A dazzling epic with a dark and bracing tone, George Stevens’ Giant details Rock Hudson’s old-fashioned Texan cattle baron (and American national metaphor) as he races towards modernity, neck and neck with neighbouring self-made trailer trash oil-swiller Jett Rink (James Dean). Hudson’s sometimes stiff, and the pacing is certainly stately, but it’s worth it to catch Dean’s final intricately self-conscious screen turn.
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