PBS American Masters: Voces.

Children of Giant (#201) Duration: 1:26:46 STEREO TVPG
In 1955, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean and a massive crew descended on the Texas town of Marfa to begin production on Giant. Now, 60 years later, "Children of Giant" explores the film's still timely examination of racial prejudice.

The story is in Stevens' resolve to show the rampant discrimination (against Mexicans unfortunate enough to have been born in/or to land in Texas du jour.)

Extraordinary flic for the mid-Eisenhower sleepwalking years, here in the Exceptionally-segregated Land of Freedom n'stuff. This 90 min. flic interviews some of the children who were extras during the filming, while filling in some info on the cast, on Ferber and Stevens' aims. Thru the magick of transistors you too can see what I saw three-score years back.

I guess that for lots of folk, the flic/Giant conjures up the late James Dean, maybe little of the truthiness portrayed at a time when everyone was drunk on self-congratulation for bein alive + *rich ..just 10 years after Dachau and the other camps had their own photo-shoot ... and as Europa continued with deficit spending to rebuild (and Morris Minor head-bolts continued to stretch as 'England' (then) struggled with getting lots more than just metallurgy sorted.

* make that [rich+gaudy], too: in '55 the Cadillac tail-fins had not yet reached the self-caricature of the '59 apex (before meme became a meme too.) 'Course we had the '53 Raymond Loewy designed Studebaker Starlight Coupe to prove that not everyone was transfixed by schoolboy ideas of shiny.

There were few muckrakers (like I.F. Stone..) nor paparazzi to create Tee-Vee for 'News Clowns' fodder.
My guess: many viewers then would have read The Book [!!] Many certainly know of Edna Ferber's opera du jour, so were aware of the Meat
behind the Dog & Pony show/close-ups of Elizabeth Taylor's mesmerizing violet eyes. (They fucking-were that.)

Dean, of course was the male counterpart Eye-candy for the Gurrls (as evidenced by his effect upon my S.O. Russki grilf), noticed later that evening.
The focus upon the rampant jingoism-as-only-Texas can run into ludicrous levels: needed later contemplation, as Stevens was restrained if not subtle..
(And in those base-Euphemism daze, no review would more than hint-at iconoclasm within.)

Empire of Deception even then: pity I had not that incisive phrase to-hand just then; would have saved lots of W.T.F.!?s soon to arrive. Oh well, that's what 20/20 was invented for.