By Edwin Pagán
Children of Giant Premieres April 17 on PBS at 9PM E/P
Director Hector Galán / Latino Public Broadcasting – VOCES / 2015 / 90 Minutes
A highly recommended watch.
Metropolitan cities are awash daily in film productions, so much so that no one bats an eyelash unless the crews commandeer valuable parking space or the local coffee shop becomes a practical set, then blasé morphs into indignation and outrage in a heartbeat. But back in 1955, however, no one had ever seen anything like it in the dusty town of Marfa,Texas, when the well-lubricated Hollywood machine arrived to film George Stevens’ epic motion picture Giant, starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and the young emerging phenom, James Dean (in what would be his last film due to a fatal car accident). 60 years after the cameras stopped rolling, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Hector Galán revisits Marfa in the long-form documentary ‘Children of Giant’ and chronicles the impact the production had on the quiet west Texas community and its residents, who went from being hosts and spectators to actors, and how those experiences are till being felt there today.
The southwestern town of Marfa was initially only conceived as a temporary water juncture for the railroads just off the Chihuahuan Desert in Presidio County. Today, Marfa is far from being a cosmopolitan city with a population of only 1,981. If you haven’t seen Stevens’ classic, two other contemporary productions will give you a visual sense of the place. Just think ‘There Will Be Blood’ directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and the Coen Brothers’ ‘No Country for Old Men.’ Both productions were filmed there, too.
Scene from Giant Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor surrounded by extras
The film ‘Giant’ (1956) was based on Edna Ferber’s novel of the same name and spans 25-years in the life of three generations of a powerful ranch dynasty. Set in 1920s Southern Texas and projecting outward to World War II, the forward-thinking project bridged hot button taboos of the day such as feminism, social-class issues, the racial chasm between Anglos and Mexicans in the United States, as well as the related discrimination. Years before, Ferber was heavily vilified for her true-to-life depiction of the region in her book. The subsequent film production took place in the midst of the controversial McCarthy hearings and at the height of Jim Crow laws, and was attacked by many as ‘revisionist.’ Despite all this, the film went on to wide critical-acclaim earning $12 million in North America and 10 Oscar nominations in 1957, and garnering Stevens a Best Director statue for his work. Meanwhile, the residents of Marfa went back to their daily lives. For the town’s Mexican American residents who’d just experienced their first taste of real-life movie magic, however, it was another story altogether – they immediately went back to second-class status and segregated schools.
Documentary Filmmaker Hector Galán
It was this historical touchtone that peeked Hector Galán’s interest in making the documentary (which spanned 3 years), as his father attended a segregated Mexican-only school in Christoval in Southern San Angelo county, and experienced those very separatist policies first-hand. As a child, a young Hector also felt the sting of being labeled “other” and scorned in school by his own teachers whenever he spoke Spanish. Likewise, he notes, for Mexicans living and growing up in Marfa this also meant staying on the “other side of the tracks” – no questions asked. He also signals that while the mainstay of civil rights for African Americans was along the north- and south-eastern coast, in the southwest it was between Mexican Americans and whites. Jim Crow laws, he adds, were frequently utilized against the Mexican American population during the 1950s and the Blackwell school in Marfa was also an openly segregated school. Galán credits Stevens’ insight for being able to connect these dots based on Farber’s novel and having the courage to commit the story to film:
“Stevens was in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II,” says Galán. “He saw up close how racism and hatred could impact humanity as a result of being on the ground in Germany and seeing the results of what took place in the death camps there. He carried that deeply inside and it shows in ‘Giant’ in how he portrays discrimination against Mexican Americans in the southwest, and their road to empowerment.”
(L-R) Elizabeth Taylor, Dennis Hopper and Elsa Cardenas
In the original film, ranch magnate Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict Jr. (Rock Hudson) is forced to deal with the consequences of his son Jordan Benedict III (Dennis Hopper) marrying Juana Guerra (Elsa Cárdenas), a beautiful local Mexican-American, which sets up the backdrop and revelations for most of the racial tension in the film. Bick also meets and marries a very vocal and socially conscious Maryland socialite named Leslie Benedict (Elizabeth Taylor). Lumped together, these story arcs provide most of the dramatic tension in the film, which eventually boils over. Hector Galán effectively utilizes these narrative story elements from Steven’s film as a point-of-departure for his own very astute comparisons and on-camera interviews for his non-fiction project, where issues of race, class and gender make up the spine of the documentary.
