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Ben-Hur
"Ben-Hur" (1959), starring Charlton Heston, follows a Jewish prince betrayed into slavery by a childhood friend turned Roman officer, building toward one of cinema's most celebrated action sequences in its extended chariot race, and the film won a then-record 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture. That chariot race sequence, filmed on a purpose-built arena set at Rome's Cinecittà Studios and choreographed without the digital effects available to later historical epics, remains one of the most technically celebrated practical action sequences in film history, involving genuinely dangerous stunt driving by skilled chariot handlers. The film's massive production scale, reportedly one of the most expensive films made up to that point in Hollywood history, reflected the broader "sword-and-sandal" epic boom of the late 1950s, as studios leaned into large-scale spectacle to compete with the growing popularity of television. Its combination of its then-record-setting Academy Award sweep and its enduringly celebrated practical chariot race sequence has made "Ben-Hur" one of the most historically significant and technically influential historical epics ever produced.
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The Last Samurai
"The Last Samurai" (2003), starring Tom Cruise, follows an American military officer hired to train Japan's Westernizing imperial army who instead comes to sympathize with and eventually join the traditionalist samurai resisting that modernization during Japan's late-19th-century Meiji era. The film's large-scale battle sequences, choreographed with extensive input from Japanese martial arts and historical consultants, aimed for a level of cultural and combat-technique authenticity that distinguished it from earlier, more broadly stylized Hollywood depictions of Japanese history. Its production design and costume work, recreating both traditional samurai culture and the specific visual transition of Japan's Meiji-era modernization, earned multiple Academy Award nominations for its historical and cultural attention to period detail. Its combination of its large-scale, culturally consulted battle sequences and its detailed recreation of Meiji-era Japan has made "The Last Samurai" one of the most significant historical epics centered on non-Western history produced by a major Hollywood studio.
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