The daughter of a Louisville truck driver marries the scion of a very wealthy family, but the reception at the family estate is boycotted by the invited guests.
A fictionalized former President Richard M. Nixon offers a solitary, stream-of-consciousness reflection on his life and political career - and the "true" reasons for the Watergate scandal and his resignation.
May is waiting for her boyfriend in a run-down American motel, when an old flame turns up and threatens to undermine her efforts and drag her back into the life that she was running away from. The situation soon turns complicated.
A rich but lonely woman, Frances Austen, one day invites a homeless young man from a nearby park to her apartment and offers to let him live there. However, she has no intention of ever letting him leave again.
An introverted loner living in the bowels of the Astrodome plots to develop - with the aid of a mysterious guardian angel - a pair of wings that will help him fly.
When a casual gambler befriends a professional one, he begins to mirror his life, sending both deeper into the sleazy gambling world where the stakes keep getting bigger.
Schizophrenic housewife, engulfed by terrorizing apparitions, kills off each, unknowing if these demons are merely figments of her hallucinatory imagination or part of reality.
The Disciples of James Dean meet up on the anniversary of his death and mull over their lives in the present and in flashback, revealing the truth behind their complicated lives. Who is the mysterious Joanne and what's the real story behind Mona's son, James Dean Junior ?Written byDavid Gibson <djg@ukc.ac.uk>
Of the 12-member cast, only one was a male. See more »
Goofs
Though pains were no doubt made to ensure that the "mirror-image" flashback set for all 1955 scenes appears to be the exact opposite of the set for 1975 scenes, packaging for the many GE light bulbs stored on a back shelf in 1955 are not reversed as they should be (though the large GE sign above is correctly reversed). See more »
Quotes
[first lines] Juanita:Jimmy Dean? Jimmy Dean! Come on back here to the five-and-dime now, Jimmy Dean. Jimmy Dean, you're out here, I know you are. See more »
Crazy Credits
Behind the closing credits, the camera pans around the abandoned building. We hear the wind blowing, with doors banging in the background. See more »
This is a set-bound independent film deals with a small assortment of characters who assemble at the small title store in a nowhere, dusty Texas town. Some work at the store, and some have moved out of town, but they are reuniting on the 20th anniversary of James Dean's death. It seems GIANT was filmed nearby 20 years earlier, and one of their own even appeared as an extra in the film. Some have moved on since then, others haven't. And some have changed completely. I won't go further into the developments, as learning who is who and what is what is part of the film's journey.
Robert Altman directed this, both on the stage and then on film, and it's more interesting than I expected. I've never been a fan of Sandy Dennis or Karen Black, and so I've never gone out of my way to see this again after I saw it the first time. I am, however, a fan of Robert Altman. Altman has always been known for his great rapport with his actresses, and that quality serves him and his cast admirably in this. These are interesting, fully-fleshed out women, and the voices are very genuine. Sandy Dennis plays a variation of her usual emotionally fragile screen persona, but Altman manages to rein in her histrionic tendencies. Karen Black is much better than usual, in an unusual, but subtle performance. Cher famously made her first serious foray into dramatic acting here, and she's tough and terrific. A young and fiery Kathy Bates is also memorable. Stage veteran Sudie Bond rounds out the main cast.
I saw this earlier this year on TCM, and for the first time years ago on Showtime. I am always fascinated about the places where movies are filmed on location, and Giant is my favorite of James Dean's movies. It is easy to see when watching the movie that it is based upon a play with one set, but that doesn't detract from it. Even though the introduction warned about flashbacks, I wasn't aware just how quickly the movie would go between the present day of the story and two decades before. That meant I was confused for the first 15 minutes or so, so don't be surprised if you are too. Then I realized what was happening and stopped worrying about what time frame it was at any given moment. Rewatching it, having an idea about what is going on, did make it more enjoyable for me. Recommended.
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This is a set-bound independent film deals with a small assortment of characters who assemble at the small title store in a nowhere, dusty Texas town. Some work at the store, and some have moved out of town, but they are reuniting on the 20th anniversary of James Dean's death. It seems GIANT was filmed nearby 20 years earlier, and one of their own even appeared as an extra in the film. Some have moved on since then, others haven't. And some have changed completely. I won't go further into the developments, as learning who is who and what is what is part of the film's journey.
Robert Altman directed this, both on the stage and then on film, and it's more interesting than I expected. I've never been a fan of Sandy Dennis or Karen Black, and so I've never gone out of my way to see this again after I saw it the first time. I am, however, a fan of Robert Altman. Altman has always been known for his great rapport with his actresses, and that quality serves him and his cast admirably in this. These are interesting, fully-fleshed out women, and the voices are very genuine. Sandy Dennis plays a variation of her usual emotionally fragile screen persona, but Altman manages to rein in her histrionic tendencies. Karen Black is much better than usual, in an unusual, but subtle performance. Cher famously made her first serious foray into dramatic acting here, and she's tough and terrific. A young and fiery Kathy Bates is also memorable. Stage veteran Sudie Bond rounds out the main cast.
I saw this earlier this year on TCM, and for the first time years ago on Showtime. I am always fascinated about the places where movies are filmed on location, and Giant is my favorite of James Dean's movies. It is easy to see when watching the movie that it is based upon a play with one set, but that doesn't detract from it. Even though the introduction warned about flashbacks, I wasn't aware just how quickly the movie would go between the present day of the story and two decades before. That meant I was confused for the first 15 minutes or so, so don't be surprised if you are too. Then I realized what was happening and stopped worrying about what time frame it was at any given moment. Rewatching it, having an idea about what is going on, did make it more enjoyable for me. Recommended.