Talk:Giant (1956 film)

A Train Blooper

The Lynnton farm is ostensibly in Maryland, yet the film shows "Bick" Benedict debarking from a train in Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railroad livery. The C&O provided no service anywhere in Maryland. Historic railroads that provided service to parts of Maryland with horse farms included the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, of which the Metropolitan Subdivision served Montgomery County, including the community of Potomac, and the Old Mainline served areas of Howard and Frederick County; the Western Maryland, which served communities northwest of Baltimore where some horse farms were found; and the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which served parts of Prince Georges County where horse farms are found. In addition, the PRR (or subsidiary lines) served the DELMARVA Penninsula, to include parts of Maryland where horse farms existed. A Texan such as "Bick" would probably have found his way to New Orleans, then taken Southern Railways' famous Crescent to Union Station in Washington, DC, where he could transfer to either the B&O or the PRR. The PRR could have taken him to Penn Station in Baltimore, where he could transfer to the Western Maryland. Note that there is an Ardmore in Maryland, but it is a part of Prince Georges County close to DC where no horse farms are found. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.108.22.197 (talk) 20:38, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

The late looping

Hi,

I would just like to know the reasons why Nick Adams did the voice-over for James Dean in Giant.

Thanks.

According to Ferber: A Biography by Julie Goldsmith Gilbert (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978):

Dean never completed his work in Giant. His scenes on camera were in the can, but since one in particular was inaudible, he was scheduled to come back for looping — a postproduction technique that involves dubbing in clarified dialogue to match the picture. Dean was not available to do this for one of his key scenes [because he was killed before he could come back for looping]. It was the banquet speech, where Jett Rink was supposed to be just at the edge of falling down drunk; Dean took it to heart, and although visually he was splendid, he fell down verbally. George Stevens and William Hornbeck, the film editor, recruited Dean's former roommate and best friend, a young actor named Nick Adams, to complete the vocal role of Jett Rink. Adams, by stuffing his cheeks with wads of gum, assimilated a clearer version of Dean's slur. The result of the necessary trick was perfect, went completely undetected, and, in fact, the scene was cited as one of Dean's best. Eerily, Nick Adams died several years later in the same self-destructive way as his friend, Dean. That tiny portion of film is known as the late looping.

(147-148)

Hope this helps. However, if you're wondering why Nick Adams was chosen to do the voiceover after Dean was killed, I don't know. Maybe it was because Nick Adams was an ambitious young actor (and friend of Dean) who could do a good Dean impersonation. I suspect that Adams might have suggested himself to Stevens and Hornbeck to do the voiceover — but I don't know for sure.

By the way, please be sure to sign your posts in the talk sections of entries by putting four tildes (this sign ~ ) in a row. Many thanks.

— Diamantina 23:25, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

Has anyone else noted the plot similarity between Giant (a great film) and the old TV drama Dallas? Larry Hagman's charater is known as JR, like Dean's, and the general feeling given by the tv show, regarding cattle and oil in Texas is also similar to the film. South Fork (the Dallas house) seems to have had a similar problem with the hot dusty winds. I noticed these comparisons only after seeing Giant on TCM recently and now feel that credit should have been given to the film by the TV show.82.19.51.34 (talk) 15:00, 2 March 2009 (UTC).

I wonder if anyone has a photo from the segment from the movie where the Texas flag at the ranch is tacked up on the wall upside down!!! I always thought this was a great metaphor for how little the movie has to do with the real Texas.PGNormand (talk) 02:45, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

As for the voiceover, I remember reading somewhere that Nick Adams could do a great impersonation of James Dean. Hope that helps somewhat. 2602:306:CEDF:1580:E535:6EB9:49E1:4C46 (talk) 08:36, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Reception

"The film received an extremely positive response from critics, receiving a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes."

Cool! I never knew that Rotten Tomatoes existed back then! Seriously though, we need reviews from 1956, not retrospective reviews from modern critics. 142.167.191.101 (talk) 23:18, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Western?

The lead, or opening, paragraph begins: "Giant is a 1956 American epic Western drama film". Western? While this film is mostly set in Texas and has a couple of people riding horses, and the main home is on a very large ranch with (barely seen)cattle, this film is a mostly contemporary film(for the time of it's release), apparently set in the time period from about 1920 to mid 1950's. A "Western" film is generally accepted to be set in the period from about 1840 to the late 1890s and maybe into the first decade of the 1900s, but definitely *not* the 1950s! Also, a typical "Western" deals with themes, events, and situations that simply aren't present in this film.Gcronau (talk) 05:10, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

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Title

What's the meaning of the title? Who is the giant? Thanks, Maikel (talk) 13:39, 1 February 2022 (UTC)

Not having read the book, I don't know the actual answer but I think we can guess that it refers to Bick as both a bigger-than-life personality/force, which he was, and his actual physical height. It is notable that in many scenes Rock Hudson is a whole head taller than anyone else in a crowded room (for example, at Lacey's wedding). 2601:602:B83:1FF0:9837:D4A9:83B1:3C8E (talk) 11:43, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Fran Bennett

I think we are linking to the wrong Fran Bennett in the film. The Fran Bennett of this film doesn't have a wiki page (as far as I know).Rja13ww33 (talk) 01:21, 29 April 2023 (UTC)