ByTowne ByTowne Cinema
ByTowne Cinema
325 Rideau St. Ottawa K1N 5Y4
Info Line: (613) 789-FILM
Giant
Print this pageMust-See Cinema! Elizabeth Taylor in one her most demanding roles, plus James Dean! Rock Hudson! Dennis Hopper!
Showtimes:
No screenings currently scheduled.
Giant is a stretch, not just across the wide open spaces but over time. Admittedly, when it comes to the great outdoors, Giant covers more open space than Star Wars – by this I mean Texas when it felt big and still open and smelled of fertilizer and gun powder, not of oil and money. And director George Stevens rubs you right in it, leaving you feeling you’ve been dragged across the entire Panhandle.
Even during an era of big movies, this 1956 release was a bigger film than most – the kind of spectacle that made going to the cinema an event more than an entertainment. (In terms of date protocol, Rebel Without A Cause meant a burger after the flick while Giant required a full dinner before, with valet parking.) It had the triple-A class of all of Hollywood’s A-list stars in Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. It reeked of class and cachet. And Hollywood, ever awe-struck by a big budget well spent, dutifully got around to awarding director George Stevens a Best Director Oscar. It also had the Brad Pitt of the day in James Dean, whose car-crash death before the film’s editing was completed gave a certain edge to Giant’s big and lazy sprawling character. (It also made Brad Pitt possible.)
Taylor was 23 – also Dean’s age at the time – and Hudson was 28. They’re in their physical prime. Watching them is like watching today’s soap opera stars preen as they work, posing and revelling in just how gosh-darn wonderful they are. Dean was working a different side of the street from his co-stars, for sure. (I should mention the cast includes another A-list of sorts, this of Hollywood’s young rebels: Carroll Baker, Dennis Hopper and Sal Mineo). While Hudson and Taylor are busy hitting their marks and looking flinty-eyed at each other or some cattle, Dean is one twisty nerve, more likely to answer a question with a head shake or a nod than with words. Faced with this, Hudson and Taylor might as well have been made of cardboard, as he steals the show. The film is more likely to be remembered because of him, than he because of it.
Giant is movie-making on the kind of epic human scale that Hollywood has since abandoned in favour of the epic of technology, by which even the stars get to be made out of computer chips and gizmos. It’s a movie for a country still awe-struck by its own grandeur and not just its gadgets.
– Peter Goddard, The Toronto Star
The ByTowne doesn't have a parking lot of its own, but denizens of downtown can usually find street parking close by fairly easily.
This web site is very useful, but the hard copy of the ByTowne guide still has its merits. People rely on it and love it. Plus, its calendar pages can be pulled out and posted on your fridge door, something that we still can't achieve with the web site. Get your copy today at many local stores, coffee shops and info centres around town! 