Giant (1956)
Director
George Stevens
Cast
Leslie Lynnton Benedict - Elizabeth Taylor
Jordan 'Bick' Benedict - Rock Hudson
Jett Rink - James Dean
Awards
AFI Top 100 - #82
Won best director for George Stevens
Nominated for 9 other oscars, including: Best Actor (Rock Hudson), Best Actor (posthumous selection for James Dean), Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture.
Review
Since I hadn't yet seen this classic film, I bought the DVD and invited some friends over to watch it with me. The film's scope was not only bigger and broader than we thought it would be, but it was also more genuine and thoughtful. We were astonished! It is clearly one of the best American films of the 1950s.
The film begins in Maryland when Bick (Rock Husdon) visits a wealthy family that owns a horse he is planning to buy. When he returns to Texas, he not only has the family's horse, but also their beautiful, bright, out-spoken daughter, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor). The flat, barren Texas landscape is a shocking contrast from the rolling green hills of Leslie's Maryland home, but she settles in and they begin to face the changes that the next thirty years will bring to their family, friends, land and each other.
I loved how this film would seem to be leading you down a familiar path, then suddenly turn in unexpected directions--even in small ways. For example, Bick's stern sister, Luz (perfectly played by the underrated Mercedes McCambridge), is set up to be an antagonist throughout the film, but because of her lack of adaptability, she self-destructs early on. It also seems clear that Leslie will fall into the idealistic and compassionate arms of the introspective Jett (James Dean) when she realizes that her husband is both sexist and racist. Here, too, the story takes an unexpected turn as both Jett and Bick change in ways that seem natural and rich with human complexity. This sort of character development is uncommon in works of fiction where so often people go from point A to point B like cardboard cutouts.
The issues of feminism and racism are major issues in `Giant' and are dealt with seriously, rather than only lightly touched on as in so many other `modern' American films of the 1950s. Not only does Bick learn from his young wife that he should treat his Mexican ranch hands with human dignity (this is only as far as most American ‘50s films would go), but his son marries a Mexican girl, providing Bick with a half-Mexican heir. Bick, being a realistic, multi-layered character, is still troubled by this at the film's end, but he has certainly come a long way. He (and the audience) has had to consider what role race and skin-color will play when choosing people with whom to have close relationships and how far he will go to defend those he loves, whatever their nationality. Bick's `showdown' against racial injustice in Sarge's Café perfectly illustrates his transformation and does, indeed, make him a hero. It is a beautiful and moving scene.
Feminism, too, presents itself as a major theme in the film without being overstated. When Leslie first arrives in Texas, she is outspoken and headstrong, insisting on helping on the ranch as an equal. She faints in public at the sight of cooked cow brains, but quickly recovers and vows never to faint again, no matter what life on the ranch might bring – and she doesn't. Her scolding of the local men for their backward attitudes towards women seems neither hysterical nor delicate even by today's standards. It's spot on. She later apologizes to Bick for having been rude, yet she doesn't back down, insisting that, in principle, she was right.
It was a genuine pleasure to watch an American film (from ANY era) that doesn't undermine its characters' integrity and that gives great actors roles in which they could really shine. I highly recommend `Giant' to anyone looking for intelligent classic American cinema that explores issues of the era while remaining surprisingly relevant to these same issues today.
Rating: 9/10
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