Giant (1956)

• Year: 1956
• Released: 24 Nov 1956
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Won 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 16 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049261/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/giant
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/giant
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Spanish
• MPA Rating: G
• Genre: Drama, Western
• Runtime: 201 min
• Writer: Edna Ferber, Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat
• Director: George Stevens
• Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean
• Keywords: jealousy, hotel, texas, funeral, restaurant,

	7.6/10
	84/100
	88% – Critics
	87% – Audience

Giant Storyline

Ambitious Texas-style scale epic that traces the rising and falling fortunes of two generations of Texans. Miscegenation, moral dissipation, racism, the oppression of women – a variety of topics are brought forth during this movie’s three hour and twenty-one minute running time. The core of this movie is actually the relationship between Jordan “Bick” Benedict, Jr. (Rock Hudson) and his wife Leslie (Dame Elizabeth Taylor). It is through them that we follow this movie’s themes of generation, conflict, and social change. However, it is Jett Rink (James Dean) whom audiences remember, particularly in the early scenes when he is striding out on his small piece of land, or when he comes to tell Bick that “my well came in big”. He puts his oily hand on one of the white columns of Benedict’s porch and, unemphatically crystallizes the theme of this movie – the muddy thumb prints of materialism on the pillars of elegance and the coming conflict between the aristocracy and the nouveau riche. “You should have shot that fella a long time ago”, a friend says to Bick about Jett Rink. “Now he’s too rich to kill.”

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Giant Movie Reviews

sprawling saga of old Texas turning into modern Texas

This has recently played on Turner Classic Movies, and so they have been playing a short promo on the film. However, I disagree with the critics’ assessment that this is a man versus woman film. Instead, this is a film about the pangs of old Texas giving birth to new Texas. Rock Hudson plays the young patriarch of a Texas ranching family, Bick Benedict, in the 1920s who goes to Maryland to buy a colt. He is instantly smitten with one of the daughters in the family (Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie) , in spite of the fact that she raises his Texas ire by saying things such as Texas was stolen from Mexico! Taylor’s character is already spoken for, but she throws over her intended and she and Benedict marry on a whim.

Adjustment is hard for Leslie. The Benedict ranch is sprawling but devoid of Maryland’s natural beauty. Bick’s sister Luz runs the house and is not going to give that title up to some delicate East coast beauty. And when she tries to help the Mexican families that live on the ranch, she finds her husband angry with her. Ranch hand Jett Rink (James Dean in his last film role) falls madly in love with Leslie who just doesn’t see it. Meanwhile Luz has always loved Jett, and that love later greatly complicates the Benedicts’ lives in a very unconventional way.

Like I said, this is no man versus woman film. This is initially east coast liberal civilized values versus the rough and tumble values of what is still the Texas frontier in many ways. And it is the story of a family over 30 years as Texas changes in its values and what is important in its industry. For example, cattle ranching gives way in importance to the petroleum industry. As for changing values, Bick changes from a man who really doesn’t see the Hispanics as human beings to somebody who literally takes a beating to defend the honor of one decades later.

Highly recommended as a film and as a showcase for the talents of Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean. Dean had other good showcases for his talent, but I feel Hudson and Taylor – in spite of her two Best Actress Oscars are both remembered too much for their soapy roles and not enough for their acting skills. Highly recommended.

a little slow but the film gets better and better

I saw this movie as a kid and didn’t think much of it. The biggest thing I remember about it was how long the movie was and the calves’ brains scene. Now, I just saw the film again and it changed my perspective quite a bit.

The first 1/2 of the movie didn’t overwhelm me. Yes, it was good,…but certainly seemed far from great. The scenery was spectacular but rather dull after a while. And, the characters seemed a bit idealized–Elizabeth Taylor’s character was sweet and Rock Hudson seemed more and more like a jerk. There didn’t seem to be any sort of transcendent message.

However, as the film continued, the plot and characters evolved and you don’t see that happen too often in films. While Rock was still a bit of an old fashioned guy, he became more and more decent and likable–culminating with the gut-wrenching scene in the restaurant. Then, when he and Liz were at home and she told him she had never been more proud of him than when he attacked this bully, it really made the movie for me. Its message of racism and change was well worth the VERY long wait.

An epic melodrama and a mostly great one

While it may not be perfect, Giant is to me a better film than the Best Picture Winner of that year Around the World in Eighty Days, which wasn’t a bad film but is among the weakest Best Picture Winners. Giant is a very long film and very deliberately paced but is hugely rewarding. It is a very well-made film with fabulous, colourful scenery and outstanding cinematography(the best of its year and perhaps of the decade too), Texas has rarely looked more beautiful on film. Dmitri Tiomkin’s score is one of sweeping grandeur, while the dialogue on the most part is thought-provoking, heart-warming and moving and George Stevens judging from how beautifully he directed this film definitely deserved his Oscar. The story tackles many daring themes, especially for back then, and tackles them with a lot of truth and power, while the film does drag at times and tries to do too much in the last act the story is still compelling and rich in detail with a couple of scenes towards the end quite tense. Especially good is that tremendous scene where Jett strikes oil. It does develop the characters remarkably well too, the characters here are quite complex and far from clichéd, especially Leslie and Jett(Bick also evolves into a much more likable character). The acting is excellent, Elizabeth Taylor has only been more lustrous in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and this is most likely her most nuanced performance. Rock Hudson is a handsome and mostly natural screen presence, a little stiff to begin with but it does suit the character actually. And Jett is probably the most complex of James Dean’s three screen roles and is just as iconic and in-depth, and, apart from his very overacted final scene acting drunk(his worst and only somewhat bad piece of acting in three great performances in three great films), Dean gives a performance brimming with authority and emotion. He is also the only one of the three leads to look convincing in his ageing make-up and acts aged the most effectively, whereas Taylor and Hudson still looked too young when made up to look aged and didn’t look as comfortable as Dean did. The supporting cast are fine too, Caroll Baker, Sal Mineo and a very young Dennis Hopper being the standouts. All in all, a mostly great epic melodrama where you can totally see why it has been and is so positively received, at the same time though it’s easy too to see why some may not care for it as it does take more than one viewing to get into it. 8/10 Bethany Cox