Rebel Without a Cause

( 16 )

Overview

This landmark juvenile-delinquent drama scrupulously follows the classic theatrical disciplines, telling all within a 24-hour period. Teenager Jimmy Stark James Dean can't help but get into trouble, a problem that has forced his appearance-conscious parents Jim Backus and Ann Doran to move from one town to another. The film's tormented central characters are all introduced during a single night-court session, presided over by well-meaning social worker Ray Edward Platt. Jimmy, arrested on a drunk-and-disorderly ...
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Very Good 085391406938 In Cardboard Pictorial Case.

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Overview

This landmark juvenile-delinquent drama scrupulously follows the classic theatrical disciplines, telling all within a 24-hour period. Teenager Jimmy Stark James Dean can't help but get into trouble, a problem that has forced his appearance-conscious parents Jim Backus and Ann Doran to move from one town to another. The film's tormented central characters are all introduced during a single night-court session, presided over by well-meaning social worker Ray Edward Platt. Jimmy, arrested on a drunk-and-disorderly charge, screams "You're tearing me apart!" as his blind-sided parents bicker with one another over how best to handle the situation. Judy Natalie Wood is basically a good kid but behaves wildly out of frustration over her inability to communicate with her deliberately distant father William Hopper. The incestuous subtext of this relationship is discreetly handled, but the audience knows what's going on in the minds of Judy and her dad at all times. And Plato Sal Mineo, who is so sensitive that he threatens to break apart like porcelain, has taken to killing puppies as a desperate bid for attention from his wealthy, always absent parents.

The next morning, Jimmy tries to start clean at a new high school, only to run afoul of local gang leader Buzz Corey Allen, who happens to be Judy's boyfriend. Anxious to fit in, Jimmy agrees to settle his differences with a nocturnal "Chickie Run": he and Buzz are to hop into separate stolen cars, then race toward the edge of a cliff; whoever jumps out of the car first is the "chickie." When asked if he's done this sort of thing before, Jimmy lies, "That's all I ever do." This wins him the undying devotion of fellow misfit Plato. At the appointed hour, the Chickie Run takes place, inaugurated by a wave of the arms from Judy. The cars roar toward the cliff; Jimmy is able to jump clear, but Buzz, trapped in the driver's set when his coat gets caught on the door handle, plummets to his death. In the convoluted logic of Buzz' gang, Jimmy is held responsible for the boy's death. For the rest of the evening, he is mercilessly tormented by Buzz' pals, even at his own doorstep. After unsuccessfully trying to sort things out with his weak-willed father, Jimmy runs off into the night. He links up with fellow "lost souls" Judy and Plato, hiding out in an abandoned palatial home and enacting the roles of father, mother, and son. For the first time, these three have found kindred spirits -- but the adults and kids who have made their lives miserable haven't given up yet, leading to tragedy. Out of the bleakness of the finale comes a ray of hope that, at last, Jimmy will be truly understood.

