"Giant" met the lush, sprawling Edna Ferber novel on its own level
Detailing the history of a Texas royal family, the movie, like the novel, is a monument to myths about Texas size, wealth, and vulgarity
A well-bred lady from Virginia, Liz is the outsider who marries the big, strong, thick-headed ruler of a family dynasty (Rock Hudson) and who stubborn1y refuses to lose her own notions of right and wrong
In choosing as his bride this independent woman who won't conform to Texas folkways, Hudson selected a wily and persevering antagonist, a lady with a mind of her own who challenges, and loves him every step of the way At the end, when he fights the owner of a roadside diner who will not serve his Mexican daughter-in-law and grandchild, Liz can count the twenty-five-year battle hers Playing the liberal to her husband's reactionary, she's succeeded finally in educating her man It's one of the few occasions when Taylor's the wise teacher rather than the recalcitrant pupil
The marriagea prototype for the Taylor ménage, in which tenderness and turbulence are closely mixedis set against the evolution of Texas from old-fashioned to modern As horse-loving Virginia deb, as new bride, as threat to her husband's mannish domineering sister, as young wife and mother, as patrona of the ranch who would rather talk politics with the men than chit-chat with the women, as the unattainable mistress of Jett Rink's dreams, as dignified, middle-aged champion of American-Chicano integration, Liz is at the center of the epic canvas, and it's a wise and charming performance
Stevens again shots the stillness of her serene beauty, but he also explores the temperament of the Taylor spitfire Leslie Lynnton is one of Taylor's strong heroines, one of the few women she's played who, if they absolutely had to, might make it on their own
A well-bred lady from Virginia, Liz is the outsider who marries the big, strong, thick-headed ruler of a family dynasty (Rock Hudson) and who stubborn1y refuses to lose her own notions of right and wrong
In choosing as his bride this independent woman who won't conform to Texas folkways, Hudson selected a wily and persevering antagonist, a lady with a mind of her own who challenges, and loves him every step of the way At the end, when he fights the owner of a roadside diner who will not serve his Mexican daughter-in-law and grandchild, Liz can count the twenty-five-year battle hers Playing the liberal to her husband's reactionary, she's succeeded finally in educating her man It's one of the few occasions when Taylor's the wise teacher rather than the recalcitrant pupil
The marriagea prototype for the Taylor ménage, in which tenderness and turbulence are closely mixedis set against the evolution of Texas from old-fashioned to modern As horse-loving Virginia deb, as new bride, as threat to her husband's mannish domineering sister, as young wife and mother, as patrona of the ranch who would rather talk politics with the men than chit-chat with the women, as the unattainable mistress of Jett Rink's dreams, as dignified, middle-aged champion of American-Chicano integration, Liz is at the center of the epic canvas, and it's a wise and charming performance
Stevens again shots the stillness of her serene beauty, but he also explores the temperament of the Taylor spitfire Leslie Lynnton is one of Taylor's strong heroines, one of the few women she's played who, if they absolutely had to, might make it on their own