Welcome to Queerty’s latest entry in our series, Queerantined: Daily Dose. Every weekday as long as the COVID-19 pandemic has us under quarantine, we’ll release a suggested bit of gloriously queer entertainment designed to keep you from getting stir crazy in the house. Each weekend, we will also suggest a binge-able title to keep you extra engaged.
The Towering: Giant
A Queerty reader reached out to us with a request. As a lifelong fan of Elizabeth Taylor, he lobbied for us to include one of Ms. Taylor’s films as part of our Queerantined series. In addition to her status as a Hollywood legend and two time Oscar winner, Elizabeth Taylor also championed LGBTQ rights and became one of the first and most ardent celebrity advocates for AIDS research. Taylor attributed her passion for AIDS to her longtime friendship with actor Rock Hudson, a closeted gay star who died of the disease in 1985.
With that in mind, we offer up today’s film suggestion, which happens to star both Taylor and Hudson: Giant. The film follows the relationship between two young Texas lovers, Bick and Leslie (played by Hudson and Taylor). The two fall in love, marry, have a family, and in short order, get rich. Giant chronicles the highs and lows of the lovers, as well as the racial prejudices of the time. Bick and Leslie have a multi-racial family, which puts them at odds with the rest of their community.
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With a cast that also includes James Dean, Dennis Hopper, Mercedes McCambridge and Sal Mineo, Giant plays like a master class in acting. Hudson and Taylor play their characters from the time they are teenagers to old age, and do so very convincingly. Moreover, the two have an undeniable chemistry that underlines the love between their characters. If nothing else, Giant proves that a gay actor can play a romantic, heterosexual lead…and that Taylor & Hudson weren’t just great stars. They were damn fine actors too.
james7
With those other gay icons, James Dean and Sal Mineo in supporting roles; one can only imagine the sneaking from trailer to trailer of the cast after a day’s shooting.
IanHunter
Apparently there was quite a bit of trailer hopping amongst the cast and crew when filming.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
No concrete proof exists James Dean was gay, ever engaged in gay sex or supported gay causes as in being sympathetic towards gay men. He is that era’s fantasy of a trailer park twink with a huge package (no one knows for sure how big he was). I say let James Dean rest in peace.
IanHunter
If you hadn’t already, you need to read “Dizzy and Jimmy” by Liz Sheridan. A great memoir of one of James “closest” friends. Just a good read.
Jared MacBride
@Sister – Nah, he’d rather have people talking about him.
stagehand1
Clearly you aren’t up on info about James Dean. I suggest you might do a bit of research! Further, it’s 2020 and being gay isn’t a slur. Lastly, by many accounts he was a pretty big jerk.
jayceecook
Oh sister. At it again with the nonsense. The old folks home for seniors with mental defects should really watch which patients they allow online. While I don’t believe he was gay I certainly believe he was at the very least bisexual. Would that be a label he would actually claim. Maybe not outside of using it to avoid being drafted. And if you want to know how GIANT he was, do a bit of research. There’s been nude photos of him around for decades. Even published in a few books.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
Nude photos prove nothing. The gay accusations surfaced when someone had a book to hike and even then proof was asked for and never produced. There are accusations aplenty but where is the hard core proof?
jayceecook
@Sister Gorl you can’t even keep your story straight, no pun intended! You literally said, “no one knows for sure how big he was”.
Me: there are published nude photos of his package.
You: Nude photos prove nothing.
*face-palm*
The rumors about his sexuality didn’t start because somebody had a book to sell. They were around before he became a star, during his career, and of course after his tragic death. Hell even Warner Brother’s public relations department would leak fake stories of actresses he was dating. The same thing they did for Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter. And what do those last two have in common? I’ll give you some time to think.
I don’t believe he was gay. At best, as I said before, bisexual. Multiple people who knew him and had relationships with him, including Liz Sheridan as someone else already mentioned talked about his affairs with men. Even William Bast, who lived with JD, who wrote one of the first biographies about James Dean didn’t include anything about it because he didn’t want to “out” him especially during the time it was published. It was only many years later (2006) that he decided to get candid about the more intimate aspects of their relationship. And I’m sorry but by 2006 nobody was trying to *hawk* a book about James Dean’s sexuality.
