Giant

Tara and I are avid movie fans, and see as many as we have time for. I've decided it's time to start blogging about the ones we see. I've only mentioned a couple along the way so far.
This week, we watched the very long, very much too long “Giant,” which runs nearly three hours long. “Giant” is famous as the last film made by James Dean before he died. The film actually stars Rock Hudson as Bick Benedict, a Texas rancher who inherited his family's 500,000 acre cattle ranch called Reata. Elizabeth Taylor costars as Leslie, a young woman from Maryland (even though Edna Ferber’s novel has her in Virginia) whom Bick meets and marries on a trip to buy a prize stallion. It also costars James Dean as Jett Rink, who works on the Benedict ranch.

I actually expected a better film than this turned out to be. I remember having read at least part of the book as a teenager, and knew this to be a classic in many people’s estimation. In the end, Tara and I were both disappointed with many aspects of the film. My own view is that the film was directed poorly… especially in terms of the editing. The first half of the film drags on and on with character development that could have been abbreviated. Then we’re suddenly thrust forward in time at least fifteen years. Not only are we left wondering what happened in the meantime, but the make-up job on Hudson and Taylor that is supposed to make us think they’ve aged is not very convincing. They did a better job on James Dean, who was the youngest of the three of them. Tara and I were very surprised and not real happy with the way the film ends either. I expected more… and less (in terms of film time)… than what we got.

There are some outstanding aspects of this film, however. It was very easy for me to get caught up in the dynamic of the Maryland girl marrying the Texan and having to adjust to life there. After all, I’m from Maryland, and Tara’s from Texas. I saw the film through Leslie’s (Elizabeth Taylor’s) eyes. I couldn’t identify with Bick (Rock Hudson), who was supposed to be a typical, arrogant, big, macho Texan. He was prejudiced and bigoted and misogynistic. Jett (James Dean) was no better. He was a Bick-wannabe. He resented the wealth of the Benedict family, and told Leslie that their family was no better than his. The only difference was that they were “foxy” enough (as he put it) to take advantage of the Mexicans in a way that his family hadn’t been. The battle between Bick and Jett was representative of the battle of between poor whites and landed aristocracy in Texas at the time. This was a very interesting aspect of the film. I only wish it was developed better. Another undercurrent was the ethnic battle between the poor working Mexicans and the whites (both rich and poor). Leslie is chastised for treating the Mexican servants like human beings. Bick’s son ends up marrying a Mexican woman, and this puts the family in some uncomfortable situations. What I think I liked best about the film was that Leslie was quietly working on Bick through the whole film, and by the end, he’s willing to accept his children for who they really are, and because his grandson is half-Mexican, he finally can see the world through Mexicans’ eyes, and defends their equality.

All of this makes it somewhat thought-provoking. I just wish it had been done better.