GIANT: 4K Blu-ray (Warner Bros., 1956) Warner Home Video

 Director, George Stevens once commented if he had to remove himself from at least one of the three-part equation to making movies (the first part being pre-production – the planning stages – the second, the actual shooting, and finally, part three, post-production – the shaping and reshaping of all these raw elements) he would gladly step aside from the middle act and allow someone else to actually photograph his movies for him. Steven’s point was, given the right cast and an ample period to meticulously plan out every last detail, post-production could salvage even the most remedial content. In some ways, Giant (1956) puts Stevens’ theory to that test. For lack of a better descriptor, at 3-hrs. 21-mins., Giant is a ‘huge thing’ – a generational saga of Gone with the Wind (1939) scope and proportions, imbued with elemental content supplied by renown novelist, Edna Ferber that has only ripened with age, if also, to reveal – regrettably – how little has changed in the intervening decades where race relations in America are concerned. Also, in retrospect, Giant marks the definitive split between George Stevens - the expert director of frothy light-hearted entertainments like the Astaire/Rogers’ classic, Swing Time (1936) and rousing action/adventure yarns (Gunga Din, 1939) – and Stevens, the socially conscious and introspective film maker, telling stories with a moral purpose. Again, based on Edna Ferber’s sprawling novel, Giant emerges as a fractured masterpiece about racial prejudice and class distinction, its somewhat unflattering portrait of Texas as a mighty state of mind, and, unto itself with its own code of ethics not beholding to the rest of the union is, at times rambunctious and critical, but always compelling.

The sense of community Stevens was able to foster and represent both on the set, and, within Giant began with a decision to pack up the entire company and make the pilgrimage from Los Angeles to Marfa, Texas for an extensive location shoot. Elizabeth Taylor and co-star, Jane Withers became exceptionally good friends during their trek, surviving 8mm home movies illustrating their camaraderie, with Taylor at her playful best, posing next to life-size yucca and favoring Wither’s candid camera with a poised and haughty ‘oh darling!’ Jane had met Elizabeth decades earlier while the two were child stars under contract at MGM. By the time Giant was put into pre-production, Taylor had become a superstar while Withers had somewhat withered from view. Even so, Stevens was not at all convinced Taylor could handle the role. Undaunted, Taylor campaigned heavily for the female lead, while Withers participation happened almost by accident. Stevens considered Withers something of a ‘good luck’ charm, especially for her genuineness and habitual need to play ‘mother, friend and confidante to all. Although Withers’ role in Giant is small, her role behind the scenes proved integral to the general morale of cast and crew. Withers also managed the minor coup of befriending co-star, James Dean who pretty much kept to himself otherwise. Dean is, of course, one of the all-time great, yet deeply troubled – and in hindsight - largely romanticized figures from American cinema; qualities almost immediately pared down to accommodate his status as a ‘rebel’ with – or without – a cause, and amplified all out of proportion after Dean’s untimely death, age 24, in a horrific automobile accident in 1955.

Throughout Elizabeth Taylor’s campaign to play the lead, Stevens continued to harbor a strong prejudice against her, predicated mostly on his impressions of her MGM tenure, regarded as wafer-thin and playing to the strengths of an overweening princess with little acting ability. Stevens was to have a significant change of heart after Taylor appeared for him in A Place in the Sun (1951) where the actress underneath the beauty distinguished herself, eschewing the trappings he disliked, inculcated from that MGM tutelage. Still, Giant required something more of Taylor. Meanwhile, James Dean, who struggled to overcome inner demons and triumphed for the briefest of moments as the undisputed ‘new face to watch’ in the movies, used that impossibly nomadic experience from a troubled/isolated childhood to trademark himself as the embodiment of his generation. Yet, in retrospect Dean is arguably Giant’s weakest link. In point of fact, Dean never felt comfortable in his aged make-up, advancing his years from mid-20's into his late 50's. He also harbored something of a quiet competitive resentment toward Rock Hudson, everyone’s favorite hunk de jour (although no one knew then, Hudson was gay). The conventional wisdom in Hollywood had always been to take established actors in their mid-30's and age them backwards to play the part of a teenager. For Giant, Stevens adopted the opposite approach. The effects are not altogether convincing, particularly in close-up, where the obvious streaks of gray and added wrinkles to Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor’s porcelain smooth skin never look anything less than obvious. Ironically, Dean’s receding skull cap and Gable-esque pencil-thin moustache strike a more convincing chord.  But Dean’s performance lacks conviction as an elder statesman, even one as uncouth as the nouveau riche, Jett Rink.

