Sunday, March 18, 2012

Giant by George Stevens, 1956


with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Judith Evelyn, Earl Holliman, Robert Nichols, Paul Fix, Alexander Scourby, Charles Watts

In Oscar-winning director George Stevens's sprawling epic, Texas cattleman Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) journeys to Virginia in the early 1920s, falls in love with aristocratic, independent-minded Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor) and takes her back to his ranch -- setting the stage for an intergenerational saga that spans decades. James Dean (in his last film appearance) co-stars as sulking, nouveau riche Jett Rink -- the root of Bick's worries.

It is different. The way they were making movies. The way the story was told. The codes of society. It is almost like watching a societal analysis of America and honestly feels like there is a lot of it that came to a certain truth about Americans mentality nowadays. The acting is a bit bizarre, overacted is not the word, it just feels like when reading a book from the beginning of the century, and not understanding too much the way the characters expresses themselves. I watched it with some distance, and sometimes lack of interested. The worst is that I watched it for the only reason that it is listed as one of a hundred best movie of all time. Maybe. Must be. I will document myself more.
PS: the movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It makes sense.

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