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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Director George Steven's
"Giant" (1956) is, well… one heck of a giant film
experience, full of lusty and intensely drawn
characters that speak to the boisterous Texans
that populated Edna Ferber's best selling novel.
The film stars Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton,
a rather priggish -- if drop dead gorgeous --
young woman, whose pending marriage to Sir David
Karfrey (Rod Taylor, in an early and fleeting on
screen appearance) is thwarted by the sudden
appearance of Jordon Benedict (Rock Hudson). Then
again, what woman could resist the manly virtue of
Rock Hudson in his prime, and, before the
realization that he preferred the same as his
female costars?
Seems Jordon is bent on buying a stallion for his
Texas ranch. Yet, in only a few short days he
falls for Leslie, and she for him. Together as man
and wife they return to Jordon's sprawling Texas
cattle ranch -- about as stark and jolting a
departure from the green pastures of New England
as anything can be. At first Leslie doesn't seem
to fit in to her new digs. Her subtle conflicts
over housekeeping with Jordon's overly possessive
sister, Luz (Mercedes McCambridge) are a bone of
contention and pride that Luz is certain she will
win. However, when Jordon makes it clear that
Leslie is now the lady of the house, Luz takes to
punishing a stallion -- in Jordon's stead -- by
digging her spurs into his side. She is thrown
from her ride and killed. But that's only the
beginning of Leslie's problems. Accidentally
befriending Jordon's jealous rival, the
impoverished Jett Rink (James Dean in his last
role), Leslie is torn between Jett's lilting way
with the Mexican natives that populate the ranch
and whom she feels a kinship towards, and,
Jordon's racist view of the Mexican's place as
inferior to whites among society.
The film really has two conflicting flavors that
meet somewhere in the middle. The first half of
this epic (of which some critics have suggested
was partly the model for television's most
successful night time soap -- Dallas), is a love
story gone bad, in which Leslie and Jordon
gradually drift apart but are held together by the
birth of their children, son Jordon Jr. (Dennis
Hopper) and daughter, Luz Jr. (Carroll Baker).
Eventually, neither child will live up to parental
expectations. Jordon Jr. marries a Mexican woman
-- forcing his father's hand at re-evaluating his
own racist beliefs, while Luz Jr. has her heart
broken after carrying on with the elderly Jett.
The high point of the second half of the film
comes in a showdown between Jett and Jordon Sr. on
the eve that Jett's casino and hotel is supposed
to mark a new era in the renovation of Dallas'
social nightlife.
Director, Stevens keeps his narrative tight during
the second half -- which is rather odd,
considering how the first half tends to fall off
in bits and pieces of meandering explorations
between romantic melodrama and social commentary.
Regardless of these shortcomings, "Giant" was a
colossal success upon its theatrical release; its
one shadow of regret falling across the untimely
demise of James Dean, who died only days after
completing his performance on the set.
I wish I had better news for fans of this film,
but the two-disc collector's edition from Warner
is a colossal disappointment. Minted from a
restored print, made long before digital
restoration technology had taken hold in the
industry, the picture elements on "Giant" are
worn, faded and miserably mis-registered in spots.
Worse, the widescreen image has not been
anamorphically enhanced for widescreen
televisions.
(Aside: Nearly a year before the U.S. version
debuted, a Canadian single disc of this movie was
made available in anamorphic widescreen from
Warner Home Video, and with all of the extras of
this new two disc edition, made available on its
flip side. Presumably because Warner realized that
it did not have permission from Jane Withers to
use her footage in a documentary that was included
on this disc -- the single flipper was never
released in the United States and shortly after
its issue in Canada, was pulled from shelves. The
Canadian version remains the only version of
"Giant" to be enhanced for widescreen T.V.'s.)
Regardless of this oversight, the image quality of
both the flipper and this two disc is the same,
with only the most marginal of improvements afford
the Canadian version because of its improved
resolution. Still, the picture is a resounding
disappointment. Flesh tones are never anything but
pasty and overly pink. Most of the colors are a
muddy mess, marred by the addition of considerable
film grain, edge enhancement, shimmering of fine
details and a lot of pixelization. Overall then,
the video quality is anything but smooth and
often, distracts one from the performances. The
audio is also dismal; strident sounding in spots,
muffled in others, and with far too much
electronic enhancement to be anything close to
natural. Extras include the aforementioned Withers
footage documentary and several other anomalies,
including the film's theatrical trailer, an intro
from George Stevens Jr. and several promotional
junkets covering the film's premiere and general
release. |
