Giant – based on the book by Edna Ferber - 9 out of 10

 

Giant – based on the book by Edna Ferber

9 out of 10

 

 

Giant is a remarkable motion picture, one of only three that James Dean acted in, the legendary actor that starred in Rebel Without a Cause and has started with East of Eden http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/east-of-eden-based-on-novel-by-john.html where the glorious Montgomery Clift, by his absence, allowed a new star to be born, just like he did for Paul Newman, who has had his first chance with Somebody Up There Loves Me, and then Marlon Brando, who would light up the screen in On the Waterfront, three major motion pictures and a trio of superstars, in the real sense of the word

 

We learn about this and much more from the fundamental Adventures in The Screen Trade http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/adventures-in-screen-trade-by-william.html written by William Goldman, who has won two Academy Awards, for the script for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and All The President’s Men, a wondrous author who explains in his quintessential work the movie business, from spicy details to why the ‘author film’ is a myth…we find about Burt Lancaster, one of the magicians, and how he said that his knees would tremble in the presence of Montgomery Clift, such a great power he had.

Paul Newman http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/05/sweet-bird-of-youth-by-tennessee.html and Clint Eastwood are the only two actors that Goldman knows to be above the need to hear hymns dedicated to them, actors are very needy, and they need to hear they are the best, the screenplay will only work if they are in the picture, in order to take on a project, their egos are so self-centered that we are astonished at what some can do (with the expectations mentioned) for instance, Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man, where the iconic Laurence Olivier had a supporting role, and Hoffman the leading one

 

The majestic Laurence Olivier had been very ill, and his health was precarious while participating in the production of Marathon Man http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-marathon-man-screenplay-by-william.html only this did not prevent Dustin Hoffman from taking the British legend around, trying to show he has the leading role and to overcome the intimating feelings he must have had, when facing the giant, one was frivolous and petty, the other professional, august, grandiose, illustrious…

Evidently, Dustin Hoffman has some memorable performances, one such is in the splendid The Graduate http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-graduate-adapted-from-novel-by.html a marvelous masterpiece that I need to watch again (and read the book, which is equally enchanting and captivating, superb) but with the Marathon Man, Hoffman had another annoying, rude behavior, as he was supposed to wake up in the night in his role, when his brother comes to his home, he would fuss over the scene, refusing to go along with the script that had him using a flashlight, and keeping the other actor and the crew waiting for a long time, because he would not want his fans to see him as less macho…in any case, a silly, senseless, preposterous attitude, one that is nonetheless common with stars.

 

From the same fabulous Adventures in the Screen Trade we find the flaws of the ‘author films’, there was a time (we are still there in some ways) when films by creators such as Alfred Hitchcock were worshipped, and William Goldman dismantles the notion, first of all, indicating that after Hitchcock had been sanctified for his magnum opera, he would start making lesser works, such as Birds http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-birds-directed-by-alfred.html and it takes a whole team to make a film, producers, writers, actors, and often other members of the crew are just as important…

Without the spectacular main theme by Vangelis, Chariots of Fire would not have been the tremendous success, just like Jaws, without the Special Effects would not have gained the box office fortune it had and the examples are man, in these times, special effects have gained so much weight that we could argue they make the motion pictures more substantial, especially the ones that I refuse to watch, the Marvel universe and the genre that invades screens, big and small, with notable exceptions, The Matrix would be one http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-matrix-by-wachowski-brothers-at.html

 

Giant, to say a few words about the supposed subject of this note, has not just a quartet of actors that impress, from Elizabeth Taylor – I think the part that overwhelmed this cinephile most  is that from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/whos-afraid-of-virginia-woolf-by-edward.html though she was also divine in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, with Paul Newman as her partner – to Rock Hudson (who was gay and died of AIDS, in an age when his notoriety helped raise awareness of the deadly disease) James Dean and the upcoming Denis Hopper, who would become a phenomenal actor, but also a difficult fellow

Denis Hopper was instrumental, one of the creators of the landmark, historical Easy Rider http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/07/easy-rider-written-by-dennis-hopper.html made with Peter Fonda and launching the career of Jack Nicholson, notwithstanding the fact that Robert Evans claims to have been the one to discover the best actor in the world – this is what I believed, albeit I placed him on the same pedestal with our very own George Constantin, one that is unknown alas, but just as damn fantastic.

 

Robert Evans had started as an actor, then he would become a producer and head of Paramount Pictures, the one behind chefs d’oeuvre like The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby and the very successful (though I do not like it at all) Love Story, who wrote his own Adventures in the Screen Trade, in the autobiographical The Kid Stays in The Picture http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-kid-stays-in-picture-by-robert.html telling you about the making of the aforementioned pictures, and others, his going to see Vladimir Nabokov, connections with Nicholson, Kissinger, Ali McGraw, Ryan O’Neill (something of a scoundrel), Sharon Stone and so many, many more, in an extraordinary book, which contains many exaggerations, surely…

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html