Rebel Without a Cause began as a case history, written in 1944 by Dr. Robert Lindner. Originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando, the property was shelved until Brando's The Wild One 1953 opened floodgates for films about crazy mixed-up teens. Director Nicholas Ray, then working on a similar project, was brought in to helm the film version. His star was James Dean, fresh from Warners' East of Eden. Ray's low budget dictated that the new film be lensed in black-and-white, but when East of Eden really took off at the box office, the existing footage was scrapped and reshot in color. This was great, so far as Ray was concerned, inasmuch as he had a predilection for symbolic color schemes. James Dean's hot red jacket, for example, indicated rebellion, while his very blue blue jeans created a near luminescent effect Ray had previously used the same vivid color combination on Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar. As part of an overall bid for authenticity, real-life gang member Frank Mazzola was hired as technical advisor for the fight scenes. To extract as natural a performance as possible from Dean, Ray redesigned the Stark family's living room set to resemble Ray's own home, where Dean did most of his rehearsing. Speaking of interior sets, the mansion where the three troubled teens hide out had previously been seen as the home of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Of the reams of on-set trivia concerning Rebel, one of the more amusing tidbits involves Dean's quickie in-joke impression of cartoon character Mr. Magoo -- whose voice was, of course, supplied by Jim Backus, who played Jimmy's father. Viewing the rushes of this improvisation, a clueless Warner Bros. executive took Dean to task, saying in effect that if he must imitate an animated character, why not Warners' own Bugs Bunny? Released right after James Dean's untimely death, Rebel Without a Cause netted an enormous profit. The film almost seems like a eulogy when seen today, since so many of its cast members -- James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Nick Adams -- died young.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide
A clenched fist of teenage alienation and cultural disillusion, Rebel Without a Cause questioned the complacent state of 1950s American society with the subtlety of a blow to the jaw. A truly landmark film, Rebel went where almost no Hollywood film had dared, exposing the anger and discontent beneath the prosperity and confidence of post-war America, picking at family values that dictated that happiness was best found in the nuclear family's well-appointed suburban home. The alienated kids in Rebel were part and parcel of these homes -- angry, wounded animals who rejected the very comforts that were supposed to make America superior to the rest of the world. If the notion that comfortable, middle-class white kids could harbor such feelings of anger and nameless yearning wasn't discomforting enough, even more so was the notion that their parents were ill-equipped to understand or help them. From Plato's neglectful mother and father to Jim's ineffectual parents to Judy's pathologically repressed father, all of the film's parents are seen as people whose conformity to the values of 1950s society masks their own discontent and -- in the case of Judy's father and Plato's parents -- underlying deviance. Thus, the teenagers are not so much the problem themselves as heirs to the problems created by the older and supposedly wiser generation. As the film was defined by the burning performances of its teenage leads, it is sadly ironic that their flames were extinguished before their time, so that Rebel has become as much eulogy as angry declaration. Sal Mineo, sad and touching as the lost boy infatuated with Dean's Jim Stark, was murdered near his Hollywood home, while Natalie Wood, who brought female sexual yearning to the screen in ways that had never before been seen, drowned in a mysterious boating accident. And, of course, Dean, at his most iconic in blue jeans and red jacket, died in a car accident before the film was even released. That Rebel Without a Cause remains a classic is in no small part due to Dean's raw, soulful performance, made more timeless by his mortality. Although the problems of the film's teenagers may seem trifling when compared to those of their modern-day counterparts, Rebel's anger still throbs with conviction, a brooding reminder that, beneath complacency, there is chaos trying to break free.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 6/18/1996
  • UPC: 085391406938
  • Original Release: 1955

    • Rating:

  • Source: Warner Home Video
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
James Dean Jim Stark
Natalie Wood Judy
Corey Allen Buzz Gunderson
Sal Mineo Plato
Dennis Hopper Goon
Jim Backus Jim's father
William Hopper Judy's Father
Rochelle Hudson Judy's Mother
Virginia Brissac Jim's Grandma
Ann Doran Jim's Mother
Marietta Canty Plato's Nurse
Edward Platt Ray
Ian Wolfe Lecturer
Nick Adams Moose
Jack Grinnage Chick
Steffi Sidney Mil
Tom Bernard Harry
Dorothy Abbott Nurse
Jimmie Baird Beau
Paul Birch Police Chief
Paul Bryar Desk Sergeant
Robert Foulk Gene
Louis Lane Woman Officer
Nelson Leigh Sergeant
Beverly Long Helen
Frank Mazzola Crunch
David McMahon Crunch's Father
Peter Miller Hoodlum
House Peters Jr. Officer
Nicholas Ray Man in last shot
Gus Schilling Attendant
Almira Sessions Old Lady Teacher
Dick Wessel Guide
Robert B. Williams Moose's Father Ed
Technical Credits
Nicholas Ray Director, Screenwriter
Don Alvarado Asst. Director
Gordon Bau Makeup
Malcolm C. Bert Art Director
Robert Farfan Asst. Director
Ernest Haller Cinematographer
Stan Jones Sound/Sound Designer
Moss Mabry Costumes/Costume Designer
Leonard Rosenman Score Composer
Irving Shulman Screenwriter
Stewart Stern Screenwriter
William Wallace Production Designer, Set Decoration/Design
David Weisbart Producer
William H. Ziegler Editor
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 16 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(14)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

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1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 16 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Rebel Without a Cause

    This was an interesting movie that I had never heard about nor James Dean. It was quite good and had an interesting story and premise. This is a story about a guy who tries to fit in but gets into the wrong crowd with another who looks up to him and in all they get into an unfortunate event. It does show well to show the main character confused on the difference of being young and to become an adult.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A reviewer

    Rebel without a Cause is so poetic and beautiful because it is so true. Most people think that gang violence and depression are only found in the slum areas, but that is not true. Everyone needs to belong and be loved. It shows how kids can be so misunderstood. I really related with James Dean's character of Jim Stark, and Natalie Wood's character of Judy as well. All of the performances in this movie are breathtaking. It's hard to believe kids just a bit older than myself could do that! Sal Mineo gives one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema, if you ask my opion. Natalie Wood gives a very true and great performance. And who could forget the wonderful James Dean! This is more than a movie, it is a work of art. Bravo

