the arrangement of the horses make it impossible for them to actually collide. In some instances (particularly in an aerial shot as Ben Hur and Messala round the turn) it is obvious that they repositioned the shaft of the chariot to between the first and third horses instead of being in the centre between the second and third.
Revealing mistake: When the slaves are walking through the desert on their route to Tyros, in several scenes it's obvious that a double is standing in for Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur.
Factual error: The actors and stunt drivers use only two reins to control the four horses that pull each chariot in the race. However, charioteers in ancient Rome used separate harnesses with two reins controlling each horse. In a race such as the one depicted in the movie, where four horses draw the chariot (two-horse races were common, as well), a real charioteer from the era would be holding eight reins.
Revealing mistake: When Stephen Boyd is showing off the spikes on his chariot wheel you can see welding beads along the projecting hub.
Continuity mistake: During Ben Hur and Messala's duel on the chariots, Messala's wheel-scythes tear away most of the right hand side of Ben Hur's chariot. When Messala has been thrown and Ben Hur crosses the finish line a few moments later, however, the camera has zoomed out far enough to reveal that his chariot is perfectly intact.
Factual error: Before the chariot race, Sheik Ilderim pins a Star of David on Ben Hur's belt. The Star of David did not become a Jewish symbol until the Middle Ages.
Continuity mistake: Right before the chariot race, when Sheik Ilderim is standing at Judah's right side and tells Judah, "Be careful, don't let him near you," Judah places his hand on the Sheik's forearm as the fanfare starts. Then it cuts to a long shot, with the Sheik now suddenly on Judah's left side, and Judah removing his hand from the Sheik's forearm.
Audio problem: When the rowers in the Roman galley were going normal speed, you could tell that the drum was sounding before the drummer hit it.
Continuity mistake: Judah Ben-Hur removes the large ring he had received from Arrius and gives it to Pontius Pilate to return to Arrius. Following this, he returns to the leper colony with Esther, and he reunites with Miriam. When Judah is told Tirzah is dying, as Judah searches the cave for Tirzah, he is once again wearing the large ring he had received from Arrius, on his right index finger. Then, that ring vanishes when he finds Tirzah.
Suggested correction: Ben Hur got the ring from Arrius, not from the Emperor. When he goes to the leper colony the first time he is still wearing the ring. Later he gives the ring to Pontius Pilate to return it to Arrius. Then, when he goes to the leper colony the second time he is not wearing the ring anymore.
Aside from changing the mistake's wording to Arrius, the mistake is indeed correct. Rewatch the scenes. Judah Ben-Hur takes off the large ring he had received from Arrius and gives it to Pontius Pilate to return to Arrius. After that scene, he meets with Esther, and they both return to the leper colony. Judah speaks with Miriam, his mother, and he's told Tirzah is dying. Then, as Judah begins to search the cave for Tirzah, Judah is now wearing the large ring he had received from Arrius, on his right index finger. That ring vanishes when he finds Tirzah. The mistake is quite valid.
Factual error: Al-Tair and al-Deberan are the names of the Arab Sheikh's horses, and he states they're named after the stars. Those stars were given their names by Arabian astronomers, and calculated astronomy by the Arabs emerged during medieval Islam in the 7th and 8th century CE, 674 years after the plot of the movie takes place.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the chariot race, a heavily bloodsoaked Messala is taken to receive medical treatment. While something is done to his legs out of shot (amputation, presumably) an orderly in a clean white tunic leans his whole body weight on Messala to hold him down on the bed as he writhes in agony. When the orderly stands up, we see that his tunic is still spotlessly white.
Revealing mistake: The chariot race is about to begin, and Messala arrives late. As he's backing his team into position, look at the left side of the left-most horse's neck. You can see the reins rubbing the black dye off. (Solid black horses are *extremely* rare).
Factual error: Quintus Arrius is fighting an enormous fleet of Macedonian pirates. However, Macedonia had been a Roman province since 148 BC and after the defeat of the Cilician pirates by Pompey in 67 BC the Mediterranean was free of pirates. The movie is set nearly 100 years later.
Suggested correction: The sheik actually moves around the chariot to the right side. No continuity error.
You can't assume that the sheik moves. It's not shown and the shots are so quick in succession the sheik didn't have time to move.
ChiChi
Oh, but actually, there is indeed a continuity error, and it occurs between shots. Sheik Ilderim is standing on one side of the chariot, then in the very next shot he is standing on the other side of the chariot. The suggested correction is wrong.
Super Grover ★