Giant (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Digipack) (1956)

During the course of film the makeup changes to show the cast aging, and Elizabeth Taylor, who was only 23 at the time, is shown as a mature woman. Dennis Hopper plays her grown son and Carol Baker her daughter. There's even a small part for Sal Mineo, who plays a grown up Mexican-American boy. By then the story is a family saga with the son choosing to be a doctor and the daughter finding the older James Dean an attractive man. This is the stuff of soap opera, which I usually don't like. But somehow, I was completely captivated by this film, which shows how everyone's character develops through the years.

I was impressed with the quality of all of the actors, including Mercedes McCambridge, who has a small role as the sister. Sometimes I forget how talented Elizabeth Taylor is as an actress and even Rock Hudson, who is known for his rather stilted performances, was able to show some real feelings. James Dean, however, stood out above all the rest. The scenes he had with Elizabeth Taylor in which he showed his awkward vulnerability were ripe with nuance. It demanded mastery of his craft. His performance was indeed outstanding.

However, it is almost half a century since the film was produced. I now know what Elizabeth Taylor really looks like as a mature woman. I have to smile at her gray-haired persona in the film, in which she remained slim and elegant. I can't help thinking about Rock Hudson's super masculine image as he dukes it out in a diner when his Mexican-American daughter-in-law is refused service. And I'm saddened to think of poor James Dean, who died tragically in a car accident at the age of 23 shortly after the film was made. His movie image of aging alcoholic millionaire is the only hint we have of what he might have looked like if he lived. The film even brought out thoughts of our own President Bush, himself a product of a Texas background and his own mixed Mexican-American family.

The video consisted of two reels, and included about an hour's worth of features in addition to the more than three hours of the film itself. I stayed up late into the night to watch it all, including a short documentary about the small town in Texas in which part of the film was made, an interview with Dimitri Tiomkin who wrote the music for the film, an interview with the son of the director, George Stevens, and a long telecast of opening night both in Hollywood and New York with Jayne Meadows interviewing different stars as they entered the theater. Although the film itself was in color, all of these features were in black and white and brought back memories of live television shows, bouffant hairdos and mink stoles.

I never saw "Giant" when it first came out. Videos and DVDs were years away in the future and, in those days, if you didn't catch a film in the theaters when it first was released, that was that. I'm so glad that this film was so easily available all these years later because I totally enjoyed the experience of spending a evening watching it. I was able to sit back, relax, and return to a time, place and cinematic point of view that doesn't exist anymore. The world is changed now. And so have I. But I absolutely loved this film. Highly recommended.

GIANT is the story of a west Texas ranching dynasty, the sprawling Reata Ranch, overseen for generations by the Benedict Family--currently run by Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson). Bick takes as his bride an "Easterner," petite and pretty Leslie Lynnton Benedict (Elizabeth Taylor). Leslie's transition from Maryland to the dusty flats of west Texas is the epitome of culture shock, yet she's up to the task, even to the point of challenging the ingrained bigotry toward the local Hispanic population. Bick's conservative stubbornness is at odds with Leslie's progressive beliefs; their numerous "disagreements" are some of GIANT'S most delightful, amusing moments. Yet the couple endures--endures through love.

Jett Rink (James Dean) is one of Bick's quiet, surly, unreliable ranch hands. Jett becomes infatuated with Leslie from the first moment he sees her; his attraction to her motivates him to better himself. Inheriting a patch of land from Bick's older sister, Luz (played wonderfully by Mercedes McCambridge), Jett leaves Reata and does the unthinkable: he drills for oil. And when he strikes paydirt--when his first "gusher" comes in--the stage is set: the grand ranching tradition of the Benedict clan versus Jett's rapid accumulation of wealth and power via dotting the west Texas landscape with oilwells.

James Dean simply dominates this film. The fact that he was able to so completely and effectively portray Jett Rink as a shrewd, hard-drinking businessman when Dean himself was only in his early twenties is astonishing. The range and complexity Dean brings to this role is spellbinding--and tragic: tragic in that we are given a glimpse of his phenomenal talent that was extinguished forever in an auto accident before GIANT was even released.

I also enjoyed a very young Dennis Hopper as Jordan Benedict III, Bick's son and reluctant "heir apparent" to the family business. And Chill Wills is a bona fide scene stealer as crusty, cantankerous Uncle Bawley. He gets the best line in the movie; after Bick angrily rejects Jett's latest offer to drill for oil on his ranch and slams the telephone down, Uncle Bawley quietly says: "Most expensive phone call you ever made, Bick. Probably cost you around a billion dollars."

GIANT is highly recommended.
--D. Mikels