lavish love

As a child, my mom talked incessantly about Giant (1956) the film. Directed by George Stevens and starring Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean, it’s a sprawling epic of Texas, its beautiful people; the ranchers and billionaires, the nouveau riche of the early 20th century that shape up the vast and unadulterated landscape of cattle, horses and oil. It’s also 190 minutes long, not only three hours of precious screen time but also three hours that should be allocated to the pursuit of the daily grind. If you like James Dean, then it’s worth it, as this is his final screen appearance. He was killed in a car accident before the film was released. He made only three films but had two academy award nominations with each role as surly and as stroppy as the other.

Liz Taylor’s role as Leslie Benedict is the one I consider as the backbone of this classic, a beauty from a rich family in Maryland who is as smart and strong-willed as she is beautiful. Rock Hudson plays Jordan “Bick” Benedict, Leslie’s rancher husband who owns 595,000 acre spread called Reata. James Dean is the ranch handyman Jett Rink, who strikes it rich when his plot of inherited land (from Bick’s sister Luz) gushed oil. The story on most part illuminates on Jett’s personal vendetta against the Benedicts. There are also storylines revolving the Benedict children and their reluctance to run the family business. There is a minor subplot on racism towards the Mexicans who served as ranch hands and helpers in the film.

The film dazzles in every respect. It’s a story of an enduring marriage that is rich in scale and dimension. In Bick and Leslie, we see the crux in blending their two worlds. Prior to marriage, Bick was the lord and master of Reata, together with the subtle touch of a liberal-minded wife, the social conscience is thoroughly realized after three hours, but it's actually more than a quarter century and two grandchildren later.