And make no mistake: Giant<\/em> is daunting. But this story makes its maximum impact when taken in all at once, without even the relief of episode cliffhangers in sight. It tells a big, bold story, about two families, and Texas, and World War II, and (it seems almost too obvious to say) America. But it\u2019s a film about more than itself, populated by archetypes, legends like Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, and Sal Mineo, each not only embodying all of the qualities that their name implies, but more besides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The stakes, initially, are small. Bick Benedict Jr. (Hudson) is a Texas rancher, visiting Maryland to buy horses; he sets his eye on a stallion, and on the young beauty atop it, Leslie Lynnton (Taylor). \u201cAre you in love with him?\u201d her sister asks, after they spend one dinner together. \u201cYes, I think so,\u201d Leslie replies, and soon enough she\u2019s on the train back to his ranch in Texas. But she\u2019s not quite sure what to make of this dusty, empty place, or how to fit into her odd, new family, and she\u2019s a bit of a Yankee hell-raiser in a traditional Southern family, so there\u2019s that<\/em>. And James Dean is off brooding in the distance, which presumably complicates matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The screenplay by Fred Guilol and Ivan Moffat (adapting Edna Ferber\u2019s novel) quickly makes Bick into the heel, insensitive and brusque, while painting Dean\u2019s Jett Rink, a ranch hand, as a comparatively sensitive soul. With that set-up, Dean doesn\u2019t have to do much to show Hudson up, but he does the most anyway, to great effect; yes, we all know Dean became an icon in only three movies (and this one was released posthumously), but you really can only fully grasp what a thunderbolt he must\u2019ve been by watching him work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bick and Jett loathe<\/em> each other, a dynamic only exacerbated when Bick\u2019s older sister Luz (McCambridge) dies in a horse riding accident and leaves a piece of the family land to Jett. And then<\/em> he strikes oil on that land, in a wildly satisfying sequence that culminates in Jett planting himself in front of the entire Benedict family and announcing \u2013 crowing, really \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m rich. I\u2019m a rich boy. Me, I\u2019m gonna have more money than you\u2019ll ever think you can have!\u201d (\u201cYou shoulda shot that fellow a long time ago,\u201d Bick is told, in one of the script\u2019s best lines. \u201cNow he\u2019s too rich to kill.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giant<\/em> covers a lot of years, and a lot of territory. (The aging of these impossibly young and beautiful actors, via hair and make-up alterations, is not altogether convincing.) The supporting cast is stacked and their characters are rich, and plenty of fine actors get at least a moment to shine. And because Stevens is such a skilled director, his themes aren\u2019t all loaded into dialogue; throughout the picture, he gracefully conveys, in glances and pauses, how all of these people get sucked into this family\u2019s orbit, whether they want to or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the film\u2019s real achievement is how deftly it dramatizes the emotional arcs of its two male leads. It\u2019s worth reiterating that the casting is brilliant: Dean is all internal sensitivity and withdrawn beauty, and Hudson is a stodgier and more traditional actor, so he slots into the less sympathetic role easily \u2013 and, kudos to him, he leans into the character\u2019s flaws. But slowly but surely (and this is where the expansive running time becomes such a virtue) they shift positions, with Jet becoming a hard case in a nasty little mustache, and Bick becoming aware of the needs and desires of those around him, and opening up to them. He sees what a cold, empty shell Jett has become, recognizes himself, and doesn\u2019t like what he sees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Such subtle but affecting engagement with ideas of masculinity and morality is mostly handled as subtext, though it becomes text in the bruising fight scene that ends the story. This is no accident; the way Stevens scores it with a rousing instrumental rendition of \u201cThe Eyes of Texas\u201d couldn\u2019t be more telling. Giant<\/em> is an epic, and its scope is massive. But it\u2019s the best kind of epic, less preoccupied with the landscape of the great Southwest, and more with those of the human psyche.\u00a0 “Giant” is now available on 4K UHD Blu-ray<\/a> and currently streaming on HBO Max<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/giant1-1024x761.jpg\")
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