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    a great movie with James Dean

    i have to say rebel without a cause is a good movie its a drama starring James Dean and Natile Wood charcter Jim is the new kid around he doe'snt have many friends he meets a girl named Judy amd a boy named Plutio fav part of the movie is when he yells Your tearing me apart!!! You say one thing he says another and everbody changes back agin!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    The Movie Than Began American Cinema

    In the narrow and short, which this movie has not been evaluated as, it created postwar American cinema in my opinion. James Dean, perhaps the best instinctual actor of his day and ever, knew that beneath the era of Eisenhower there were major fissures in the way of drugs, teenage sex, gangs, the civil rights movements, and etc. The embodiment of smooth and a quiet charisma (the most dangerous type), he took Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and the rest of the gang in the beginning of the most influential teen movie ever and maybe of the whole era or ever. Also, beneath the surface was the beginning of the rock and roll craze and before the Beatniks, which the white man stole from the black man and the quiet Midwestern style of John Dean dovetailed nicely with a kid you thought was from the Bronx (who knew he was from Indiana). The movie that made teenage rebellion a cause!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Classic film that invented the teenager

    This is the classic film that invented the teenager. Before this film teenagers in the movies were seen through the eyes of adults. This is the first film to take the kids' perspective and it influenced every kid that came after it. James Dean, in his most iconic performance, became the template for adolescent rebellion. Sal Mineo, whose career was launched by the film, plays the first gay teenager in the movies. Natalie Wood, who was transformed from a child actress into an adult star by this movie, became a model for the newly sexually liberated woman. And this would be Hollywood iconoclast Nicholas Ray's greatest, most ground-breaking film. Stewart Stern's poetic script articulated the voices of a new generation. The influence of this film can be seen in everything from the explosion of youth culture in the 1950s and 1960s to MTV. And the story of the making of the film is almost provocative as the film itself.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    the heart-break of broken family's

    This movie is wonderful! I am 15 years old and I love James dean!!!!!!! I really like this movie because it shows you an inside look of the presures teenagers go through and yet those things don't matter as much when you know your loved. I feel so sad for Plato (Sal Mineo) he is so troubled and unloved if only his parents relized how much he needed them, and the way Jim (James Dean) be-freinds Plato relizing how much he needs a friend and more than that someone to protect him is so sweet. And then you have Judy (Natalie Wood) she feels unloved by her father and misunderstood my her mother. I love how these three characters feed eachother you might say all of them needing to be loved and to love. This movie shows me how lucky I am to have a good family and wonderful friends.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Wonderful Movie

    James Dean was a wonderful actor. His performance was superb, as always. You really feel for Jim Stark. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for an inspiring love story.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    WHAT ABOUT SAL MINEO?

    I've read these online reviews and am very upset with the people that wrote these reviews. What about Sal Mineo? He was excellent in the movie, and just as talented as James Dean and maybe even more so, but one will never know. James Dean only did three movies, and Sal Mineo did many more than that, so it wouldn't be fair to say whose better and who is not, but SAL MINEO deserves respect for his acting just as much as James Dean does. Hey did you people know that there was a kiss between the two that was part of the movie before it was cut out of the original version? I think that's something for the time that this movie was made. Also, let us not forget the incredible Natalie Wood, what a great actress, and she too did a great performance in this movie. SO before you all talk about James Dean, yes he was great, yes he was sexy, but so was Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood, well she was breathtaking!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    '' Live Fast, Die Young''

    This movie was breathtaking. James Dean is awe-inspiring. There has never been another actor who was charismatic, strong, and covered the whole spectrum of human emotion like Jimmy. He deserves to be immortal and will remain that way through his work!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    I love James Dean!!

    I really love James Dean and I think he portrayed his role of Jim in Rebel Without a Cause wonderfully! I think he is a great actor. Besides the fact that I love James Dean, I thought the movie in general was awsome. It really shows that teen angst and juvinile delicuency aren't just found in slum areas but in middle class areas too.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Your tearing me apart!!

    Rebel Without a Cause is a great movie with even better acting. People can still relate to this movie after 50 years. It is timeless. Unfortunatly the very talented James Dean died just a few years after making this film.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 16, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 26, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 29, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 15, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 7, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

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