Spectators watching the filming
Using the convention of archival newsreel footage and vintage photographs taken by the production and townspeople, as well as first-hand accounts from those who lived through the period, Galán weaves together an engaging look at this little known episode in U.S. history, one that may have easily languished as an obscure footnote in the shadow of popular American cinema and the mere recollections of Marfa’s residents and individuals connected with the motion picture. Added historical context is reinforced by notable historians, journalists and scholars, including Charles Ramirez Berg (University of Texas, Austin) and Ramon Renteria (El Paso Times), among others. A solid group of those interviewed were child actors in the original film production, who provide a nostalgic recollection of both the positive experiences of participating in Stevens’ film, as well as a candid insight into the oppressive environment that existed during that time in Marfa, a fact not always obvious to outsiders. Actress Elsa Cárdenas, who plays Juana Guerra Benedict in the film and was 16-years old at the time, recalls loosing her innocence about racism during the production after her female chaperone told her that another woman had asked how she could possibly “sleep in the same room with a Mexican.’ The young actor had not encountered such open discrimination before that incident, but it became obvious that being a guest in Marfa would not shield her from it. After all, she was still Mexican.
James Dean on set during a break with the kids
As illustrated in ‘Children of Giant,’ Stevens’ open set policy allowed Marfa locals to mingle with the cast, participate as extras or day players, help out as stagehands, or serve as dialect coaches. During the production – which set up camp in Marfa for 2 months and significantly swelled their population during that period – the cast and crew became part of the town’s daily fabric. It wasn’t uncommon to catch Elizabeth Taylor strolling about town in a nightgown during the evening or getting a glimpse of James Dean buying the local kids cold sodas and telling them stories full of wonder and adventure. And while the world press engulfed the open set, no attention was paid whatsoever to the racist policies prevalent in the county. Galán also brings attention to Taylor’s character, which posits many of the controversial questions and maxims in the film “through a kind of pre-feminist era lens.” It is through her that Stevens and the screenwriters chose to deliver their views—evergreen issues that are as relevant today, if not more so—than when the film first highlighted them. Immigrants as second-class citizens and the ongoing struggle for a valid education like that of the present-day Dreamers, whose only desire is access to higher education as a pathway to a fruitful and productive life. “We really stole Texas, didn’t we, Mr. Benedict?” prompts Leslie. “I mean away from Mexico?” Her question to Bick is both naive and accusatorial, but ever so righteous.
Incidentally, during the film’s formal theatrical release, the Mexican American child actors and extras could only see the film in segregated cinemas.
Galán’s documentary, very much like Farber’s book, or Stevens’ film, clearly delimitates and underscores how “Mexican Americans were segregated – isolated in their own neighborhood,” and “kept apart from Anglo residents in all aspects of daily life.” Race relations in Marfa have made a great deal of progress since 1955—the county now boasts Latino representation among its elected officials. But, even as some things have changed, others remain the same. In particular, the clear division between the Anglo and Mexican plots in its three local cemeteries, notably shown in Stevens’ production, still stand as very real reminders that class and racial divisions still exist, even on hallowed ground. Thus, ‘Children of Giant’ is much more than merely a “where are they now” reflection about the child actors of ‘Giant’. In pivoting his focus around the original themes of Stevens’ groundbreaking film, Galán simultaneously offers both a birds-eye and macro view of complex social commentary and by extension shows how the frames of discrimination against Mexican Americans and Latinos continue to be institutionally replicated to this very day. Fortunately, Galán serves it all up with a good dose of spicy sazón and spares us the cut and dry sermons that can spring up around these valid subjects.
