Giant

"Sometimes any man can be a giant . . ."

1956 3h 21m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🍅

86%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.6

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 781🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes●84Metacritic★7.6IMDB · 44,201

DramaWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.

“Sometimes any man can be a giant . . .”

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Cast

Elizabeth Taylor
Leslie Lynnton Benedict
Rock Hudson
Jordan 'Bick' Benedict
James Dean
Jett Rink
Carroll Baker
Luz Benedict II
Jane Withers
Vashti Synthe
Chill Wills
Uncle Bawley
Mercedes McCambridge
Luz Benedict
Dennis Hopper
Jordy Benedict

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: George Stevens
Writers: Ivan Moffat, Fred Guiol
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

At 201 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

70 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by George Stevens, shot by William C. Mellor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor William Hornbeck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson and James Dean carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

George Stevens directs. William C. Mellor behind the camera. Dimitri Tiomkin scores. William Hornbeck cuts. A long sit — settle in. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1At 201 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.
2Made its money back 6.1× over at the box office.
370 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
5Directed by George Stevens, shot by William C. Mellor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor William Hornbeck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson and James Dean carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Sometimes any man can be a giant . . .".
10IMDB entry: tt0049261 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 22 themes, including "hotel", "petrol", "jealousy", "judge".

The technical file

Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Original score: Dimitri Tiomkin
Editing: William Hornbeck
Production design: Boris Leven
Costume design: Marjorie Best
Makeup / hair: Gordon Bau
Sound: Earl Crain Sr.
Stunt coordinator: Paul Stader
Runtime: 201 min · 3h 21m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,400,000
Box office: $32,855,818
Return: 608% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Giant (1956)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 84/100
IMDB rating: 7.6/10 · 44,201 votes
MPAA: G

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 17 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Director

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

George Stevens

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-12-28
★ 7/10
This is essentially three stories that George Stevens has rolled into one, long, family melodrama. It all starts when "Bick" (Rock Hudson) travels from his massive Texas ranch to buy an horse from "Dr. Lynnton" (Paul Fix). The first thing he sees though is not the beautiful black stallion, but the man's daughter "Lesley" (Elizabeth Taylor) riding it. After a sticky start, she is on her way to his home, as his wife, where she must settle into a life where women like her are expected to provide children and live otherwise fairly ornamental lives. Needless to say, she isn't really up for that and the next portion of the film follows her efforts to find a purpose. "Jett Rink" (James Dean) is a general factotum on their place. Disliked by "Bick" but protected to an extent by his sister "Luz" (Mercedes McCambridge). Tragedy strikes and "Jett" finds himself the beneficiary of that to the tune of a small plot of land where he quickly discovers oil. That changes the dynamic of the relationships and with the onset of WWII, the traditional lives of all concerned are shaken to the core. The final third, if you like, has probably the strongest message: those who fought together during the war regardless of race or creed are now (largely) back home, victorious, but are expected to fit back into their social demographic - and Stevens uses a swathe of new characters, including their son (Dennis Hopper) and the briefest of appearances from Sal Mineo to illustrate the hypocrisy and double standards that entailed. This third is, in my view, also the weakest section of the story. Perhaps because a degree of ennui was setting in after two hours already, but the flawed characterisation of Dean is a bit too superficial and Miss Taylor - who really does dominate this film - takes too much of a back seat as the familial discord and the effects of the bottle start to dominate the plot. Though Hudson is maybe not the strongest of character actors, here he does provide a degree of accruing decency to his character and at times there is a spark of chemistry between the two leads who, despite themselves, do actually love each other. It's certainly a grand piece of cinema with some spectacular photography. The make-up artistes make a decent stab at facilitating the ageing process as the film progresses and Dimitri Tiomkin manages to adapt his score from the initial Western style genre to a modern modern one creatively. It really does need a big screen and a comfortable seat to get the best out of the performances, but it is definitely worth it.

Production companies