Stars: James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Carroll Baker, Earl Holliman, Dennis Hopper, Mercedes McCambridge, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Chill Wills, Alexander Scourby, Paul Fix, Alexander Scourby, Judith Evelyn, Jane Withers, Jane Withers

Director: George Stevens

Summary: Set against the background of the Texas oil fields, a young ranch-hand, who strikes it rich, becomes an embarrassment to the traditional Texas oil barons.

Edna Ferber's best-selling family saga was the source of Stevens' sprawling epic, which stars Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean, in his last film appearance. When Texas cattleman Bick Benedict (Hudson) goes to Virginia in the early 1920s to buy a prize stallion, he falls in love with Leslie Lynnton (Taylor), an aristocratic, independent-minded beauty, and they quickly marry. He takes her back to Reata, his 600,000-acre ranch, where sister Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), the family matriarch, does her best to make Leslie feel unwelcome. Leslie is appalled by the second-class status accorded to women and racist attitudes toward the local Mexicans, neither of which seem to bother her husband. Out of compassion, she befriends surly ranch hand Jett Rink (James Dean), who comes to worship her from afar, envying Bick for both his wealth and his wife. He strikes oil on land bequeathed to him by the deceased Luz and his wealth and power grow apace. As the years pass, the bewildered Bick often finds his children thwarting his wishes and criticizing his beliefs, pushing the millionaire to question his values for the first time in his life. The film's outstanding cast, which also features Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Carroll Baker, Earl Holliman, and Chill Wills, inject vitality into a project that occasionally suffers from longueurs.

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Roald Dahl's modern classic for children becomes a delightful combination of live action and stop-motion animation by the team that made The Nightmare Before Christmas: director Henry Selick and producers Tim Burton (Batman) and Denise Di Novi. The story concerns young James (played for real and through voice-overs by Paul Terry), who is orphaned and left in the charge of two cruel aunts (Miriam Margolyes, Joanna Lumley). Rescued by a mysterious fellow (Pete Postlethwaite), James ends up inside a giant peach, drifting over the Atlantic Ocean in the company of a gentleman grasshopper (voiced by Simon Callow), a fast-talking centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), an anxious earthworm (David Thewlis), a matronly ladybug (Jane Leeves), and a sexy spider (Susan Sarandon). The collection of actors and their creepy-crawly alter egos are a delight, especially when some of the song-and-dance numbers (tunes are written by Randy Newman) get everyone going. --Tom Keogh

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary, Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer, Director's Introduction, Documentaries - 1. RETURN TO GIANT, 2. MEMORIES OF GIANT, Featurettes - 1. New York Premiere, 2. Hollywood Premiere, 3. Giant Stars Are Off To Texas, 4. On Location, 5. A Visit Wi
Year:	1956
Release Date:	July 28, 2003
Runtime:	193 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 023221
Keywords:	Special, Two, General, Edition, Giant, Drama, Discs
Genre:	Drama