Sal Mineo as Angel Obregon
Galán reveals that Stevens created two scenes that are not in Ferber’s novel but rather are conventions of Stevens’ creative genius. The most powerful features Sal Mineo’s character, Angel Obregón II, a Mexican boy who grows up riding horses on the ranch and is now an adult. In the novel, he is illustrated coming back home as a kind of languid “Pachuco.” In the film, however, Stevens shows him returning in a flag-draped coffin, a casualty of war, but as an “American war hero” who’s given his life for HIS country – the United States. Despite that, the only two Anglos in attendance at the funeral are Bick and Leslie. As a sign of the emerging spark of his moral awakening, Bick provides Angel’s father with a Texan flag. The second shows Bick on a road trip with Leslie and his Mexican American daughter-in-law Juana and his newborn grandson (half Mexican) as they stop off at a diner. Bick witnesses another Mexican family being ejected from the diner by its racist owner, Sarge, confronts him and a scuffle ensues. Bick looses the fight but wins the battle for his soul, gains Leslie’s admiration, and is fully transformed into ‘Giant’ forever.
“It is this kind of artistic license that made Stevens’ work on ‘Giant’ all the more radical and timeless,” says Galán. “Over the years, Giant has been held up in high regard by the Mexican American community for how it brought to light the discriminatory plights they endured in places like Texas and elsewhere. Today, it’s hard to imagine that the film was a major Hollywood production made during the 1950s.”
In addition to the adept storytelling and the documentary’s unique point-of-view, its musical score leads us seamlessly along in an elegant gallop without ever becoming overbearing or dipping a toe into the realm of camp, as the music for westerns often can. The score was written and arranged by Joseph Julián González, a much sought-after composer who’s collaborated with Galán since 1995. He’d heard about the project several years before during its early development, and when he finally got the call that they were ready for his “magic touch” (as Galán affectionally calls it), he jumped at the chance to work together again, especially considering the themes covered in the film.
González immediately went to work and provided a series of temporary music cues, primarily in MIDI form, and he and the director went over the parameters of what it would take to flesh out the score. An orchestra was needed, they both agreed. Since the bulk of the film’s funding was provided by Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), Galán reached out to Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and made the pitch for additional funding. After reviewing the draft score and budget, PBS generously provided the finishing funds for the film’s final music. 10 days later González was in Bulgaria recording the soundtrack with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony. He strongly credits Italian sound engineer Marco Streccioni for putting together the musicians needed to pull it off via his strong connections there. González’ wife, Monique Valadez, a music supervisor in her own right also helped to coordinate the logistics involved in preparing to record with a full orchestra in another country.
“Early on we agreed that the music had to match the scope that was set in ‘Giant,’” says González. “I’m glad Hector felt likewise and that we were able to work with a full, professional orchestra and get a rich soundtrack for the project.”
One of González’s favorite post-production delights in hearing how often his original score is mistaken for being stripped directly from Giant’s soundtrack – and one that he points to as a marker of having reached the goal he and Galán covered during their initial discussions. He credits Galán with allowing him to create freely and develop the musical cues and themes from the content he is provided rather than from abstract philosophical notions about the work, which in turn, he says, has resulted in some of his best work to date.
“Hector has been able to erase the lines between the classic film and the current work and blended the themes that began with the original and have carried over into the documentary. He’s a great filmmaker and storyteller.”
And a special mention is in order to past San Antonio Mayor and former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros who provides the film’s narration with the finesse of a seasoned voiceover artist (!).
Today, ‘Giant’ reads more like a parable of a wise man about the inconsequential human frailties that divide people, create delineated borders, and maintain those outdated fences in place. Perhaps, much like in the film, it won’t be much longer before the divisions are torn down for the benefit of the spirit of the living, as well as the dignity of the dead. Galán’s work here not only serves as a critical analysis of Stevens’ groundbreaking film as seen through a contemporary lens, he also picks up the baton Stevens passed in 1956 and helps to move it further down the field in recalibrating the historical frame and record going forward of the Mexican American experience in the United States. All in all, a highly recommended watch.
‘Children of Giant’ kicks off the 2015 season of Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES series on April 17thth [see local listings]. The film is produced by Karen Bernstein, Evy Galán, Carolyn Pfeiffer, and Hector Galán.
TRIVIA SIDEBAR:
* In 2005, the film ‘Giant was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
* New York Times 1956 Review of Giant – http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B07E2D61F38E13BBC4952DFB667838D649EDE
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