What proof do you want? Video of him phucking other dudes? Photos. Oh wait, those don’t prove anything. I choose to believe, not 100% because these are people’s personal experiences which are often clouded by time and nostalgia, those who lived with and loved him. Not some senile queen. Forget
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu. It should be Sister Bitter Bettyandboring.
Matthew Rettenmund
What a joke! Everyone in Hollywood knew he slept with men. His friends later confirmed it, including Elizabeth Taylor. Concrete proof? Don’t make me laugh. You probably don’t believe Brando nailed Richard Pryor, even though Pryor’s widow confirmed it. Gay rumors about Dean are far from wishful thinking.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
A nude photograph of a single male or a dozen nude males means nothing if they aren’t engaged in a sexual act with each other and j/o does count. Come back with some proof of him being gay instead of the rumors spread by loud mouth drunk or drugged out queens decade after decade and we’ll talk.
jayceecook
@Sister Bitter Bettyandboring Now you’ve officially shown you’ve lost whatever marbles you had left rattling around that aged noggin of yours. There’s no point in talking to you because you can’t follow or carry on a coherent conversation. And you are showing signs of severely reduced reading comprehension skills. Somebody could have all the proof in the world and you’d still find a way to argue against it. I mean, you’re essentially a Trump.
Josh447
James Dean just oozed great actor. I see Heath Ledger as much like our James Dean of this era. Both tragic and both legends in their own right.
Kangol2
I love Elizabeth Taylor. What an actress and personality! She was larger than life from her childhood acting days on. There are few stars today who match her combination of beauty, talent, and endless drama. What I especially love about her was that she was a dear friend to many, many gay men in Hollywood, and was one of the first major straight female stars to speak up regularly and forcefully about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and supporting gay people who were sick and dying. May she rest in peace.
Josh447
Agreed. Liz was beyond legend. And truly a silver bullet for the Aids movement.
Daggerman
…..James Dean had sex with everyone he chose. Just look at him, and the kinds of environments he was in were not the usual. Rock Hudson is the real revelation because he made the LADIES swoon for some time…then because of impossible circumstances had to come out. But if you have an open mind like most seem not have, Elisabeth Taylor was actually a lesbian??? Oh no..I hear you cry..but you know Cary Grant kept his sexual preference hidden through-out his entire life????
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
He did no such thing. Those are all lies and rumors.
tikijazz
@sister it’s almost as if you got some internal homophobia going on. So what if Dean and Grant banged men?
ptb2010
What was it James Dean said about sexuality ‘You don’t want to go through life with one arm tied behind your back”. Says it all really. Inside the industry everyone knows about people’s proclivities, they just didn’t go around talking about it to people outside the business. Everyone knew Rock was gay. Everyone knew Tab Hunter was gay. Everyone knew Richard Chamberlain was gay. Everyone knew Dirk Bogarde was gay. And everyone knew James Dean played all fields possible.
But to be honest, who cares? Closet cases do not true heroes make!
My2CentsWorth
What is this “Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu”???? Why are such people (or whatever) coming to this site to be obnoxious?
I saw “Brokeback Mountain”. It was hard to not believe that Heath and Gyllenhaal were not homosexuals or bi-sexuals because they were so convincing.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
“I saw “Brokeback Mountain”. It was hard to not believe that Heath and Gyllenhaal were not homosexuals or bi-sexuals because they were so convincing.”
Wonderful. I don’t recommend that you write a book about your observation because people don’t really read books anymore but you can contact the studio and give them your contact information so that when a special anniversary regarding the movie comes up they can get your comments and thoughts about it on a TMX or Extra segment. Hey, you never know. I never saw it nor care to personally and I am from the country, as they say.
radiooutmike
I may be only 52. But it strikes me weird, that you now have to explain who Rock Hudson was.
Tombear
Thank you Lord, can I hear an amen? That bitch, the sister, stole my man and now I’m listening to old, old Bonnie Raitt! Whoa is me!