Giant

Name: Giant
Genre: Drama, Western
Released: November 24, 1956
Duration: 201 min
Rating: 84
Cast: Carroll Baker, Chill Wills, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean

1956

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	Your Score
7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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Giant

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: November 24, 1956 | TV-G

Starring: Carroll Baker, Chill Wills, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Jane Withers, Mercedes McCambridge, Rock Hudson, Rod Taylor, Sal Mineo

Movie Facts:

Released posthumously, it was the last feature film appearance of James Dean.

Summary: The film version of Edna Ferber's big Texas novel, a sprawling epic of contemporary cattle barons and nouveau riche oil tycoons.

Director: George Stevens

Genre(s): Drama, Western

Rating: TV-G

Runtime: 201 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

James Powers

Giant stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the great ones. Read full review

100

Serena Donadoni

Key to Giant‘s enduring appeal is the meshing of outsize stars with Ferber’s characters: Closeted sex symbol Hudson’s towering Bick fills the big boots of his ranching family while struggling with the demands of traditional masculine authority. The taboo-breaking Taylor is the seductive, whip-smart Leslie, an assured reformer who views the injustices visited upon the ranch’s Mexican workers with maternal concern...And then there’s Dean’s most mannered, complex performance: Jett is at once transparent and enigmatic, hardening with age while the other characters mature. The actor’s death — a year before release — adds a keen poignancy to the character’s lost potential. Read full review

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

GIANT confirms Taylor's skills as an actress; she's entirely believable even when she ages by just having her hair greyed. Read full review

Richard Schickel

I found myself -- all twitchy intellectualism aside -- liking it enormously. There's more to Stevens's exteriors than those great shots of the looming ranch house. He had learned John Ford's trick of keeping the horizon low in the frame, and there are literally dozens of long, wide shots that are more than merely awesome. They suggest an emptiness that stumbling, ill-educated, materialistic people will somehow fill with something -- oil derricks, bragging Texas talk, reactionary politics. [Reprinted in the NY Times: 25 May 2003, p.21]

Noel Murray

In spite of the three-and-a-half-hour running time and the stark southwestern landscapes, Giant studies little moments more intently than monumental ones, and dwells in drawing rooms as much as on the range. Read full review

Mike Clark

Still the definitive 20th-century Texas movie. [13 June 2003, p.8E]

The pace is so plodding, and the general effect so stultifyingly unsubtle, that one is left impressed only by the fine landscape photography and Dean's surprisingly convincing portrayal of a middle-aged man. Read full review

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User Reviews

Gamzguy17

Aug 22, 2021

An ambitious and successful Hollywood epic, "Giant" is appropriately named for its ability to tell an extraordinarily long drama without any dull moments while appropriately editing the highlights of these characters' highs and lows.  While Elizabeth Taylor's performance is weak, it doesn'tAn ambitious and successful Hollywood epic, "Giant" is appropriately named for its ability to tell an extraordinarily long drama without any dull moments while appropriately editing the highlights of these characters' highs and lows.  While Elizabeth Taylor's performance is weak, it doesn't hold back the film's risk-taking. The rest of the cast is superb with leading man Rock Hudson delivering particular character growth/development.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

dario12

Sep 3, 2021

Giant is one truly epic film in its scope and I can easily see why some people consider this movie to be cult classic.
After all this was also last James Dean performance before his unfortunate death and here he gived one very good performance.
His character was very charming ,secure and heGiant is one truly epic film in its scope and I can easily see why some people consider this movie to be cult classic.
After all this was also last James Dean performance before his unfortunate death and here he gived one very good performance.
His character was very charming ,secure and he stole every scene he was appering in.
Rock Hudson was also good here but his character was little stoic to me while Elizabeth Taylor one was very pretty but just to casual for my taste.
Story was ok but its runtime was dragging some bits little to much.
Look of overall movie was in other hand very pretty and some scenes were impressive to look at.
So Giant is film that didnt fully clicked with me but I can still appriciate it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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