Giant became a project of compromises for Stevens who had initially pursued Grace Kelly, then Audrey Hepburn for the part of Leslie Benedict and William Holden to play Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict. Stevens also struggled with the girth of Ferber’s novel, determined screenwriters, Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat should condense - but also squeeze - virtually every character in Ferber’s book into the movie in some sort of meaningful way. In retrospect, Guiol and Moffat’s telescoping is not entirely successful and, in fact, becomes fragmented and episodic during the movie’s last act. Characters like Jane Withers’ Vashti Snythe and Earl Holliman’s Bob Dace become cardboard cutouts at best, while Sal Mineo’s Angel Obregón II – an important secondary character in Ferber’s novel - is now reduced to a cameo that makes Angel’s death and return to Riata as a pine-boxed veteran unremarkable. Where Giant excels is in its initial setup of the fiery and conflicted central figures. Regrettably, these increasingly get lost in the shuffle after the intermission. Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict’s (Rock Hudson) arrival in Maryland to look over a mare at the stud farm owned by Dr. Horace Lynnton (Paul Fix) leads to a cute meet between Jordan and the Lynnton’s rather headstrong daughter, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor) who is sort of engaged to Sir David Karfrey (Rod Taylor – thoroughly wasted in a thankless part). Leslie is immediately smitten with ‘Bick’ but rubs him the wrong way after she suggests that America ‘stole’ Texas from Mexico. Nevertheless, a romance stirs and Bick woos Leslie into a proposal of marriage. Alas, and despite her puppy love, she has no idea what she is getting into, as upon her arrival in Texas, Leslie is appalled by the starkness – the Benedict ranch a sprawling farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and presided over by Bick’s spinster (and rather mannish) sister, Luz (Mercedes McCambridge).

The relationship between Leslie and Luz is strained from the outset with Luz misperceiving Leslie as a threat to her authority on the ranch. This includes managing the infrequently flaring tempers between Bick and his hired hand, Jett Rink (James Dean) who is backward, awkward and motivated by pent-up frustrations that have remained subservient to the Benedicts. This balance of power will eventually shift. Luz decides to throw a picnic in honor of Bick’s new bride, the decision hardly altruistic but rather predicated on Luz’s desire to see Leslie fail to make new friends. Sure enough, the mood between Leslie and the neighbors is frosty, particularly between Leslie and Vashti Snythe (Jane Withers) who had once hoped to marry Bick herself but has since settled on his cowhand, Bob Dace (Earl Holliman).  Worse, unaccustomed to the stifling heat, Leslie succumbs and is carried back into the house by Bick.  None of this seems to bode well for Leslie’s longevity as the mistress of Riata. However, only a day later, she has reconfigured her outlook on this new world, having risen at dawn before the rest of the household to show the servants how to prepare ‘a proper breakfast’. “I can’t be just a guest in my husband’s home,” Leslie tells Luz, a move that causes Luz to go on a tear with the stallion Bick bought from Leslie’s father not yet properly broken in. The horse bolts and Luz is thrown to her death.

