Giant (film)

Giant is a 1956 drama film and was directed by George Stevens. The movie was adapted by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat from the novel by Edna Ferber. It stars Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor and Earl Holliman. Giant was the last of James Dean's three films as a leading actor. The film earned James Dean his second and last Academy Award nomination, of three starring roles. He was killed in a car accident before Giant was released. Nick Adams was called in to do some voice-over dubbing for Dean's role.

In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson), the head of the rich Benedict ranching family of Texas, goes to Maryland to buy a stud horse, War Winds. There he meets and courts Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), the socialite girl who becomes his wife. They return to Texas to start their life together on the family ranch, Reata. Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), Bick's sister, and Leslie don't get along. Jett Rink (James Dean) the family handyman, is jealous of the Benedict wealth and flirts with Leslie.

Luz dies after War Winds bucks her off, and as part of her will, Jett is given a plot of land within the Benedict ranch. Bick tries to buy back the land, but Jett refuses. Jett keeps the fenced off waterhole as his home and names the property Little Reata. Leslie eventually gives birth to twins, Jordan Benedict III (Dennis Hopper), or Jordy, and Judy Benedict (Fran Bennett), and a younger daughter named Luz Jr (Carroll Baker).

Jett discovers oil on his property, and when he gets his first gusher, he barges onto the Benedicts' property proclaiming in front of the entire family that he will be richer than the Benedicts. Bick and Jett have a fistfight and Jett runs off.

In the years before World War II, Jett starts an oil drilling company that makes him wealthy. Bick resists the lure of oil wealth, preferring to remain a rancher. Jett visits the Benedicts to convince Bick to allow oil production to help the war effort. During this visit, Luz Jr, now a teen-aged girl, and Jett start flirting. Once oil production starts, the wealthy Benedict family becomes wealthier.

In the postwar years, tensions in the Benedict household revolve around how the parents want to bring up their children. Bick wants Jordy to run the ranch, but Jordy wants to become a doctor. Leslie wants her Judy to attend finishing school in Switzerland, but Judy wants to stay in Texas for her education.

The Benedict/Rink rivalry comes to a head when the Benedicts find Luz Jr. and Jett Rink have been dating. At a huge gala Jett organizes in his own honor, Jordy tries to fight him, after realizing he and his Mexican American wife, Juana (Elsa Cárdenas), were invited just so Jett's employees could turn Juana away. Bick then takes Jett to a kitchen room, about to fight him, but realizes that Jett is a shell of a man, who only has money. He tells him, "You're not even worth hitting...You're all through," and leaves. The party ends when Jett, completely drunk, slumps down in front of everyone before his big speech. Luz Jr. sees him afterwards, once everyone has left the ballroom, and discovers that he is a lonely wreck.

The movie portrays how the oil industry transformed the Texas ranchers into the super rich of their generation.

A major sub-plot of the movie is the racism against Mexican Americans in Texas. When the movie starts, Bick and Luz are racist towards the Mexicans who work on their ranch, which shocks Leslie. By the end of the movie, though, Bick realizes the wrongs of racism and defends his daughter-in-law and grandson, Juana and Jordan Benedict IV, respectively and earns Leslie's respect.

Cast

• Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Benedict
• Rock Hudson as Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr.
• James Dean as Jett Rink
• Carroll Baker as Luz Benedict II
• Jane Withers as Vashti Snythe
• Chill Wills as Uncle Bawley
• Mercedes McCambridge as Luz Benedict
• Dennis Hopper as Jordan Benedict III
• Sal Mineo as Angel Obregon II
• Rod Taylor as Sir David Karfrey
• Earl Holliman as "Bob" Dace
• Paul Fix as Dr. Horace Lynnton
• Judith Evelyn as Mrs. Nancy Lynnton
• Fran Bennett as Judy Benedict
• Elsa Cárdenas as Juana Guerra Benedict
• Nick Adams as Jett Rink - Giving Banquet Speech (voice)
• Dan White (uncredited) as Truck Driver in Diner

Production

The first part of the picture was shot in Albemarle County, Virginia, doubling for Maryland, and utilizing the Belmont estate near the Keswick railroad station, which depicted the "Ardmore, Maryland" railway depot. The film begins with Jordan "Bick" Benedict, played by Hudson, arriving at Ardmore to purchase a stallion from the Lynnton family.

Much of the subsequent film, depicting "Reata," the Benedict ranch, was shot in and around the town of Marfa, Texas, and the remote, dry plains found nearby, with interiors filmed at the Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, California. The "Jett Rink Day" parade and airport festivities were filmed at the nearby Burbank Airport.

The fictional character Jett Rink was based in part of oil tycoon Glenn Herbert McCarthy (1907-1988). Author Edna Ferber met with McCarthy when she booked a room at the Shamrock Hotel to which the novel and film were based. In the film, the fictional Emperador Hotel was based on the former Shamrock Hotel (known as the Shamrock Hilton after 1955) in Houston, Texas.

The film was premiered in New York City in November 1956 with the local DuMont station televising the arrival of cast and crew, as well as other celebrities and studio chief Jack Warner. Warner Brothers has included the vintage kinescope of the premiere festivities in New York, as well as interviews with cast members, in their special 50th anniversary DVD set.

Capitol Records, which had issued some of Dimitri Tiomkin's music from the soundtrack (with the composer conducting the Warner Brothers studio orchestra) on an LP, later digitally remastered the tracks and issued them on CD, including two tracks conducted by Ray Heindorf.

Director George Stevens wanted to cast fading star Alan Ladd as Jett Rink, but his wife advised against it. The role went to James Dean. Before Elizabeth Taylor accepted it, the role of Leslie was offered to Grace Kelly. William Holden was a leading candidate for the role of Bick Benedict before Rock Hudson was eventually signed.

Giant was Barbara Barrie's first film. Carroll Baker, who plays Elizabeth Taylor's daughter, was older in real life than her screen mother.

After James Dean's death late in production, Nick Adams provided Rink's voice for a few lines. The film spent an entire year in the editing room.

It was the highest grossing film in Warner Bros. history until the release of Superman.

Academy Awards win and nominations

Giant won the Academy Award for Directing and was nominated nine other times, twice for Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Dean and Rock Hudson). The other nominations came in the categories of Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mercedes McCambridge), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Costume Design, Color, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Picture and Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted.

Trivia

The ranch based on its size and description is based on the Waggoner Ranch.

External links