Director: George Stevens
Writers: Fred Guiol, Ivan
Moffat, Edna Ferber (novel)
Starring: Rock Hudson,
Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills,
Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Earl Holliman, Fran
Bennett, Charles Watts, Elsa Cardenas, Victor Millan
George Steven’s “Giant” is a
movie about America. That’s as simply as it can be put. It’s about how modern
America was formed, how it was shaped. How we struggled against change that was
inevitable and progressive. But, it shows how we prevail through these
struggles, how our basic goodness wins us over through time.
It stars three Hollywood icons
in roles that pushed them. Save for Elizabeth Taylor’s basically good role, it
may have been difficult for the male leads to agree to theirs. Rock Hudson’s
cattle baron has the most struggles. He is the representation of America as a
whole. He’s the paragon of capitalism. He experiences a whirlwind romance. His
marriage isn’t what he imagined. His kids don’t turn out the way he plans. He
is a racist, but he works on it, though not consciously. In the end, he builds
himself a pretty good life that has little to do with his money. This is the
real American dream.
James Dean’s star was rising
before his premature departure from this mortal coil before this movie was even
released. He had appeared as a bright young thing in two previous movies. In
this movie, he takes the role of a loser ranch hand who becomes an oil tycoon
yet somehow remains a loser. Much of his role is done in age make up and he
seems perpetually drunk. His agent must’ve protested. Sure this was a huge
production that was bound to be even higher profile than either of his other
two films, but this villain of sorts isn’t anything flashy. He’s rather
pathetic.
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