Film Friday: George Stevens' Production of 'GIANT' with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor

Had James Dean not died suddenly at age 24, George Stevens' Giant would be remembered today on its own merits, rather than as the last film by one of pop culture's great icons. If Dean lived to make more films, Giant would not even be considered a “James Dean” movie. In reality, it is a Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor film, with Dean in the third-wheel role. Giant can stand on its own and is a true masterpiece of American cinema.

Based on the novel by Edna Farber (Show Boat, Cimarron), Giant tells the story of Bic Benedict (Hudson), who runs the Raetta cattle ranch with his sister (Mercedes McCambridge) in Texas since his father died. But Giant doesn't actually begin there. Instead, Stevens and writers Ian Mofatt & Fred Guiol begin in Maryland, where Bic is heading to buy a horse from the Lynnton family. He also meets Leslie (Taylor) and begins to woo her. They eventually marry and head back to Texas together.

This allows Stevens to introduce us to Bic's world through Leslie's eyes. We are presented with a way of life that already feels outdated because that's how it looks to Leslie. But since Leslie is stuck there for the rest of her life – and we're stuck there mostly for the next three hours – everyone might as well learn to get used to it.

It's also the best way to introduce us the the film's most interesting character, Jett Rink (Dean). He's the only character who changes over the course of the film – or rather, he changes because Leslie's view of him changes. At first, he's the weird ranch hand, who struggled all his life without rich parents to help him. Leslie instantly feels a kinship with him, since she is also alone in Texas, even with her husband around. But when Jett inherits a small piece of land from Bick's sister, he decides to make it his own. He even tries to find oil and strikes it rich.

Despite Jett learning that oil is under Raetta, Bick insists on sticking with cattle. Even as times change and he and Leslie have children, Bick stands like a rock. Bick will run Raetta like his father did and his father did before him.

Giant runs almost as long as Gone With The Wind and while on its surface, it is really just about a family dealing with the passage of time, George Stevens makes sure that the film is much more than that. He could have even played the film as a parody, poking fun at Texas culture. But Texas culture isn't what Stevens was really after. As one can tell through Stevens' films – even his early RKO work before he was a true auteur – he was always interested in boiling a drama with a big scope down to just human relationships. He looked at the Holocaust through the eyes of a young girl in The Diary of Anne Frank. He found a lone gunslinger named Shane in the middle of the great American West. For his first major film, he brought Alice Adams to life, examining social boundaries from the point of view of a girl who just wanted to fit in.

In Farber's novel, he found the perfect way to show a family drama unfolding as Texas changes from a land of exclusively expansive ranches to a state built on oil. But unlike other movies, the Benedicts' fortunes never actually fall. Giant only depicts the Benedicts as a success. Sure, Bic bemoans a bit about how he didn't make as many millions as he wanted to, but oil doesn't actually put Raetta out of business. Instead, Giant shows us how these two worlds exist and the evil of them both.

Giant is full of important scenes that today's filmmakers should watch. One scene that always sticks in my mind is the moment Jett is told that he's been given his own land. This is done in a very long take, as Stevens lets the actors play out their scenes. But of course, Dean steals it completely. Everything you need to know about Dean's acting is in that scene. He is all about the tiny details, whether it's playing with the rope or just barely touching that pile of money before leaving the table. He just knew exactly what he had to do to keep his character – and the film itself – moving. You can't even imagine what that scene would be like if Dean just sat there, motionless as he listens to Hudson.

The second scene to point out is the moment Jett goes to Raetta to announce he's found oil. It's the catalyst for the film, finally giving Giant its conflict, well over an hour into it. While Bic seems to nonchalantly accept Jett's success, Jett takes it just one step farther – he decides to test Leslie's devotion to Bic. But Leslie stands behind Bic, leaving Jett crushed. Everything you need to know about Giant itself is in that scene.

Lastly, there is the diner scene, probably one of the most important moments in all of '50s American film. Sure, Bic's stance on how he makes his money never changed, but his decision to stand up for his now interracial family ensures that he is never a complete failure. In the book, Bic wasn't even with Leslie in the diner. Stevens and his writers knew though that this was the moment where they had to show Bic standing up and deciding to change something in his life. You can always change the way you make money, but you are rarely given an opportunity like that to define your feelings for you family.

Stevens loved an epic canvas and that's why Giant is his best film. A Place In The Sun and I Remember Mama are fantastic as well, but Giant played to all his strengths as a filmmaker. Audiences today might check it out just because James Dean is in it and, sure, he gets the most interesting character in the movie, but he's not the real star. George Stevens is the star. Anyone who can make an audience sit for 200 minutes without getting bored is close to a genius.

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