During Luz’s wake, Jett learns that Luz has left him her patch of Riata – a small, unremarkable stretch of land with a single derrick that has yet to produce any oil. Bick offers to buy back the property for a fair price. But Jett is genuinely touched by Luz’s gift and refuses to sell. It is a fortuitous decision. For after toiling day and night for weeks on end the well does indeed produce a gusher, one that will ultimately establish Jett’s supremacy on the Texas landscape but also serve as the basis for his undoing much later on. Charging up the steps of the ranch to confront Bick, Jett makes a spectacle of himself – accosting Leslie and assaulting Bick before tearing off to cap and register his claim. “You should have taken care of him when you had the chance,” Uncle Bawley (Chill Wills) tells Bick, “Now he’s too rich to kill!” From this moment, even the vast expanses of Texas will prove rather limiting for Bick and Jett’s adversarial relationship. However, just as this narrative begins to gain momentum, Stevens and his screenwriters inexplicably choose to fast track through the rest of Ferber’s story. We all but skip through the birth of Bick and Leslie’s two children: Luz II (Carroll Baker) and Jordan III (Dennis Hopper). A rift between Bick and Leslie over the way he regards his Mexican servants leads to Leslie briefly retreating to her family home in Maryland where she learns her younger sister, Judy (Fran Bennett) has since become engaged to David.  Bick pursues Leslie and the two reconcile at Judy and David’s reception with Leslie returning to Riata a short while later.

After the intermission, the movie’s timeline advances by some twenty-years. Luz and Jordan are grown. Texas has morphed into an enterprising state of vast and diversified business opportunities with Jett at its forefront. Luz is attracted to Jett – a school girl’s fascination to infuriate Bick. Leslie encourages her husband to be tolerant. But Bick’s anger overwhelms after Jordon announces he will not take over the operations of the ranch, but go on to become a doctor instead. Later, Jordon weds Juana Guerra (Elsa Cardenas). Struggling to reexamine his own racial prejudice, Bick makes ready the family to attend the opening of Jett’s new super hotel and casino in Dallas. Luz is girlishly excited at the prospect of seeing Jett again. But the event is marred by Jett’s surly drunkenness. After passing out at the head table, Jett is confronted by Bick in the hotel’s wine cellar, collapsing under his self-indulgences and shattering Luz’s fantasies about what a great man she thought he was. On the trip back to Riata, the Benedicts are denied service at a roadside diner after the pompous proprietor, Sarge (Mickey Simpson) refuses to wait on an aged Mexican couple. The realization he has been just as willfully prejudice suddenly sinks in for Bick, who decides to stand up to Sarge. Alas, age has withered his resolve. Bick gets beaten to a pulp by the much younger and brutish Sarge – losing the battle, perhaps, though arguably having won the war.  Leslie’s pride and faith in her husband is restored. As they share their moment together, the couple quietly observes Jordan and Juana’s offspring, one white, one decidedly tanned – representative of the future multicultural diversity to overtake Texas and, indeed, the nation.

Giant makes its points with a heavy brand. George Stevens, a director known primarily for his incredible finesse and visual style elsewhere seems to be struggling with Ferber’s thematic tome. The momentum of the piece just seems off. The first third, roughly concluding with Luz’s death, is expertly paced, the early evolution of Bick and Leslie’s problematic maturing, wonderfully sustained and nuanced. Alas, the picture’s middle act comes to a virtual standstill as the characters struggle to find themselves.  The last act is episodic at best, made up more of broad-brushed vignettes, some more successfully realized than others. The last act of Giant is meant to exhibit just how far America had come as a nation, circa 1956 and how far it still had to go. Yet the tide of racial inequity overpowering the latter half of the story almost seems to have breezed in as an afterthought, regrettably at the expense of the other narrative threads, suddenly abandoned in favor of the ‘message’. The movie is also shockingly weak on maintaining some of the more adversarial relationships that ought to have been its central and driving strength. Bick and Jett’s animosity, gradually built over the first hour, is completely sacrificed, except for their penultimate confrontation during the hotel’s inaugural celebration. As a result, Giant never seems to attain a level of finality, rather to end on a distinct note of ambiguity – with the most obligatory summation of all that has gone before it.

