“Everybody thought I had a duster. Y’all thought ol’ Spindletop Burke and Burnett was all the oil there was, didn’t ya? Well, I’m here to tell you that it ain’t, boy! It’s here, and there ain’t a dang thing you gonna do about it! My well came in big, so big, Bick and there’s more down there and there’s bigger wells. I’m rich, Bick. I’m a rich ‘un. I’m a rich boy. Me, I’m gonna have more money than you ever *thought* you could have – you and all the rest of you stinkin’ sons of… Benedicts!”

‘Giant’, directed by George Stevens in 1956, is an American epic western starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. Taylor plays Leslie Lynnton, a socialite form Maryland. When Jordan “Bick” Benedict Jr, played by Hudson, visits from Texas to buy a horse, she falls for him and they return west together where they marry and start a life. This is complicated by Jett Rink, a local labourer played by Dean, who develops an infatuation with Lynnton. When Rink is left some land on estate of Benedict, and then discovers oil, the fortunes and power dynamics of the three characters shift, and this shift effects the lives of the growing Benedict family as the film charts their loves and relationships over decades. It’s a sprawling but curiously intimate film. The setting of Texas is a stong constant influence over the narrative and gives the film a geographical scale to match the historical scope, but the focus is always on the trio of characters. There is also the feeling of encroaching modernity that is common in Westerns such as ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ and ‘The Iron Horse’, a feeling of lost innocence. This is a constant theme through the film, from the train journey back from Maryland to the flashy opulence of Rink’s life after making a fortune in oil. As such, this is as much a film about the corruption of an ideal as it is about the love affairs of individuals.

Would I recommend it? It’s long, but the opportunity to watch James Dean (in his final performance) and Taylor acting opposite on another make the film a must. Watch in a double bill with ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’.