NFR Project: 'Giant' (1956)

 

NFR Project: “Giant”

Dir: George Stevens

Scr: Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat

Pho: William C. Mellor

Ed: William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson, Fred Bohanan

Premiere: Nov. 24, 1956

201 min.

It’s a big, giant film. Unfortunately, it’s boring as hell.

It’s a three-and-a-half-hour epic that covers decades in the lives of rancher Bick (Rock Hudson), his wife Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), and rival Jett Rink (James Dean in his last role). The setting is the bare plains of Texas, where Bick runs cattle on more than half a million acres. Bick initially dismisses his wife’s attempt to take part in male conversation; she leaves him for a while, but they get back together.

Then Jett strikes oil on a small plot bequeathed to him by Bick’s sister. He becomes unbelievably, obnoxiously rich and soon becomes an annoying drunk as well. Bick tries to get his children interested in running the ranch, but they all want to lead their own lives. Bick drills for oil too.

Later, Bick’s son Jordan is incensed by Jett’s orders that no Hispanic people be served at his big new hotel; Jordan’s wife is Mexican-American. The two fight, and Jordan is hauled out of the banquet hall where they confront each other. Bick realizes that this prejudice is unacceptable. On their way home, the family stops at a diner where the owner refuses to serve Bick’s daughter-in-law and son. Bick fights him and loses. Leslie declares how proud she is that he stood up for Hispanics. The end.

It’s all delivered in a long, slow, casual, soap-opera style. Hudson can’t act; Dean mumbles. We are supposed to watch the characters age, but they never really evolve. Director Stevens is at his best when he is composing images of great depth and beauty – an elaborate mansion sitting by itself on the empty plains, a seething, churning roundup, a soldier’s coffin returned home. Unfortunately, the movie is not worth the effort.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: High Society.