Despite these shortcomings, Giant remains an important picture. Its Grauman Chinese Theater premiere drew a crowd of 10,000 spectators and 2000 stars – one of the grand displays of Hollywood glitterati doing what they did best. Viewed today, Giant remains a queer clash between an almost Douglas Sirk-asian gloss and Dore Schary-inspired message picture, and, never the twain shall meet between these two. At times, Giant has an almost documentarian feel, albeit one with lavishly appointed production values. But as a fictional narrative, it tends to lag and lumber along, infrequently rising above mere technical competency and leaving something to be desired in general. As a rather fascinating postscript the shoot in Marfa, Texas was ironically book-ended by a pair of auto accidents, both involving James Dean. In the first incident, Dean came along a wreck already to have occurred, affording an injured black man, lying by the side of the road, shade in the stifling heat by standing over him until help arrived. It was an act of kindness later expounded upon in the chapel of a nearby church. Tragically, just ten days before the rest of the Giant company was preparing to wrap, Dean took his ill-fated leave to enter a race with his Spyder 550. He would never make it to this event. Swerving to avoid another car jackknifed in front of him on a lonely stretch of highway, Dean lost control and wrapped his car around a nearby telephone pole. He was instantly killed. News arrived in Marfa just as Stevens was about to pull up stakes for Hollywood, the cast and crew in a state of shock and disbelief over the news. As a rather grotesque postscript, the wreck of Dean’s Spyder was later stolen presumably by souvenir seekers, as was a bronze bust commissioned to augment his cemetery tombstone. Neither has ever been recovered.

Earlier this year, when Warner Home Video announced it would be returning to Giant for a ground-up restoration in 4K, message boards were lit up, suggesting that somehow the studio had figured out a way to miraculously reverse all of the ravages of time sustained on this deep catalog title. I was not so convinced. Giant was shot in WarnerColor – in hindsight, an inferior color process, resulting in exaggerated grain. Whole portions of the picture are derived from dupes, resulting in an inferior shelf life, and, over time, were also prone to severe color fading. The conventional wisdom of the day was to save a few bucks by developing a competitive mono-pack color process less expensive and cumbersome than 3-strip Technicolor. Alas, the disaster for Giant occurred in post-production where softly focused dupes dominate. The new 4K release sports a slightly more refined color palette, thanks to the wizards at Warner’s massaging the depth and density while remaining faithful to Stevens’ original vision and cinematographer, William C. Mellor’s efforts.

So, does it all add up to a more visually resolved viewing experience? Not really.

Fine detail is still wanting. While the overall contrast experiences a marginal uptick, it’s the Eastman color dupes that are lethal. Daydreamers hoping for a resolved image akin to a vintage dye-transfer are deluding themselves. Giant will NEVER look any better than this. It is awful? Let us just say, it is a distinct improvement, though nevertheless, a letdown. Warner Home Video has done everything possible to improve upon surviving elements. But there really is only so much that can be done. Flesh looks more natural this time around. There is more distinction between greens and blues, browns, black and dark navy blues. Grain is intensified but still seems indigenous to its source. Age-related artifacts are gone. The audio is the same DTS 5.1 remix ported over from the previous Blu-ray release and exhibits all of the virtues and vices of a vintage soundtrack, Dimitri Tiomkin’s score continuing to sound rather strident. The singular oversight here is Warner’s decision NOT to include a standard Blu-ray remaster, or, even the old Blu-ray from 2013. This 4K effort is shorn of all the goodies that once accompanied the Blu: so, no docs on the making of the film or George Stevens’ career. No outtakes. No deleted scenes. No audio commentary, junkets, PR-pro-mos, trailers. Nothing. I admit – I was more than a tad disappointed by this marketing decision. Bottom line: George Stevens astutely told his son on the set of Giant that the barometer by which the picture’s greatness would eventually be judged was at least 20-30 years away. Despite its aforementioned narrative shortcomings, Giant has stood the test of time. It is a great, if imperfect movie. In 4K it is a must-have disc. The marginal improvements are more pronounced when viewing in projection. On TV monitors, they are harder to discern, but still very much there to appreciate. Recommended – with caveats.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

0

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