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Giant
1956
Edna Ferber's best-selling family saga was the source of Stevens' sprawling epic, which stars Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean, in his last film appearance. When Texas cattleman Bick Benedict (Hudson) goes to Virginia in the early 1920s to buy a prize stallion, he falls in love with Leslie Lynnton (Taylor), an .. Read more
| Starring | James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Carroll Baker |
|---|---|
| Director | George Stevens |
| Genres | Drama |
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Giant
Edna Ferber's best-selling family saga was the source of Stevens' sprawling epic, which stars Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean, in his last film appearance. When Texas cattleman Bick Benedict (Hudson) goes to Virginia in the early 1920s to buy a prize stallion, he falls in love with Leslie Lynnton (Taylor), an aristocratic, independent-minded beauty, and they quickly marry. He takes her back to Reata, his 600,000-acre ranch, where sister Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), the family matriarch, does her best to make Leslie feel unwelcome. Leslie is appalled by the second-class status accorded to women and racist attitudes toward the local Mexicans, neither of which seem to bother her husband. Out of compassion, she befriends surly ranch hand Jett Rink (James Dean), who comes to worship her from afar, envying Bick for both his wealth and his wife. He strikes oil on land bequeathed to him by the deceased Luz and his wealth and power grow apace. As the years pass, the bewildered Bick often finds his children thwarting his wishes and criticizing his beliefs, pushing the millionaire to question his values for the first time in his life. The film's outstanding cast, which also features Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Carroll Baker, Earl Holliman, and Chill Wills, inject vitality into a project that occasionally suffers from longueurs.
| Starring | James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Carroll Baker |
|---|---|
| Director | George Stevens |
| Studio | WARNER HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 3 hrs 13 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Wild Westerns |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 28 Jul 2003 Production year: 1956 |
| Format | DVD |
Giant (1956)
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Critics' reviews (6)
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James Dean's last film before his untimely death in a car crash reveals him as more an icon for the time than an actor — he just couldn't convey middle age in the final half of this epic drama based on writer Edna Ferber's homage to Texas. George Stevens, who won the best director Oscar (one of the film's ten nominations), manages to convey some of the swashbuckling magic of oil barons and land exploitation, and elicits strong performances from a lustrous Elizabeth Taylor and a manly Rock Hudson. Those elements, plus a tremendous scene when Dean strikes oil, make it an adventure of truly epic proportions.
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"...With improved color, sound and a letterboxed image, the Texas blockbuster that won George Stevens Sr. the Oscar for direction looks better than it ever has in a home viewing format..."
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Most helpful member's review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
dated melodrama
A really long story about an east coast girl trying to settle in Texas against a background of the start of the oil boom. One of the 3 films James Dean made and apart from providing a couple of iconic movie posters his performance is fairly poor and not helped by an unsympathetic character which remains one dimensional. Rock HUdson shows greater range than his Doris Day movies but still seems lost, only Liz Taylor brings depth and naturalness to her role. Also fun to see a young Dennis Hopper.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Hugely ambitious, poorly executed
**Potential spoilers**
You get the impression watching 'Giant' that this was an attempt to recreate something as epic, sprawling, beautiful and engaging as something like 'Gone With The Wind'. The cast is outstanding, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean's last before his untimely death...even a young Robert Duvall appears. Furthermore it is apparant that the cost of this film must have been huge. However once the credits roll at the end of this long story, you feel sufficiently unrewarded for the time you've put in.
The film deals with several themes, yet at no point does it really ever set it's heart on any of them with enough vigour that you feel a point has been made.
Covering a vast period of time (50 years or more) the films central theme is the relationship between Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor, who at times do not see eye to eye. But that's just it, you never get the feeling the marriage is ever on the rocks, you only ever feel as though they have had disagreements. James Dean is a farmhand who is treated as disposable at the beginning of the film, but strikes lucky and builds up vast wealth, increasing his importance and influence over Texas. He appears torn inside and has bitterness at how he was treated near the beginning of this story. He seems to hold a burning desire for Elizabeth Taylor, although at no point do you ever really understand why. His character and his torment could have provided the pivot from which this film balanced, but once again in places where they could consolidate the strength and depth of Dean's character they fail to deliver. He often just seems a little drunk rather than tormented.
Later in the film, Hudson and Taylor have children which provide more themes. There is another issue with Hudson trying to force his own ways and dreams upon his son's future (son played by young Robert Duvall) and ignoring his daughter. Once again...they sort of argue about it but there is never really any explosive moments or momentous watersheds. Finally, cottoned onto the tail end of the picture is an issue about mixed race marriage and racism.
As you can see, there is a lot to squeeze into the film, which is obviously why it is so long and why no issue is dealt with with any aplomb or any substantial depth. At the end you wonder what the point in the film was? -
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