daoldiges GIANT has lots of both good and not so good to it The best would be the cinematography, sets, and overall look of the film, which is unique, interesting and almost continually engaging. It also has broad reaching and interesting story goals, and even while falling a little short at times and rather drawn out, still kept me involved. I personally have no problem with films that run beyond the customary 2 hours in length but do feel that some editing would have strengthened both the stories and impact. I think for the most part the cast is good and did a fine job, and I would not agree with many that feel this is James Dean's best work, fine yes, great, no. Despite some issues I do think Giant is worth checking out.

TheLittleSongbird While it may not be perfect, Giant is to me a better film than the Best Picture Winner of that year Around the World in Eighty Days, which wasn't a bad film but is among the weakest Best Picture Winners. Giant is a very long film and very deliberately paced but is hugely rewarding. It is a very well-made film with fabulous, colourful scenery and outstanding cinematography(the best of its year and perhaps of the decade too), Texas has rarely looked more beautiful on film. Dmitri Tiomkin's score is one of sweeping grandeur, while the dialogue on the most part is thought-provoking, heart-warming and moving and George Stevens judging from how beautifully he directed this film definitely deserved his Oscar. The story tackles many daring themes, especially for back then, and tackles them with a lot of truth and power, while the film does drag at times and tries to do too much in the last act the story is still compelling and rich in detail with a couple of scenes towards the end quite tense. Especially good is that tremendous scene where Jett strikes oil. It does develop the characters remarkably well too, the characters here are quite complex and far from clichéd, especially Leslie and Jett(Bick also evolves into a much more likable character). The acting is excellent, Elizabeth Taylor has only been more lustrous in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and this is most likely her most nuanced performance. Rock Hudson is a handsome and mostly natural screen presence, a little stiff to begin with but it does suit the character actually. And Jett is probably the most complex of James Dean's three screen roles and is just as iconic and in-depth, and, apart from his very overacted final scene acting drunk(his worst and only somewhat bad piece of acting in three great performances in three great films), Dean gives a performance brimming with authority and emotion. He is also the only one of the three leads to look convincing in his ageing make-up and acts aged the most effectively, whereas Taylor and Hudson still looked too young when made up to look aged and didn't look as comfortable as Dean did. The supporting cast are fine too, Caroll Baker, Sal Mineo and a very young Dennis Hopper being the standouts. All in all, a mostly great epic melodrama where you can totally see why it has been and is so positively received, at the same time though it's easy too to see why some may not care for it as it does take more than one viewing to get into it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

rdean1908 i am robert dean. i saw the movie "giant" when it first came out when i was just a boy of 10 years old. james dean impressed me greatly even back then, when i was just a boy. to see him as a middle-aged man, dressed to the nines, with beautiful grey leather gloves on, gripped me back then. i do not know if i have seen the movie since. i grasped it's essence even back then. his death from an auto crash tore me up. it was too surreal. this is now june, 2014, i saw the movie "giant", again. from an old man's eyes, one who has suffered as much as i have suffered in this world. i cried! i question God every day of my life now, why He creates such beautiful human beings as james dean certainly was, and, let's them die horribly in an auto wreck! i have just checked out 5-8 books recently, all on james dean. so many, many photos! he studied ballet! ballet! he played baseball as a boy, as i did. only difference: i grew up in the city. james grew up on a farm. i am writing this review for the world to know that i think, based on what i have recently seen, that james byron dean was a genius! a real genius! he was the real thing, people. no pretense. bravo, for the director, george stevens, who saw something in james dean, and, allowed him to star in the movie "giant". as we see james dean age, on screen in this, his last, movie, we see true genius.

Terence Frederick I watched this movie, as it was the last movie of James Dean. The last movie before the unfortunate death (accident) of the fine artist. A fine actor who bagged two Oscar nominations after his demise. In this film, James's voice was dubbed by his friend in number of scenes after his death. The movie is huge in length spans three hours long and an era of over 30 years from the main character's (Jordon Benedict) love to Maryland farm's daughter, his rivalry with a cowboy on his return to Texas (homeland), story of his children and grandchildren. The movie convincingly covers two generation of Benedict's family.The direction is top class. First to direct a three-hour long movie is Herculean. The Oscar has recognized and awarded the director for this work. The guild and photo-play members also had their awards for the movie. The movie is adapted from a novel with the same name. The characterization were screen-played deeply with lot of ideas that makes the viewers remember the dirty-minds on racism in that period of time in Texas. For one instance, both the lead characters Rink and Bick are prejudiced against the Mexicans, but Rink is too poor at the start of the movie so he doesn't show it. Instead after becoming a businessman he displays in much cruel way. William C. Mellor's photography was exquisite in every way throughout the two generations in the story.In my opinion, Giant must be considered along with epics like Lawrence of Arabia, Gone with the wind, Benhur etc that made it to the top 250 in IMDb. There were few minor flaws that I could not fail to notice, which included Liz Taylor's acting that dragged the movie. She could've done way better to one of the characters in the movie that carried racial tolerance(Leslie). The next flaw is by the make-up department esp. when the characters got old they don't convince the audience. It could be true that the movie is too old to comment mistakes on makeovers, so am not treating it as one.My final verdict : If you're a fan of old movies that this is one to watch as it is pacey (not too slow). Children can view this as it is free from ratings.