Although unknown to anybody whilst it was in production, Giant was to be James Dean's last ever film role. He stars as Jett Rank, a farm hand given a small patch of land on a Texan Ranch. When he discovers oil below the surface, he becomes a millionaire overnight.
The film begins as cattle rancher Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) visits a farm in Maryland to buy a horse. Whilst there he meets and falls in love with the owner's daughter Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor). They are married almost immediately and return to Bick's Texas Ranch. The rest of the film follows their family through almost two full generations, as they see many changes to their lifestyle imposed by the discovery of oil on Jett's land and his unceasing efforts to buy them out.

Director George Stevens won an Oscar in 1956 for his work on Giant. Additionally, the film gained ten nominations including Best Actor for James Dean and Rock Hudson, Best Supporting Actress for Mercedes McCambridge and Best Screenplay Adaption.

Having said that, many are in agreement that the film is overly long and the acting from Dean, Hudson and Taylor is more than a little suspect towards the end when they begin to get old. They seem much more comfortable as the younger generation. James Dean and Elizabeth 英语影评 especially seem to deteriorate, meaning this is Dean's weakest performance of all his major roles. Saying that, he is still pretty good. Watch as his sobriety slowly deteriorates as he drinks himself into a stupor.

Giant is a very suitable title for this film, being enormous in almost every sense. It is very long, but does feature some remarkable scenery, a detailed story, major stars and (at the beginning at least) some decent acting. Neither one of Dean's nor Taylor's greatest roles, it is still worth seeing for its portrayal of early to mid-twentieth century life in the Southern United States of America. It's just a pity nobody was a little more trigger-happy in the editing suite.