Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

 Dysfunctional Families and Their Dire Consequences!
This is a great film that ultimately is about families and their inability to communicate. Just like the more modern tv drama "The O.C." this film shows that behind the clean facade of rich, well-to-do neighbourhoods lies the broken pieces of parents who are unable to relate to their children who in turn end up looking for this missing love and understanding in all the wrong places with violent and destructive effects.

Dean's character is ashamed of his father who in his eyes in hen-pecked and cowardly and he insists upon good answers from his father as to why he is feeling the typical hormone-induced depression that most teenagers go through and when that is not forthcoming, he rebels in an attempt to hurt his parents. Wood's character is similar in that she also has communication problems with her father who is uncomfortable with physical closeness now that his daughter has become an attractive teen perhaps in an over-reaction to his own incestual desires? Confused at his behaviour Wood's character believes her father hates her and so she too rebels in an attempt to hurt him. Mineo's character is the most pitiful and perhaps most deserving of sympathy; his parents are divorced and they truly appear not to care about him at all leaving him alone with a live-in maid as sole companion. This film is truly touching for me as I can personally relate based upon my own experiences growing up with many of the issues portrayed here.

The dvd is also a treat as the bonus features contains a couple of good behind-the-scenes documentaries and except for a few minutes at the start, the picture quality is very good and the sound quality has been remastered very well in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround making this the best old movie picture and sound quality-wise that I've seen on dvd to date.

A very good film and a very good dvd version of it; highly recommended! May 8, 2008

 NICHOLAS RAY, OPUS 11
**** 1955. Original story and direction by Nicholas Ray. Three nominations for the Oscars. James Dean and Natalie Wood, in conflict with their parents, meet Sal Mineo, a neurotic kid. They'll have to deal with a local gang and the police forces. Plato's myth of the Cavern revisited by Nicholas Ray. Behind the usual clichés of a movie about juvenile delinquents, the director tells us again the Greek myth that opposes the world of the shadows (night, planetarium, abandoned mansion) to Reality. Highly recommended. March 14, 2008

 Good underlying story, but a highly overrated classic film.
Although Rebel Without a Cause has to be given credit for its groundbreaking portrayal of teenage angst, all in it's is a pretty wooly affair with some hammy performances and gloppy sentimentality.

To begin with, Nicholas Ray never could say anything with much subtlety -- he's like one of those beat poet cliches from the 1950s who take themselves oh-so-serious and are like down with system, man. So, from the first frame RWAC slathers on the message with a cake spatula. We are supposed to be totally sympathetic to the troubled James Dean character and his existential plight through being a 20-something teenager. He sees the ridiculous marriage of his parents as a stark warning of the horrors that surely await in his future. If this were handled really well it could have a lot of traction, but unfortunately it is played sporadically and is too hyperbolic (in all the wrong ways) to have much resonance.

Along for the ride is a horribly miscast Natalie Wood, who cannot seem to deliver a single one of her lines correctly. She too is a confused young teen, but about what we have no idea and she just spends the movie alternately acting like a brat or a dweeb. This unrelenting subplot of the film is simply godawful.

Sal Mineo gets the most demanding part, that of the true outcast. If the film has one strength it is in this character's delusional nature which is a brilliant interpretation of many of the most disturbed High Schoolers I knew. Alas, Sal Mineo does little to endear Dino to the audience and the film doesn't spend enough time on his pathos. It still treats him as a curiosity and suffers from the same hepcat detachment that runs through the entirety of Ray's direction.

I love the 1950s, and I love the idea behind Rebel Without a Cause, but in the end the film does not live up to its reputation and is mired by so many layers of hokum (the soundtrack...total dreck) that it simply not a real tour-de-force. And I still don't get what all the fuss is about the totally overwrought James Dean. For my money, "The Wild One" is a much more fun film that covers similar ground. Still, for people looking to see that their teen angst had a timeless lineage, it will be tempting to see Rebel Without a Cause as a masterpiece for manipulating that same emotion. March 6, 2008

 REBELS WITH A CAUSE
This film's title has always bugged me for any number of reasons.First, the title is a total misfit. Every adolescent star here has a cause for rebellion. Dean's father (Backus) is a real piece of work, his mother is Napoleonic,and Granny does nothing but help reinforce Mommy.Woods'father belongs in ICU AT Bellevue, or behind bars for abuse.Mineo is the proverbial misit whose psychiatric treatments have been cut off.Secondly,even though director Nicholas Ray gave Dean plenty of room to improvise, we are left with 2 dead, 1 wounded, one knife attack, multiple arrests, with the elder Backuses smiling at day's end, all within 18 hours in suburbia 1955. Realism? Next, we have a superb acting job by the 3 protagonists, but silly, often unprofessional acting by all that surround them. Who's running the zoo? Finally, I'll go to my grave believing that "East of Eden" was Dean's best effort, with this film a mere symbol of what might have been. February 27, 2008

 I fell in love with Natalie Wood....
I agree this movie was a great talent launch for Dean, Salminio,and especially Natalie Wood. Most reviewerers see this as a great movie "Vehicle" for Dean and Salminio. Natalie Wood takes a "back seat" view in this movie...She will for ever be my most favortite movie star of all time. Its interesting that all three had a short, violent death...Dean in his famous car wreck, Salminio Stabed, still in his early years, and Natalie a mysterious drowning which details were never fully disclosed...fell in the water, Drowned...end of story. But after this movie she went on to make wounderful movies..Her emotional talent range was fantastic! Natalie and Elizabeth Taylor, whom had a close reseblance, I heard, their identy was often confused by vieweres in that era. Of course Taylors..wild public life, placed HER in the main spotlight. But next time you see this movie try to see the emotion and depth that Natalie put into it. They didnt have "Ensemble Catagorie" for the Academy Awards back then, but they shure had my vote....I didnt get into the details of this movie because if you havent seen it, the reviews are a plenty.... Just wanted to share my view on Nataile Wood, sort bright flame to soon extinguished. January 12, 2008

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