Flickchart Road Trip: Giant – flickchart: the blog

We’re back on the Flickchart Texas BBQ Road Trip! We cruise closer and closer to the conclusion as we take our one and only excursion to the endless expanses of West Texas. Buckle up, we’re in for a long trip!

Pecos is out into the wide stretches of the western panhandle of Texas. West Texas is known for being a large, flat, desolate section of the state, with endless miles of nothing but sand and emptiness. It is the place where Texas truly showcases itself as part of the Wild West. Like many of the towns in this area of Texas, Pecos sprouted up around a train depot during the construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway. It grew out of a camp that had been established for cattle drives crossing the nearby Pecos River.

The arrival of irrigation and agriculture brought Pecos into a more permanent state of being, turning it a center of commerce with cotton, onions, and of all things, cantaloupes becoming major crops. To this day, cantaloupes remain the area’s most notable crop. Pecos also claims itself as the site of the first-ever rodeo on July 4, 1883. Despite being on the edge of Texan civilization, Pecos experienced its own small-town boom with the arrival of sulfur mining in the 1960s. While this mining finished by the 90s, it helped Pecos to grow its population. Growth continued for Pecos in the 2010s, and Forbes named it the second fastest-growing small town in the US in 2012.

Pecos then became home to an excellent BBQ spot, the only one in West Texas to make the top 50 (on the 2017 version of the list that this road trip uses.) The owner, Israel “Pody” Campos, was originally an Austin resident who trained cops all over Texas. He moved back to Pecos after budget cuts and still serves as chief deputy of Reeves County. Deciding to throw his hand into the BBQ game, he bought a laundromat and converted it into a BBQ joint that feels like a small train station. The inside decor is homey and rustic, suiting its West Texas setting. The bathroom sink was a giant metal tub with old-fashioned circular knobs. Campos also smokes meat in a unique manner, with a vertical cylinder comprised of two rotating middle racks, though it still uses the usual indirect heat. The primary smoking wood is mesquite, though Campos is known to add on cherry, pecan, and oak as well.

The food has a unique West Texas feel. Though I enjoyed some traditional BBQ offerings of brisket, pork ribs, and sausage, there were some other less common additions. For one, a spicy West Texas sauce was served with it, and spicy it was. Utilizing ghost and habanero peppers, it added some strong sizzle to the bites of BBQ. There was also some unique sides in the form of green chili cheddar hominy, a flavorful blend of cheese and spice making a welcome addition to the meat. And as for the BBQ itself? The sausage was decent, a jalapeño-cheese blend, and it packed a nice smoky flavor. The pork ribs were also decent, if not standout, smoked to a nice tender portion. The brisket was the highlight, an easily pulled-apart morsel with nice fatty bites and a flavorful bark. This goes to show that delicious BBQ is available anywhere in Texas, if you’re willing to drive.

I award the brisket 4.5 slices out of 5, the pork ribs 4 oinks out of 5, and the sausage 4 links out of 5. I award Pody’s BBQ 4.5 smokers out of 5

There are a few notable films set in West Texas, but Giant is perhaps the most iconic. Though mostly set around a fictional ranch, Reata, the filming locations were in open fields outside of Marfa, Texas. A museum and some wooden structures still commemorate the filming in Marfa. Pecos is close enough to make this a fit pairing.

Giant feels like a Texas version of Gone with the Wind. Though less heavy on historical events (though some are still referenced), it’s a film very much about the character of a culture and people and the change time brings to it. But whereas Gone with the Wind might be teary-eyed about the changes happening in its southern setting, Giant director George Stevens makes his film about the positive effects change brings, exemplified through Rock Hudson‘s character Bick. Bick goes to Maryland to find a horse and comes back with Elizabeth Taylor‘s Leslie as his wife. Leslie, despite not being a Texan, is still a firecracker and refuses to let Texan culture punch her character away.

The film is very much about how people can teach other, and how attitudes can meld and change. While it doesn’t quite pull off feeling as expansive and epic as Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur, or other films of that nature, the character work it does is still quite excellent. A standout in the cast, of course, is James Dean in his last performance before his untimely death. His character, Jett, is representative of a younger, downtrodden part of Texas culture who manages to strike it rich with the coming of oil. It is a notable commentary on the changes Texas went through in its history.

With commentary on the racism that deprived the earlier residents of Texas of American wealth, the proper ownership of land, and traditional gender roles, Giant is a movie with almost too many ideas to handle. Despite its immense length, not all of these ideas feel that they come home. And some scenes do take on a soap-opera quality, with the script’s dialogue feeling stilted at times, even coming out of some talented actors.

But the gorgeous cinematography and grandiose scope truly bring to life the character of West Texas, and the film delivers a meaty commentary on Texas’s rich history. Giant is a film that casts a shadow on the revisionist-Western subgenre as one of the best ones to grace American cinema screens. It’s a film that deserves a massive movie theater screen, one about the size of Texas.

Does anyone eat barbecue in the film?

Yes, there is a notable BBQ scene!

Texas Film Chart

1. The Last Picture Show
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Rushmore
4. A Ghost Story
5. Blood Simple
6. The Tree of Life
7. Boyhood
8. Paris, Texas
9. The Right Stuff
10. Lone Star
11. Chef
12. Bernie
13. Giant
14. Apollo 13
15. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
16. Leadbelly
17. Krisha
18. Tender Mercies
19. Dazed and Confused
20. Dallas Buyer’s Club
21. JFK
22. The Sugarland Express
23. Terms of Endearment
24. Urban Cowboy
25. American Violet
26. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
27. Planet Terror
28. Frank
29. Whip It
30. Natural Selection
31. This is Where We Live
32. The Junction Boys
33. The Alamo
34. Song to Song
35. Outlaw Blues
36. Selena
37. Nadine

Texas BBQ Chart

1. Franklin Barbecue
2. Pinkerton’s Barbecue
3. Killen’s Barbecue
4. Terry Black’s Barbecue
5. Pecan Lodge
6. Stiles Switch BBQ
7. Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ
8. Hutchins Barbeque
9. Joseph’s Riverport Bar-B-Que
10. Pody’s BBQ
11. Blue Moon BBQ
12. Corkscrew BBQ
13. 2M Smokehouse
14. Vera’s Backyard Bar-B-Que
15. La Barbecue
16. Hays Co. Bar-B-Que
17. Roegels Barbecue
18. Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue
19. Smolik’s Smokehouse
20. Louie Mueller Barbecue
21. Miller’s Smokehouse
22. Lockhart Smokehouse
23. Heim Barbecue
24. Truth Barbeque
25. Fargo’s Pit BBQ
26. Gatlin’s BBQ
27. City Market
28. Baker Boys BBQ
29. Kreuz Meat Market
30. Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ
31. Micklethwait Craft Meats
32. Payne’s Bar-B-Q Shak
33. The Pit Room
34. Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
35. The Smoking Oak
36. Heavy’s BBQ
37. Harris Bar-B-Que