--- title: "Giant" year: 1956 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/giant-1956" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 65 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-20T03:09:16.080836+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T03:09:33.722669+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Giant (1956) Directed by George Stevens · 3h 21m · MPA NR · Drama, Western **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 65 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* Rock Hudson owns most of Texas and Elizabeth Taylor still makes him feel small at breakfast > George Stevens’s Texas saga is an hour too long and spends much of that hour telling us what it means. Before then it is a fine, large film about a marriage, with James Dean lit up in the corner of it. ## Synopsis Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict (Rock Hudson) runs Reata, a vast cattle ranch in Texas. He travels to Maryland to buy a horse from the Lynntons and comes home with a wife as well: Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), a doctor’s daughter with opinions she sees no reason to keep quiet; Judith Evelyn plays her mother, Nancy. At Reata she finds a mansion standing alone on flat ground, a sister-in-law, Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), who has run the house for years and intends to keep running it, and a ranch hand, Jett Rink (James Dean), who resents the Benedicts and everything they own. Leslie wants a say in the place, including how the Mexican families who work it are treated. Bick wants Texas left exactly as he found it. ## Review George Stevens took Edna Ferber’s novel about Texas and made a film 201 minutes long, and the length is the first thing anyone says about it: it is an hour too much. Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat’s screenplay follows one marriage on one cattle ranch while Texas turns from cows to oil, and it wants to say something about who the state belongs to and who it treats as hired help. It is handsome, earnest and too long, and the first two hours are good enough that we forgave it more than we should have. It looks tremendous. William C. Mellor shoots Texas flat and wide, the horizon a ruled line, and Boris Leven puts Reata, the Benedict mansion, alone in the middle of it. Mellor keeps the camera far back, so the house looks like something left on a table and the people around it are the size of pins. When years have to pass, Stevens and his editor William Hornbeck stack dissolves one over another, a child, a horse, a fence, and a decade is gone in a minute. Dimitri Tiomkin’s score is brass and drums, and it announces every wide shot as if Texas might otherwise have gone unnoticed. The marriage holds it together. Elizabeth Taylor plays Leslie as a woman who has read a newspaper and does not see why that should stop at the state line, and Rock Hudson plays Bick as a decent, slow man who is wrong about most things and takes years to find out. Early on she walks into a room where the men are talking politics, is told to go and rest with the women, and declines; we bristled along with her, and so, for a moment, does Bick. Their quarrels are about small things, a chair at a table, a doctor for a sick baby, and every one of them is about the same large thing. Watch Hudson listen to her, and lose, and pretend he has not. Then there is James Dean as Jett Rink, a ranch hand who hates the Benedicts and wants what they have. Dean mumbles, keeps his hat low and sits with his knees up like a boy, and every scene he is in tilts towards him. His one scene alone with Taylor, serving her tea in a shack full of junk, is the best acted thing in the film, two people being polite about the fact that neither belongs where they are. He also has the picture’s one indelible image, a man drenched black from head to foot, laughing on a porch, and we grinned at it as if we had struck the oil ourselves. He plays Jett into middle age with a rasp and a slump, and it half works. The last hour is where it goes wrong. The children grow up, Carroll Baker and Dennis Hopper as the young Benedicts, Sal Mineo as Angel Obregón, and the screenplay hands each of them a subject rather than a life. Racism, which the first half showed us in a kitchen and in a doctor’s refusal, becomes a topic, and the film starts telling us what it thinks in case the earlier scenes had not managed it. They had. Somewhere past the two-hour mark we were bored, and then irritated, because the first ninety minutes had been so sure of themselves. Stevens, who made [*Shane*](https://film.one/film/shane) three years earlier and knew when to stop, seems to have kept everything. Most critics have split between calling it a great screen epic and a long yawn, and the consensus has settled in the middle. We are a little warmer. A film about a marriage does not usually get this much land, money or time, and Taylor and Hudson use nearly all of it. The speeches are the part they cannot save. Watch it at home, where the wide shots lose something and the kitchen arguments lose nothing, and give it the whole evening; the last hour only makes sense if you have lived with these people through the first two. It runs 201 minutes, carries a PG, and reached British cinemas on 3 January 1957. *Fi1m score 74, published 20 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like Giant, and the praise gathers around two things: the scale and James Dean. From the first notices onwards it is treated as a large, serious picture about Texas, oil and money, and several reviews credit it with unusual directness on racism for its period. Stevens’ handling of landscape, dissolves and blocking is admired, and Dean’s Jett Rink is named again and again as the performance to watch, with Taylor and Hudson praised more evenly. The reservations gather around length. Nearly every review, including the warm ones, mentions the three-hour-plus running time; the mixed and negative ones find it plodding, heavy-handed about the American Dream and closer to soap opera than epic. The spread is wide. Variety and The New York Times are among the strongest notices, while The New Yorker, in the same week, finds it rambling and elementary, and Slant Magazine dismisses it as long and boring. ### Reviews we read (13) - **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (90/100, inferred): The film is a tremendously vivid picture-drama that gushes a tawdry tragedy and gives an almost documentary picture of how oil exaggerated and confused the feudalistic ways of Texas. It is a strong contender for the year's top-film award, with exciting performances from the cast including Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and especially James Dean. