Rating: 
Summary: Epic story of love and loss in Texas
Review: "Giant" is a film that is either great or greatly overboiled. It depends on your mood and your attention span. "Giant" is a long film. It is based on the hugely popular novel of the same name by Edna Ferber.It tells the story of Bick Benedict and his family as they move from having one of the largest and most prosperous cattle ranches in the state of Texas to being one of the largest producers of oil in the state. Visually stunning, "Giant" is so grand that it is often too grand for its own good. Sometimes we are just not able to get close to the characters because they are too broadly drawn and played. Some of the actors are up to the task of delivering beyond this hinderance, but others aren't. Rock Hudson as Bick is certainly matinee idol handsome and believable, but he never quite seems to be any more than playing his part. Elizabeth Taylor is sweet and demure as his East coast bride. This is one of Taylor's best roles, because she is certainly up for the task. James Dean, who was highly reviled by the virile Hudson, delivers a perfect performance until the last two reels, when he seems to have become a sad characature of an actor pretending to imitate Marlon Brando. Mercedes McCambridge as Luz is sheer dynamite. It is sad that her character is a supporting role and doesn't appear on screen as long as I would have liked. At its release, "Giant" polarized the critics and the fans. It probably wouldn't get the attention it does if not for it being the last of the only three films that James Dean ever made. In fact, Dean was already dead by the time the film went into post production. A bit of trivia: Dean's last scene in the film had to be dubbed because the actor decided that his character's drunken lines should be delivered garbled. In reality, they were so garbled that no one could understand a word being said. Since Dean was no longer alive, the lines had to be voiced over by another actor. It is impossible to review "Giant," "East of Eden," or "Rebel Without A Cause" and not focus on Dean. It may seem biased or weighed too heavily in his favor, but since his body of work consists of only those three films, it is doubtful any reviewer can separate those films from that actor - nor should they. While "Giant" shows us the greatness of the actor who was James Dean, it also gives us a peek at the troubled soul of a man who was not long for this world. I've often wondered what Dean would be like today and what roles he would have taken. Would he still be considered a great actor or would his popularity have faded with age? It is impossible to know. It is much easier to remember fondly a person for their famed youth, than to see them over time. Perhaps, A.E. Houseman said it best in his poem "To an Athlete Dying Young": Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It whithers quicker than the rose. Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:
Rating: 
Summary: The story of Texas itself in this star-studded family saga
Review: The 1956 film is aptly named; everything about it is huge. Three years in the making, and a full 202 minutes long, it's the sweeping story of a Texas family that starts in the 1920s. Elizabeth Taylor is the young bride from East who, after a whirlwind romance with Rock Hudson, comes to his huge 595-acre Texas ranch. Here, she finds his unwelcoming sister, prejudice against the Mexican servants, and a condescending attitude to her as a woman. James Dean is here too, a sullen ranch hand who yearns for her as well as wealth. She's feisty though, as well as beautiful, and the rational center of the film, which spans a quarter of a century, as she and Rock Hudson quarrel, make up and raise their three children. Texas changes too. James Dean, the ranch hand, is the first to discover oil, and all of their lives change dramatically then. After a while all the land in the area is gushing oil wells where cattle used to roam. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Giant
Review: Astonishing, and heartbreaking, this film has not been released on DVD. A true classic. I'll avoid being redundant because there are many fine reviews listed here about this picture. If you love classics, this is a must-see. I can only hope the studio will stop [messing] around and get this one out on DVD. I have a spot in my collection reserved for this masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Movies I Have Ever Seen
Review: I saw Giant in a movie theatre when it first came out in the 1950's. The movie is epic in proportion and is about 4 hours long. This is the only movie that I watched back to back 3 times (I went into the movie theatre at noon and came out at midnight). The story is great, the acting is excellent. Elizabeth Taylor is at her best and is beautiful as well. Rock Hudson and James Dean also give stellar performances. This is one of my favorite movies and has remaind so throughout the years. I can hardly wait until they release it on DVD, then I will purchase it all over again, and, of course love witching it many more times.
Rating: 
Summary: Giant? Giant perhaps in its neglect of Jett...
Review: While I'm still working on my glowing review for Rebel Without a Cause, I think I'll do this one for Giant. To say it bluntly, the film left me disturbed and unsettled, as movies generally do when I don't feel they've been finished. Whatever happened to Jett? It's not enough for me to see him lying in a drunken stupor under a fallen table. His part of the story needed to be resolved, and it wasn't. I give this movie three stars only because James Dean was in it. Without him it would have received even fewer. It may just disturb me forever to think that this was his last film and they didn't give his role much to do beyond wearing a cowboy hat. It seemed that for the first tape he had more of a part than the second; even so, you never get to look inside his mind or at his background to see why he did as he did, or anything. James Dean had everything as an actor to make that love triangle powerful and memorable. As it was, he barely had a chance to enter it before he struck oil and seemed to exit the movie and the triangle, almost as if he was simply dispensable. I don't think Jett Rink's part can just be waved off like that. Not that anything can be done now, forty years after Giant's completion. There are a few good things I can say about this movie, and they all pertain to James Dean. I liked the scene when Leslie stopped at his house to have tea with him, and loved when he was reverently gazing at that footprint she left in the mud, watching it slowly fill up with something that wasn't mud, and then just watching him dig into it, exulting in it, practically covering himself with the stuff. Why does that scene have more power than all the rest of the movie put together? And I keep thinking, why did his final appearance have to be as an old drunk? He made the touching if slightly inebriated speech about ''Beautiful Leslie, the woman a man wants, the woman a man has to have'' - and basically disappeared. I can't figure out this movie, and if I watch it again, I'll most likely be FF'ing over anything that isn't pertaining to Jett, so there wouldn't be much point in it. One more thing - I want to go against the grain of most reviewers of this movie and say that I think the fight scene at Sarge's was stupid and dumb and I don't see what the Texan music playing had to do with anything. My recommendation for you? Go rent this movie before buying it. You may love it. I suppose for people who love Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor, this would be wonderful. I only watched it because of James Dean, and as I can't stop saying (you may have noticed) his role was severly neglected and underdeveloped. I think I've made my point. Perhaps someone will benefit from my observations.
