Tired Old Queen at the Movies: Giant

Johnny's workin' on his cowboy accent (your Head Trucker would love to give him private lessons on how to use his tongue) while Steve Hayes does a fabulous review of this awesome Texas story. If you peckerwoods never have seen the show, get your ass in gear and go watch it, it's a dandy. I tell you what.

Cattle, cowboys and oil run rampant and fill the screen as Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean bring their considerable talents and beauty to George Stevens' huge production of Edna Ferber's GIANT. A family saga covering thirty years, GIANT was filmed on location in Texas with a blazing supporting cast that includes Chill Wills, Jane Withers, Carroll Baker, Sal Mineo, Dennis Hopper and Oscar nominee Mercedes McCambridge. Veteran director George Stevens won his second Oscar for bringing GIANT to the screen and Rock Hudson and James Dean both received nominations. Dean's nomination was posthumous, as he died in a car accident just two weeks after shooting his final scenes. But it is Liz Taylor, coming into her own as an actress of depth and subtlety who grounds and ultimately steals the picture. As big as the subject it deals with, GIANT is also a tender love story told against the backdrop of an old-fashioned spectacle the likes of which Hollywood seldom attempts anymore, and when it does, never does half as well.