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1956/10/11/archives/screen-large-subject-the-cast.html) - **Variety**, Hift. (90/100, inferred): For the most part an excellent film which registers strongly on all levels with breathtaking panoramic shots, personal dramatic impact, and a resounding message; performances by Taylor, Hudson, and Dean match the production values under Stevens’ direction. It is a powerful indictment of the Texas superiority complex and measures up to its expectations at the box office. [Read](https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/giant-2-1200418151/) - **Sight and Sound**, Peter Tonguette (85/100, inferred): The critic presents Giant as an ambitious, daring and weird epic whose vast canvas and visual poetry anticipate the unruly auteur films of 1970s New Hollywood. Particular praise goes to its painterly use of landscape, dissolves and scale. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/bigger-than-texas-giant-60) - **The Guardian** (80/100, inferred): The critic praises George Stevens’ epic as a film of great conscience and scale, following a Texas family across decades as they confront social and political changes. Dean’s performance as Jett Rink is singled out as the film’s true standout. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/17/giant-rock-hudson-james-dean-elizabeth-taylor-epic-family-drama) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, James Powers (80/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a monumental drama as big and inspiring as Texas itself, praising its epic scale, ambition, screenplay, and standout performances from Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and especially James Dean. While noting the three-hour-plus runtime may lead to diminishing returns for some viewers, the review deems it one of the great screen epics. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/giant-review-1956-film-936178/) - **The AV Club**, Noel Murray (70/100, inferred): The review positions Giant as a sprawling yet intimate epic that studies characters and Texas life more than grand events, highlighting strong performances with Dean's magnetic method acting contrasting Hudson and Taylor's classicism, and praising Stevens' framing and blocking despite occasional awkward pacing. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/giant-special-edition-dvd-1798198697) - **The Times**, Stephen Dalton (3/5): The review calls Giant a generation-spanning saga with strong lead chemistry and unusual vigour on racism for its era, but notes it is pure soap opera that is too long and heavy-handed on the American Dream. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/drama-choice-hbxwk33c5rs) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Thomas (50/100, inferred): Time has not been as kind to 'Giant' as one wishes; it flows beautifully in early sections but loses momentum later and is too long at 202 minutes, yet it has the pull of nostalgia and sustains emotional impact as a portrait of a durable marriage. It dazzles with late Golden Era star performances and is far from a great film but undeniably a classic of its era. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-09-27-ca-47881-story.html) - **Time Out**, GA (40/100, inferred): The review finds the sprawling epic plodding and unsubtle, striving too hard for serious statements and ending up a long yawn. It singles out the fine landscape photography and James Dean's convincing middle-aged performance for limited praise. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/giant) - **The New Yorker**, John McCarten (30/100, inferred): The picture rambles without clear focus and produces some muscular melodrama but is long and elementary; James Dean provides the main exception with lunatic cuteness in his role. Texas is described at great length and to no particular purpose. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1956/10/20/southwestern-primitives) - **Slant Magazine**, Dan Callahan (20/100, inferred): The critic dismisses the film as an overly long, boring Texas soap opera that fails to live up to its reputation, criticizing its earnestness, arbitrary plotting, poor old-age makeup, and heavy-handed handling of themes like racism, while noting Dean has only a couple of memorable scenes. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/giant/) - **/Film**, Witney Seibold (80/100, inferred): The critic views Giant as a gloriously blunt 1950s epic about Texas ranch life, oil wealth, racism, and personal redemption across decades, with outsized characters and operatic emotions. It singles out the film's influence on later TV like Dallas and Yellowstone, its Oscar recognition (Stevens won for directing), and the redemptive arcs of its leads. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2232172/james-dean-final-movie-50s-western-giant/) - **Paste**, Amy Glynn (75/100, inferred): The critic finds Giant significant for its frankness in confronting racism and hierarchy, and for stellar performances from Hudson and Taylor. While it may feel bloated to modern viewers, its iconic status and remarkable acting make it a must-see. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/1950s/best-movies-1950s) ## Details - **Director:** George Stevens - **Director:** George Stevens - **Screenplay:** Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat - **Novel:** Edna Ferber - **Cinematography:** William C. Mellor - **Editor:** William Hornbeck - **Music:** Dimitri Tiomkin - **Production design:** Boris Leven - **Costume design:** Marjorie Best - **Producer:** Henry Ginsberg, George Stevens - **Cast:** Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict; Rock Hudson as Jordan 'Bick' Benedict; James Dean as Jett Rink; Carroll Baker as Luz Benedict II; Jane Withers as Vashti Synthe; Chill Wills as Uncle Bawley; Mercedes McCambridge as Luz Benedict; Dennis Hopper as Jordy Benedict - **Runtime:** 3h 21m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 24 November 1956 - **Genres:** Drama, Western - **Budget:** $5 million - **Box office:** $33 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZZTWO4_wto ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $4.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $12.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HR, IE, IN, IT, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1957: Best Actor (nominated); Best Art Direction, Color (nominated); Best Costume Design, Color (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Director (won) ## If you liked this - *There Will Be Blood* (2007), Fi1m 88: Oil, a lonely house on the plain and a far nastier man than Jett Rink. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/there-will-be-blood.md) - *The Leopard* (1963): Another landed family watching its world change, shot with the same patience and more grace. - *Written on the Wind* (1956): Hudson again, oil money again, and everything Giant keeps sober here turned lurid. - *East of Eden* (1955): Dean’s first lead, and the fidgeting, wounded manner Jett Rink is built from. - *Lone Star* (1996), Fi1m 86: A Texas border town, buried history and the race question Giant only lectures about. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/lone-star.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/giant-1956