Giant is an epic in all forms of the meaning. Clocking in a over 3 1/2 hours long the film had to have an intermission in the middle. The 3 1/2 hours are brilliantly used by George Stevens who crafts every scene of this movie into a piece of art. You could take any still from the negative of Giant and you'd have a beautiful picture to hang in your home. The film tells the story of the Benedict's, a wealthy Texas family who own a ranch. Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) goes to Maryland to get a stud and returns to Texas with a wife, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor). This is approximately the first thirty to forty minutes of the film. Stevens creates a magical love tale that could be it's own movie and condenses it down to a mere forty minutes. The two return to the Benedict's' ranch in Reata where we are introduced to Bick's sister Luz, and the ranch handyman Jett Rink (James Dean). Jett is blatantly jealous of Bick's good fortune and wealth and continuously flirts with Leslie. Luz is soon killed when the stud Bick brought back bucks her off. In her will she leaves some land to Jett, who soon finds it is located on top of a large amount of oil. Jett quickly rushes over to the Benedict's, covered in oil, and mocks Bick and the family for doubting he would ever amount to anything (A classic scene). Soon after Leslie gives birth to twins and another daughter. Jett starts an oil company and this is followed by the start of World War II. During Giant's theatrical run this is where the intermission took place. From here the story shifts from being about Bick and Jett to the struggles inside of Bick's home. He wishes to have his son Jordy (Denis Hopper) succeed him, but Jordy wants his own legacy. Bick stubbornly denies this as he his slowly becoming a bitter older man. Jett stops buy (presumably to gush about his fortune) and falls for Bick's teenage daughter Luz Jr. Bick soon discovers the two are dating. The Benedict's show up to a gala Jett is having in his honor where tensions boil over. Jordy learns that he and his Native American wife were invited simply so Jett could turn her away at the door for being Native American. When Bick goes to confront Jett in the kitchen, he finds that Jett is alone and drunk, a shell of a man who has only money and nothing else. Bick leaves Jett without hitting him, but also without pity.
A major sub plot to Giant is racism. The Benedict's are a traditional Texas family and give no thought to how they treat their Mexican hands. They respect them, feed and house them but not as well as they should. Leslie is more willing to treat the Mexicans as human beings particularly in a scene where she helps a woman and her baby. Bick later shrugs this event off even when told that the baby could die. Jett is also racist in many aspects. He denies Jordy's wife entrance to his gala simply because she is a Native American. The film's final scene, an incredibly memorable and classic scene, has the Benedicts at a Texas diner some ten years after Jett's gala. Bick's daughter in law and grandson are harassed for being Native American and half Native American respectively. Bick picks a fight with the owner, defying all his previous actions towards racism the entire film, but gets knocked down (numerous times). He loses the fight, but earns the respect of his family.
The story of creating Giant is a fascinating tale as well. Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor were big stars at the time, and James Dean was on his third film and a massive teenage star. The story was a tension filled story, but the set was a wild scene of pranks and bonding. The three main stars formed a close relationship with each other and the director George Stevens. An interesting sub plot to the making of the film revolves around James Dean. Dean was a massive star mainly among teenage girls, so the fact that he made this movie and showed the talent he did makes his death even more tragic. Dean finished his scenes early and left the set to go partake in his second love, racing. Dean died hours after leaving the set in a car accident. When news reached the set, the fun and games died with Dean. Stories have been told that Elizabeth Taylor didn't leave her trailer for a week. The even bigger issue concerned the gala scenes at the end, where because of Dean's style of delivering lines in a mumbled fashion led to much of the scene being inaudible. Warner Bros. was faced with the crisis of having to re shoot scenes with an actor who was no longer alive. The scene was instead re dubbed, but because of Dean's death (much like Heath Ledger's death during the shooting of The Dark Knight) the last scene's of Dean are the most precious because once they are being watched and the time ticks away on the scene, you realize that your time with Dean is ticking away as well. If there is an upside to Giant being a 3 1/2 hour film is that Dean is in a large chunk of it.
Giant was a massive success. The film was Warner Bros's highest grossing film until it released Superman in the late 70's. The film garnered 10 Academy Award nominations including a posthomunous Best Actor nomination for James Dean, Best Actor for Rock Hudson, Best Picture and Best Director which George Stevens won. It has since been re-released and is still a strong example of how to make an epic. This among many other aspects including classic scenes, memorable dialogue, the beautifully shot locations and the actors in the three main roles, make Giant and epic American classic.
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