The Fort Stockton Film Society is hosting “date night” with a showing of the “national movie of Texas”, Giant on Saturday, July 29 at 7 p.m. As an added feature, there will be a classic Warner Brothers cartoon screened just before the main feature.

Giant stars James Dean as Jett Rink, a poor ranch hand living on the sprawling Reata ranch, owned by Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) and his new wife, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor). It deals with the changes Texas experienced in the 20th century as it moved from a cattle empire to oil and gas as the main economic engine. It also highlights the growing Mexican-American population and their struggle for civil rights and fair treatment.

Giant was directed by George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Shane, The Diary of Anne Frank) and won the Oscar for Best Director for Stevens. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Exterior scenes were filmed in nearby Marfa in the summer of 1955, while interior shots were done on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California.

The screening will start at 7:00 pm, with doors opening at 6:30. Admission is free, courtesy of the sponsor Lannom Industries, but donations are gladly accepted.