On this day in history, in 1985, Rock Hudson died.

Ironically, I think my favorite Rock Hudson scene comes near the end of the George Stevens classic “Giant.” Hudson, as an impossibly wealthy Texas rancher, gets the living crap beat out of himself in a roadside cafe.

His character, Bick Benedict, is pigheaded, arrogant, dismissive of women and bigoted.

But in this scene–one of his grandchildren is Mexican American-he comes to the defense of a family when the cafe’s cook, Sarge, starts to throw them out. They’re Mexican.

The result is one of the most epic fight scenes, brilliantly accompanied by “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” in Hollywood history, and one that changes your opinion of Bick Benedict.

A young Mexican American poet, Tino Villanueva, wrote about that scene. Here’s an excerpt:

…how quickly [Sarge] plopped the
Hat heavily askew once more on the old
Man’s head, seized two fistsful of shirt and
Coat and lifted his slight body like nothing,

A no-thing, who could have been any of us,
Weightless nobodies bronzed by real-time far
Off somewhere, not here, but in another

Country, yet here, where Rock Hudson’s face
Deepens; where in one motion, swift as a
Miracle, he catches Sarge off guard, grabs
His arm somehow, tumbles him back against

The counter and draws fire from Sarge to
Begin the fight up and down the wide screen
Of memory, ablaze in Warner-color light.