Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9740 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 193 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The American domestic epic endured long into the post-war era, with Giant (1956) one of its last real manifestations. Director George Stevens gets real panoramic sweep in his adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel of social and economic change in rural Texas from the 1920s to the 1950s. Rock Hudson is imposing if uninvolving as rancher Vernon Reata II, constantly torn between his image and his humanity. As his wife Lesley, Elizabeth Taylor gives one of her most rounded performances as the Maryland girl whose liberal outlook causes friction within the social (and racial) mindset of the insular community as it lurches from rigid conservatism to mindless materialism over three decades.

The film is best remembered for James Dean in what was his third and last screen appearance. He cuts a distinctive figure as Jet Rink, social outcast turned oil tycoon. The bravura of his inebriated speech before an empty banqueting hall would be no less memorable had his career not been curtailed days after shooting ended. The secondary roles are decently taken: look out for a teenage Denis Hopper, sallow but likeable as the gauche Vernon Reata III.

On the DVD: Giant is evenly divided over two discs. Widescreen picture quality is excellent and the remastered soundtrack gives Dimitri Tiomkin's score a new lease of life. A laudable 56 chapter points are provided, with dubbing in English, French and Italian and subtitles in eight languages. A running commentary, though informative, is really for aficionados only, but the 45 minutes (on the second disc) of George Stevens recollections from heavyweights such as Herman J. Mankiewicz, Alan J Pakula and Fred Zinnemann ideally complements this sprawling but often compulsive old-school American movie. --Richard Whitehouse

DVD Description
Giant was nominated for 10 Academy Awards with director George Stevens winning his second Oscar for this ambitious, grandly realized epic of the changing socio-economic (and physical) landscape of modern Texas, based on Edna Ferber’s best-selling novel. Triple Academy Award winner Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) stars alongside 4-time Golden Globe winner Rock Hudson (Oscar nominated for his role in Giant) and Golden Globe winner James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden).

Living up to its title, everything in this picture is big, from the running time to the sprawling ranch location and the high-powered stars. Rock Hudson stars as the confident, stubborn young ranch baron Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict, who woos and wins the hand of Southern belle Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), a seemingly demure young beauty who proves to be Bick’s match after she settles into the family homestead. The film sees James Dean’s final performance before his tragic death, as poor former ranch hand Jett Rink, who strikes oil and transforms himself into a flamboyant millionaire playboy, earning a second posthumous Academy Award nomination. The talented supporting cast includes Mercedes McCambridge as Bick’s frustrated sister, put out by the new woman of the house, and with Carroll Baker and Dennis Hopper as the Benedict’s rebellious children.

Special Features
Disc 1:

• Feature length audio commentary by film critic Stephen Farber, screenwriter Ivan Moffat and George Stevens Jr.
  
• Introduction by George Stevens Jr.
  
• Documentary - George Stevens: Filmmakers Who Knew Him
  
• Interactive menus
  
• Scene access

Disc 2:

• Documentaries - Memories of "Giant" and Return to "Giant", in which cast, crew and Texans spin small and tall tales about the film’s legacy
  
• New York premiere TV special
  
• Hollywood premiere featurette
  
• "Giant" stars are off to Texas newsreel
  
• Behind the Cameras segments
  
• Original/reissue trailers
  
• Production stills and documents galleries
  
• Interactive menus
  
• Scene access

DVD Technical Information:

• Audio: 2.0 Dolby Surround/1.0 Mono
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 4 x 3/Colour
  
• Running time: 193 mins approx. - PAL
  
• Languages: English, French, Italian
  
• Hearing Impaired: English, Italian
  
• Subtitles (feature only): English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, German, Romanian, Bulgarian
  
• DVD 18 format
  
• Region Code: 2

Customer Reviews

my first grownup movie
I remember seeing this film at the cinema when I was 12?? I was totally enthralled, and have since watched it many times on Video. In my opinion this is the best performance that Taylor ever gave, and Rock Hudson was given a chance to do something other than look beautiful. The storyline encompassed many changes in the topographical and sociological make up of the State of Texas (and therefore the USA) and was way ahead of it's time. Hudson's character goes through a sea change before the end of the film. Nowadays it may look naive and a little too "pat" but it was brave for its time. Beautiful photography puts it on a par with The Big Country and James Dean does a lovely job of passing from youthful rebel to the ageing tycoon complete with powdered grey hair. It had a profound effect on me as a kid, and it hasn't dated. You can't say that about many films. The theme is universal- troublesome children, social change, tradition versus money, it's all there. I think this film isd underrated, and will emerge later with a little more kudos than it is given at present.

A big film about a big state - Texas
George Steven's epic 198 minute treatment of Edna Ferber's bestselling novel inspired the television serial Dallas. It's stars, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean (playing the malignant Jett Rink - JR geddit!) were required to age 30 years during this blockbuster telling of domestic drama and state history. The cast (including the marvellous Mercedes McCambridge) were excellent but the real star of the film is Texas itself, from the opening shot of cattle round a waterhole you know you are in for a film of blockbuster proportions. The story centralises around the cattle rich Benedict family, whose son Bick (Rock Hudson) travels north to buy a horse. He returns with a wife, Lesley (Elizabeth Taylor) after a whirlwind romance and it is her influence on the Benedict clan that permeates the film. Bick's sister (Mercedes McCambridge) resents her, the native Americans adore her for her help in setting up a clinic and the corrosive Jett Rink (James Dean) worships her from afar. The discovery of oil on his land only adds more power to his hatred of Bick and their rivalry spans 30 years, culminating in a dramatic finale. The main stars all turn in great performances and the film is all the more poignant in that James Dean was tragically killed in a car crash at the end of filming. Giant reminds you what a talent we all lost.

Great extras!!!
The picture quality on the DVD is outstanding, but the extras on the second disk make this worth the purchase price. Outstanding documentary, "Return To Giant" that goes back to the location site in Marfa, Texas, and talks with locals who worked on the set. Home movies and candid photos of the stars make this something special. If you want to know just how deeply rooted this film was in the REAL Texas of 1955, check out this documentary. It will help you appreciate the actual film that much more.