Movie Review: The Film Foundation Presents 'Giant'

Giant (1956)

Directed by George Stevens

Written by Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat

Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker

Release Date November 24th. 1956

Published January 8th, 2023

The latest presentation of The Film Foundation is the 1956 epic, Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. It's the story of money and privilege on the growing Texas prairie of 1956, a time when cattle and oil battled for land and financial supremacy. And a rare moment where a woman confronted the sexism of the time to demand her place in the world. It's also a 3 hour plus movie that takes a while to get to a place where something genuinely interesting takes place.

The story kicks in when Jordan 'Bick' Benedict, travels to Maryland to purchase an expensive horse. The rich man selling the horse happens to have a beautiful daughter, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), who challenges Bick and within days of his arrival, becomes his wife. The two return to Texas where Bick's sister, Luz (Carroll Baker) is less than welcoming of her new sister in-law. Their conflict plays out quickly with Luz's death bringing an end to the brief chapter.

Luz's death precipitates a rivalry between Bick and Luz's favorite ranch hand, Jett Rink (James Dean), who refuses to take Bick's money. Instead, he takes a piece of Bick's land, left to him by Luz, that is believed to be relatively worthless. This being Texas however, the property is soon found to be valuable, bursting with oil. This furthers the rivalry between Jet and Bick, though that really takes a while to develop. Just as soon as Jet is pumping oil, the film jumps more than a decade into the future.

I am embarrassed to say this, but it is true, I was bored throughout Giant. I recognize the large story being told and the skillful way in which George Stevens captures it all, but the story failed to grab me. I just couldn't stay interested in the sexless, chemistry free relationship of Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. They have three kids, but they have the romantic chemistry of acquaintances who happen to be married. The separate beds they sleep in are a sign of the times in 1956 but they are also, unintentionally symbolic of Hudson and Taylor's lack of bedroom compatibility.

Yes, I am aware that Rock Hudson was a gay man and that may play a role in how disinterested he appears in having sex with his wife. That said, Hudson's disinterest seems to have more to do with a script that lingers and trudges rather than building any kind of conflict or tension. Hudson sparks just fine with Doris Day in their jaunty romantic comedies so the lack of heat between him and Liz Taylor has little to do with a lack of talent on the part of Hudson. It's the part that fails as much as the actor.

Then, there is James Dean, a legend who died young and left a blazing legacy. The James Dean of Giant is a creepy weirdo, a wiry, weird little troll of a man. He's supposedly the villain of the picture but he's so rarely on screen in the first two hours of Giant that he hardly registers beyond his deeply mannered and strange performance. The intention appears to be to make Jett Rink the big bad guy of the movie, but he doesn't really do much aside from some of the hammiest drunk acting I've ever seen in a movie.

At one point. the film stops so that Taylor and Dean can share a cup of tea. The moment is intended to set up the virulent racism of Dean's character that has a role to play later in the movie but mostly it's Taylor and Dean having a rather mundane conversation over a nice cup of tea. The scene ends when Taylor steps in some mud and oil begins to bubble up. That leads to the discovery of Dean's oil fortune but it takes nearly an hour of screen time to pass before that revelation becomes clear. I'm exaggerating about that hour, it only feels that long.

The arc of the movie is on Rock Hudson's Bick. He begins the movie as the kind of insidious sexist, racist, white man who portrays himself as a good person but will always side with 'tradition' if it comes to any kind of inclusivity, whether it means women or particular races of people. Through the prodding of Leslie, over 50 some years, Bick goes from being racist and sexist to being a sort of woke, for the time, grandpa who nearly gets himself killed in a fistfight defending his son's Mexican wife and their mixed-race son.

It makes sense on a rational level that in a story set initially in the early 1900s and progresses toward the mid-1950s that it would take a while to move a man like Bick, but the arc is so bland overall that it barely registers until Bick is laid out on the floor of a diner. That leads to final scene where the now grandparents, Bick and Leslie, joke about his former racism and the new future they now see for their ever so slightly more colorful family line.

Meanwhile, how does the whole Jett Rink as big bad guy story play out? It doesn't. The last we see of Dean's character he's drunkenly asleep on the floor of the massive hotel he bought for himself as a symbol of his wealth. It's a fitting end and you can sense the contempt that the movie has for the nouveau riche oil man and how the movie is, in part, about showing the vulgarity of such wealth. Sadly, the movie fails to underline the point in a meaningful way. Dean's broad caricature of drunkenness only serves to show how acting has evolved away from his style of acting.

I can see what others see in Giant but it's just not for me. I just cannot get invested in the story. And, considering that it goes on for over three hours, that lack of investment is punishing. The romance never comes, the sweeping epic quality is only implied by the length of the film, and the supposedly iconic performances play as laconic when they aren't deeply broad to the point of being almost embarrassing. I understand the obsession with James Dean that has lingered for more than half a century since his death but this is not a good example of his work.

Throughout this review I have battled with myself. That battle is with part of me that doesn't want to have to defend not liking this movie. Film world convention is that Giant is a towering classic, and that Dean, Taylor, and Hudson are untouchable icons of a beloved Hollywood past. I feel as if, if I challenge that idea that I am some kind of philistine. I want so much to be liked by film scholars and fans that part of me wants to ignore my real feelings and acquiesce to the cultural record as it is.

The stronger part of me, however, is the part that was desperately, angrily, bored by Giant. It's the part of me that wanted to turn it off and only continued watching to the end out of a misguided notion of not letting the movie defeat my will. This is not a referendum on James Dean, Rock Hudson or Elizabeth Taylor. I happen to agree with some of Dean's reputation. I think Rebel Without a Cause is a pretty great movie. Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is one the great film performances of all time. I like these actors. I just don't care about the Benedict family, the history of Texas from cattle to oil, or the arc of Rock Hudson from casual racist and sexist to slightly woke grandpa, even if that is a notion that is way ahead of its time in 1956.

I just don't care about Giant. I'm happy for you if you do care. If you are a fan of this movie or of these beloved legends, then don't miss The Film Foundation presentation of Giant on Monday, January 10th. Go to The Film Foundation website, sign up for free, and you can stream Giant and watch it online with a wonderful group of fellow film lovers. I love The Film Foundation and I will always support what they do, even if it means I have to suffer through a movie as over-hyped and overlong as Giant.

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