GIANT
(Warner Bros.) G Cert. WITH enough good material to make a very worthwhile film of reasonable length, Giant runs on fof nearly three and a half hours, sprawling and in places overblown. Though impressive at times, the fact is it hasn’t in the end the feeling of an epic. Tie story follows a Texas cattle king, Bick Benedict, from his marriage to a Maryland bride till they have several grandchildren. Meanwhile one of their hired hands, Jett Rink, bequeathed a small piece of the ranch, has become an oil millionaire. The impact of Texas on the young bride (its arid, depressing vastness after
the green fields of Maryland, the uncouth mannets and customs of her new neighbours) and Jett’s discovery of oil make the most impresSive sequences of Giant -and they are impressive. But there are others as well: Jett in silhouette stepping out his inheritance, the body of a young Mexican killed in the war arriving at the bleak railway — station, Bick forcing his young
son to Tide a horse. Un the other hand, the direc-
tor, George Stevens, has tried to wring too much out of such scenes as the wedding of Leslie’s sister and the many domestic dialogues between Bick and his wife. Leslie’s civilising influence on the rough Texan has worthwhile significance, but simply as man and wife they are not all that absorbing. I must confess also that Bick (Rock Hudson, beginning to look like an actor) remained for me a rather unpleasant character, though I don’t think that was the idea, while for a film whose point of view is in many respects commendably civilised (on the colour. question, especially) Giant is, I feel, in the second half notably unsympathetic towards Jett Rink, the self-made man. As Jett, James Dean (in his last role before his untimely death) does not add to his range; yet having ‘seen him also in Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden I feel sure he was an actor of real and considerable talent. Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie has seldom if ever played better, and Mercedes McCambridge as Bick’s sister is among the best of a good supporting cast. The fine camera-work is by William C. Mellor,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 952, 8 November 1957, Page 21
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370GIANT New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 952, 8 November 1957, Page 21
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