Giant (1956)

Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson play an extremely wealthy couple living on a cattle ranch turned oil field in rural Texas, and a hugely absurd James Dean comes along for the ride.

Rock Hudson's character struggles to overcome his racism against Mexicans, while Elizabeth Taylor's character struggles to look realistically dirty and appropriately upset in the dusty, often hostile setting.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. Even though it went on for two hundred years (it literally had an intermission) and was at times amusingly dated (both visually and subject matter-wise), I genuinely wanted to sit through all the way to the end.

An interesting minor role by Dennis Hopper, who I only really knew for his amusing roles in two of my childhood favorites, Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Waterworld (1995), and of course for his disturbing turn in creepy David Lynch's creepy Blue Velvet (1986).

Bonus points to anyone who can remind me what film essay (assigned during my time at Northwestern) specifically discussed the upsetting/hilarious Thanksgiving dinner scene in which the couple's small children realize they're about to eat the turkey they've been patiently feeding for a month.

Overall: likely to be enjoyable to you if you like Taylor, Hudson, Dean, or movies from the '50s. Otherwise, skip it.