This page is dedicated to James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood. May these three stars who were gone too soon rest in peace.
Rebel Without a Cause
Directed By:
Nicholas Ray
Produced By:
David Weisbart
Written By/Screenplay:
Stewart Stern, adaptation by Irving Shulman
Based On:
a story by Nicholas Ray
Starring:
James Dean
Natalie Wood
Sal Mineo
Jim Backus
Ann Doran
Corey Allen
William Hopper
Rochelle Hudson
Dennis Hopper
Edward Platt
Photography:
Color
Distributed By:
Warner Bros.
Release Date:
1955
Runtime:
111 minutes
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. The film stars James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood.
Why It Rocks
With the various hard-hitting message films the Warner Brothers previously made in the 1930s. It makes sense the studio would do a film that deals with juvenile delinquency, a problem that always existed but that now had a new name and a new set of explanations.
On top of that, the film was following in the tradition of troubled youth movies like The Wild One and Blackboard Jungle.
Similar to various Hollywood films, the film tried to explain or solve juvenile delinquency by reducing it to a single problem that required a simple solution. However, the film showed viewers how easy and attractive delinquency could be, in a way few people expected. Even more troubling to parents, Dean, Wood, and Mineo weren't playing motorcycle thugs or inner-city hoodlums; they were playing wealthy, even privileged, teens. While parts of the film have become dated, it taps into something timeless about the teen years. Bullying, family dysfunction, and lonely adolescents trying to make sense of life and themselves, is still just as common now, as it was in the early 50s.
The film’s the true legacy is the impact it left on youth culture. Not just the rash of teen-oriented films and television shows that followed, but even “serious” art like West Side Story. Or, for that matter, such touchstones as Easy Rider and American Graffiti.
The film doesn’t have a dramatic structure, it’s more of a point of view film or a character study.
The Griffith Observatory plays such a prominent role in the story that it is still connected to the film in the popular imagination; a bust of James Dean stands on the grounds even today.
Nicholas Ray and Leon Uris interviewed social workers, teenagers, and policemen, and even did volunteer work with disaffected youth as part of some research they did for developing the script. Most of the interviewees for juvenile delinquency told similar stories: divorced parents, parents who couldn’t guide or understand, who were indifferent, or simply critiized, parents who needed a scapegoat in the family, etc.
Rebel Without a Cause marked an important early use of CinemaScope, an anamorphic camera process that created a much wider image than had been seen in films up to that time. It was developed during the rise of television as a way to lure moviegoers to theaters with the promise of a bigger screen.
James Dean does a fabulous portrayal as the rebellious and idealistic protagonist Jim Stark. He took a lot of time preparing for his scenes. He was trying to remove the artifices of acting, to find an emotional honesty to his character that would be stronger than his technique. He was willing to expose his emotions in ways that would have been unthinkable to most of his contemporaries.
Corey Allen’s open hostility helped him win the important part of Buzz
Real life gang member Frank Mazzola became Crunch.
Sal Mineo’s openness and vulnerability won him the part as Plato, as much as his chemistry with Dean. His characters Plato is a sensitive teen whose parents are absent and who latches onto the others to form a kind of make-believe family in a crumbling mansion hideaway.
Natalie Wood had her first important “serious” role and Judy. she was 16 when filming began and showed that she could make a successful transition out of child roles, a rarity throughout Hollywood history.
The Only Bad Quality
There are various aspects of the film which may not have aged very well.
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