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Giant
Giant film poster
Directed by	George Stevens
Produced by	Henry Ginsberg George Stevens
Written by	Edna Ferber Fred Guiol Ivan Moffat
Starring	Elizabeth Taylor Rock Hudson James Dean
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	24 November 1956
Running time	201 min.
Language	English Spanish
IMDb profile

Giant is a 1955 drama film and was directed by George Stevens. The movie was adapted by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat from the novel by Edna Ferber. It stars Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor and Earl Holliman. Giant was the last of James Dean's three films as a leading actor. The film earned James Dean his second and last Academy Award nomination, of three starring roles. He died before Giant was released. Nick Adams was called in to do some voice-over dubbing for Dean's role.

Much of the film was made in and around the remote town, and dry plains of the Marfa, Texas region, with interiors filmed at the Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, California. The fictional character Jett Rink was based in part of oil tycoon Glenn Herbert McCarthy (1907 - 1988). Author Edna Ferber met with McCarthy when she booked a room at the Shamrock Hotel to which the novel and film were based. In the film, the fictional Emperador Hotel was based on the former Shamrock Hotel (known as the Shamrock Hilton after 1955) in Houston, Texas. The film was premiered in New York City in November 1956 with the local DuMont station televising the arrival of cast and crew, as well as other celebrities and studio chief Jack Warner. Warner Brothers has included the vintage kinescope of the premiere festivities in New York, as well as interviews with cast members, in their special 50th anniversary DVD set. Capitol Records, which had issued some of Dimitri Tiomkin's music from the soundtrack (with the composer conducting the Warners Brothers studio orchestra) on an LP, later digitally remastered the tracks and issued them on CD, including two tracks conducted by Ray Heindorf.

Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson), the head of the rich Benedict ranching family of Texas, goes to Maryland to buy a stud horse. There he meets and courts Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), the socialite girl who becomes his wife. They return to Texas to start their life together on the family ranch. Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), Bick's sister, and Leslie don't get along. Jett Rink (James Dean) the family handyman, is jealous of the Benedict wealth and flirts with Leslie.

Luz dies, and as part of her will, Jett is given a plot of land within the Benedict ranch. Bick tries to buy back the land. Jett keeps the fenced off waterhole as his home. He discovers oil on his property, and when he gets his first gusher, he barges onto the Benedicts' property proclaiming in front of the entire family that he will be richer than the Benedicts. Bick and Jett have a fistfight and Jett runs off. Leslie gives birth to a younger daughter named Luz Jr.

In the years before World War II, Jett starts an oil drilling company that makes him wealthy. Bick resists the lure of oil wealth, preferring to remain a rancher. Jett visits the Benedicts to convince Bick to allow oil production to help the war effort. During this visit, Luz Jr, now a teen-aged girl, and Jett start flirting. Once oil production starts, the wealthy Benedict family becomes wealthier.

In the postwar years, tensions in the Benedict household revolve around how the parents want to bring up their children.

Benedict/Rink rivalry comes to a head when the Benedicts find Luz Jr. and Jett Rink have been dating.

The movie portrays how the oil industry transformed the Texas ranchers into the super rich of their generation.

A major sub-plot of the movie is the racism against Mexican Americans in Texas.

Giant won the Academy Award for Directing and was nominated twice for Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Dean & Rock Hudson), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mercedes McCambridge), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Costume Design, Color, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Picture and Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted.

In 2005 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. See List of films preserved in the United States National Film Registry.

• Giant at the Internet Movie Database