Don't miss reading Part 1 here first!
By Ugur Akinci
The second half of this very long (261 minutes!) film shows everybody getting old, both Rink (played by James Dean) and Benedicts (Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor) doing well thanks to oil gushing from every inch of the parched Texas plain. We have kids and grandchildren introduced, enriching and complicating the story line in unexpected ways.
Dennis Hopper plays Jordy Benedict, Jordan's only son, who disappoints him twice - first by refusing to take over the ranch and opting to become a doctor; and secondly by marrying a Hispanic woman and giving Jordan a half-Hispanic grandson.
All the built-in contradictions come to a full boil when a much-older Rink at the pinnacle of his worldly success invites everyone he knows, the Benedict clan included, to the grand opening of a deluxe hotel right next to the airport that carries his name.
During the gala dinner and reception, a very drunk Rink crumbles under the weight of the inferiority complex he had carried inside him for all those years. Leslie is still his only love in the world and she is still not available, and that fact still is devastating him.
The film ends portraying Jordan and Leslie aging as a couple, two partners who are proud of one another and the things they have accomplished together in life, including owning up to the dignity of their half-Hispanic grandson who might one day inherit a part of the Benedict empire with his other and blond blue-eyed cousin.
This film has so many superlatives that one does not know where to begin or end... the stark beauty of the endless majestic plains and billowing clouds of Texas... Jimmy Dean's hypnotic power as an actor (how many Oscars he would have won had he lived another 20 or 30 years?)... Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor's supernatural beauty... George Stevens's courage to pull no punches in bringing Edna Ferber's novel to life...
A great Texas-size entertainment that brings a whole era and the great social transformation from cattle ranching to rags-to-riches oil drilling to life on a beautiful canvas.
If you are going to watch any 4-hour movie any time soon, let "Giant" be it. (The other should be Bertollucci's "1900," of course...)
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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a writer with 20 years of experience. He is available for a wide variety of freelance assignments. Visit his web site http://www.writer111.com for more information on his services.
Article Source: Movie Review - Giant (1956)- Part 2
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By Ugur Akinci
The second half of this very long (261 minutes!) film shows everybody getting old, both Rink (played by James Dean) and Benedicts (Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor) doing well thanks to oil gushing from every inch of the parched Texas plain. We have kids and grandchildren introduced, enriching and complicating the story line in unexpected ways.
Dennis Hopper plays Jordy Benedict, Jordan's only son, who disappoints him twice - first by refusing to take over the ranch and opting to become a doctor; and secondly by marrying a Hispanic woman and giving Jordan a half-Hispanic grandson.
All the built-in contradictions come to a full boil when a much-older Rink at the pinnacle of his worldly success invites everyone he knows, the Benedict clan included, to the grand opening of a deluxe hotel right next to the airport that carries his name.
During the gala dinner and reception, a very drunk Rink crumbles under the weight of the inferiority complex he had carried inside him for all those years. Leslie is still his only love in the world and she is still not available, and that fact still is devastating him.
The film ends portraying Jordan and Leslie aging as a couple, two partners who are proud of one another and the things they have accomplished together in life, including owning up to the dignity of their half-Hispanic grandson who might one day inherit a part of the Benedict empire with his other and blond blue-eyed cousin.
This film has so many superlatives that one does not know where to begin or end... the stark beauty of the endless majestic plains and billowing clouds of Texas... Jimmy Dean's hypnotic power as an actor (how many Oscars he would have won had he lived another 20 or 30 years?)... Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor's supernatural beauty... George Stevens's courage to pull no punches in bringing Edna Ferber's novel to life...
A great Texas-size entertainment that brings a whole era and the great social transformation from cattle ranching to rags-to-riches oil drilling to life on a beautiful canvas.
If you are going to watch any 4-hour movie any time soon, let "Giant" be it. (The other should be Bertollucci's "1900," of course...)
----------------------------------------------------------
Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a writer with 20 years of experience. He is available for a wide variety of freelance assignments. Visit his web site http://www.writer111.com for more information on his services.
Article Source: Movie Review - Giant (1956)- Part 2
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