Rating:
Summary: High Life
Review: Title: Giant
Year Released: Nov. 10,1956
Running Time: 261 minutes
Director: George Stevens
Studio: Warner Studios
Actors/Actresses: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean
Nominations/Awards: Academy Awards, USA
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
1957 Won Oscar Best DirectorGeorge Stevens
Nominated Oscar Best Actor in a Leading RoleJames Dean Rock Hudson
Best Actress in a Supporting RoleMercedes McCambridge
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, ColorRalph S. Hurst Boris Leven
Best Costume Design, ColorMarjorie Best Moss Mabry
Best Film EditingPhilip W. Anderson Fred Bohanan William Hornbeck
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy PictureDimitri Tiomkin
Best PictureHenry Ginsberg George Stevens Jr.
Best Writing, Best Screenplay - AdaptedFred Guiol Ivan Moffat
Setting: Benedict, Texas and washington
Themes: A wealthy Texas rancher marries a wealthy lady. They have children that he hopes will one day run the ranch.He battles with a former employee who came from the bottom up by discovering oil.
Plot: Bick runs a 595,000 acre ranch. He marries the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor (Leslie) and hopes to one day pass it down to his children to run. Only the children grow up and decide that they want to do other things.He fires his employee Jett that later causes a battle between the both of them. Jett Strikes oil and comes out of the slumps. He races against Bick trying to get ahead of him.In the long run know one can stand up to the Benedicts unless your a fighter.
Genre: Drama
Picture: color
This movie was rated four stars because of the way it was put together. Everything was to the max. Bicks house his ranch, his wife, and Jett who came from nothing and moved up to the top.It gives you a drive to do well so that you can enjoy the finer things in life.
Rating:
Summary: "Giant" is gigantic!
Review: James Dean's final film became a landmark in motion picture history. It's very hard watching this film nonstop. Anyone who passes this film up is no film critic. Everything about "Giant" is superb and marvelous. James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor go through three generations in Texas. It's amazing going through the times as they each grow older. The restaraunt scene, where Rock Hudson gets beaten up and knocked around by the owner is unforgettable. It shocked me when Hudson lost the fight, landed in the salad, and the owner throwing a sign on him saying
"We have the right to refuse service to anyone." "Giant" is absolutely marvelous and heartwarming entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Lives up to it's title.
Review: A sweeping epic is the best way to describe Giant. Everything about the picture is giant. The sets, the characters, and the landscape. The story of Giant revolves around Leslie and Jordan Benedict. Starting when they meet each other and covering their lives through middle age. Jordan is a third generation cattle rancer in Texas and knows little of anything else. Leslie, who was raised in Maryland, is not the sort of woman he is used too, but he marries her in haste because he is so facinated by her. Upon returning to his ranch of more than half a million acres the movie really begins to get going. And to make no mistake, one of the central characters in this film is Texas and how it changes to change the characters. A lot of stuff happens in Giant. Just about every significant event that happens in their lives together, children, fights, death, business, is shown on screen. This makes for a very complex character study which is why the picture is so long. On that note Giant succeeds where many other films of this length fail. In part because the lead roles played by Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor are enormously rich and textured. They give so many layers to the characters by the end of the film the audience really feels like it has been on an intimate journey with them. This is the success of Giant. If the characters did not grow and evolve then the picture would be difficult to sit through. Hudson in particular is fantastic as he struggles with his old fassioned ideals in the face of an ever changing society. Another actor who is just facinating to watch in this film is James Dean. For the masses out there that know Dean as just a pretty face, you must know that he was an actor of limitless potential. Dean must have been about 23 or 24 when he did this film and he died shortly after it's completion. However, his character, Jett Rink, also evolves on a large scale throughout the picture. And more so than Hudson Dean's Jett is always at odds with himself in the film. This was similar to the characters Dean played in his other two films, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, but not to be mistaken, this character is perhaps even more complex. It is too bad he did not get the chance to make more films. He was a great actor. Giant was and is a very good film. Personally I feel three and a half hours is way too long for a movie, but not this one. The picture stays interesting throughout and that is no small task. It did not seem like three hours at all which is a testiment to it's quality. Additionally I think this picture has aged really well. I did not find it campy or over dramatic. Also a young Dennis Hopper plays Jordan Jr. in the latter stages of the film which I got a kick out of. When you have some time on your hands Giant is worth the watch.
Rating:
Summary: A GIANT of a DVD!
Review: This a great DVD and one that should be purchased by any fan of the film before it's gone (take note of the fact that Warner Brothers destroyed all copies that hadn't been shipped to Canadian retailers). The film transfer is very good considering the age of the picture. One must realize that any flaws not visable in the VHS or Laserdisc versions can't hide in the shadows on it's DVD incarnation. The soundtrack also is miles above any previous mixes of the film. As for the film itself all I can say is that I love every minute of it. As for extras well this disc is jam-packed with them (and the content of them is well covered in the other reviews of the DVD that are featured on this page). So, don't hesitate in buying this DVD because it most likely will not be around forever.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Giant
Review: One of the worst movies ever made about Texas and Texans. Dreadful. Awful. Laughable acting and a silly script. Boring but good for a laugh. James Dean as a Texas cowboy indeed.
| 
