1956
Edna Ferber, Fred Guiol
Dimitri Tiomkin
Henry Ginsberg, George Stevens
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Judith Evelyn, Earl Holliman, Robert Nichols, Paul Fix, Alexander Scourby
Texan rancher Bick Benedict visits a Maryland farm to buy a prize horse. Whilst there he meets and falls in love with the owner's daughter Leslie, they are married immediately and return to his ranch. The story of their family and its rivalry with cowboy and (later oil tycoon) Jett Rink unfolds across two generations. ------- Ambitious Texas-style scale epic that traces the rising and falling fortunes of two generations of Texans. Miscegenation, moral dissipation, racism, the oppression of women....a variety of topics are brought forth during the film's 201-minute running time. The core of the film is actually the relationship between Bick Benedict and his wife Leslie. It is through them that we follow the film's themes of generation, conflict and social change. However, it is Jett Rink whom audiences remember, particularly in the early scenes when he is striding out on his small piece of land or when he comes to tell Benedict that "my well came in big." He puts his oily hand on one of the white columns of Benedict's porch and, unemphatically crystallizes the theme of the film - the muddy thumb prints of materialism on the pillars of elegance and the coming of conflict between the aristocracy and the nouveau riche. "You should have shot that fella a long time ago," a friend says to Benedict about Jett Rink. "Now he's too rich to kill." ------- Sprawling, epic tale of a wealthy Texas rancher and his wife, their descendants and their life together over 25 years. Bick Benedict met his future wife Leslie while on a trip East to buy breeding stock, returning home with a bride. Living on a half-million acre ranch takes some getting used to for Leslie as does the rough and tumble lifestyle. They have children who have their own minds and are apt to disappoint their parents over their life choices. As Leslie says at one point, you can't live their lives for them you can only raise them. Bick Benedict's rival is a former ranch hand, Jett Rink, who inherits a tract of land from Bick's late sister Luz. Jett strikes oil and becomes as wealthy as the Benedicts although there is one thing Bick has that he can never have as his own.
194 minutes (at 25 frames per second)
1142 MB
DivX 5 - resolution: 720x448