This George Stevens (best director Oscar) epic looms large. It’s a classic “roadshow” film of the 1950s, complete with West Texas vistas, Technicolor, big stars like Rock (Hudson), Liz (Taylor) and Jimmy (Dean), but no intermission, even though it’s three hours long! It also looms large in the history of the Texas towns (Marfa and Valentine) where it was filmed. I’ve grown up with stories of people tangentially touched by the production, and there are songs that celebrate, or sometimes give the side eye to, the whole thing.

Giant

Shelly Brisbin with Laura Rice, Micheline Maynard, David J. Loehr and Randy Dotinga