Judy: He calls me a dirty trampmy own father! In one of the most influential performances in movie history, James Dean plays Jim, the new kid in town whose loneliness, frustration and anger mirrored thos. He found the acting of James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo to be "extraordinarily good", and the direction by Nicholas Ray to be "outstanding". All later UK releases were fully uncut and since 1986 the film has been PG rated. Ill stand up with you. if you could only have been my father . Jim has no time to lose: Ten years? Whyd you get drunk? The first, Judy, tells the policeman she goes wandering at night because she hates her father. The cold and righteous attitude Franks mother exhibits has caused him to smother his own child with friendship and affection, but without the authority and discipline his son needs. He is intelligent enough to question potential trouble, and looks to his father for advice. Sal Mineo. When Marlon Brando did a five-minute screen test for the studio in 1947, he was given fragments of one of the partial scripts. Dont. Would you go with me? . The more Frank taps into his basic desire to protect his son, the faster he is able to respond to Jims problems. . Attempts to create a film version in the late 1940s eventually ended without a film or even a full script being produced. . Jim is the new kid in town; he is intrigued with Judy, the girlfriend of the big wheel on campus, Buzz. Omissions? While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato (Sal Mineo), and falls for local girl Judy (Natalie Wood). Jimmy gets furious and grabs Nick and says Dont ever, ever say cut. Dean played Jim, a troubled but sensitive teenager who, although rejecting his elders values, desperately wants to belong and have purpose in his life. Jim is at Platos side. This is especially apparent when he is forced to contemplate that the police have just shot him. He's new in town - they moved because Jim had gotten himself into some kind of trouble - and he seems to be starting off where he left off when the police pick him up for being drunk on the street. Jim talks Plato into coming outside. Franks anxieties concerning his family undermine what little confidence he has in himself. Jim discusses his history of violence with Ray, however, his family tries to hush it up. I dont know! A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies. Things have been shed and a new start has been made. His mother (Ann Doran) prefers to move whenever a problem comes up rather than confront it and his father (Jim . https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+rebel+without+a+cause. Judy is convinced that her father ignores her because she is no longer a little girl, so she dresses up in racy clothes to get attention, which only causes her father to call her a "dirty tramp". In 1953, he got the chance to play a rebellious young man after all, starring in The Wild One. More than six decades after its release, Rebel Without a Cause remains the quintessential film about juvenile delinquents, fueled by Deans intense performance and Rays bold direction and given further mystique by the young stars premature death just weeks before the film was released. . Jim does not have the sense of security that a child in a functional family would have. You're almost there! This is where we see the first theme of the . Warner Bros. went through several drafts of this early version of Rebel Without a Cause between from 1946 through 1949, and while the film never got off the ground during that period, the studio did at one point feel they were far enough along in the development process to consider a star for the project. Crowther was not impressed by James Dean's acting, and cited the various mannerisms he believed Dean copied from Marlon Brando, asserting that "Never have we seen a performer so clearly follow another's style" and calling Dean's interpretation of the Jim Stark role a "clumsy display". Ray relented, and Wood was ultimately nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The three new friends act out a fantasy as a family. suddenly Jim screams) Dad? Youre not tearing me loose anymore. On February 12, 1976, Sal Mineo was murdered outside his Los Angeles apartment at the age of 37, and Natalie Wood famously and mysteriously drowned in the waters off Santa Catalina Island on November 29, 1981, at the age of 43. See production, box office & company info, not my favorite Nick Ray film by far, but it's worth viewing as a "essential" from the 50s, Histoire(s) du cinma: Une histoire seule. Then, on September 30, Dean tragically died in a car crash at the age of 24, less than a month before Rebel Without a Cause arrived in theaters. In that less tolerant era, this meant depictions of homosexuality in film was a no-no. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Trailer - James Dean MovieSubscribe to CLASSIC TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u43jDeSubscribe to TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/sxaw6hSubscri. The police officers immediate reaction to seeing Plato raise his gun is to shoot him, resulting in the boys death; Judys father slaps her as she attempts to kiss him, further alienating father and daughter; Buzz drives off the cliff to his death when he is unable to immediately respond to a dangerous situation; and so forth. Jim: Im getting that way too . . As the film plays out, we see Wood has problems with her parents too - her dad, apparently uncomfortable with her budding sexuality, slaps her across the face for giving him a kiss as she would have when smaller. The facthe is often seen gazing adoringly at Jim and has a picture of Hollywood heart-throb Alan Ladd taped inside his school locker has seen the character cited as one of the first gay teenage characters in film history. (Stern 53). The most noteworthy name to emerge from these early stages of the writing process, though, comes in the Warner Bros. script archive listing of who did the first draft: Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known today as Dr. Seuss. Apparently, it was common knowledge amongRebel Without A Cause'screw Plato was indeed gay. (Stern 58). Judy falls in love with Jim and is happy, something she never thought she could be; the Stark family is united with the indication that they will be a happy family: Its hard to imagine Rebel Without a Cause in anything but color now, in part because its hard to imagine seeing Dean without that striking red jacket hes wearing on the films posters, but that wasnt always the plan. Jim later confides to his parents his involvement in the crash and considers turning himself in. Rebel Without a Cause is a fascinating peek into the life of the American teenager. His rare talent and appealing personality even shine through this turgid melodrama. The film opens with the image of a seemingly drunken young man named Jim Stark, lying down and playing with a toy monkey. This action calls attention to the police and to Jims parents. Jim: I dont think you trust anybody, do you? . He criticized the film for overgeneralizing, calling this aspect a "convenient cliche", and summed up his review by describing the film as "a superficial treatment of a vital problem that has been staged brilliantly". But how can I give him anything when hesI mean I love him and I dont want to hurt himbut I dont know what to do anymore except maybe die (Stern 16); Frank does not give Jim sufficient support as delineated in the scene in which Jim wants to go to the police to report his involvement in Buzzs death: Jim Stark is the new kid in town. Jims father stands up as a man and turns to help his son stand up, assuring Jim he can trust him; Jim introduces Judy to his parents as his friend; and so forth. One of the boys is wounded by Plato. For example, Frank encourages activities that are buddy buddy in nature, but that are not necessarily meaningful for a father and son relationship: Jim wants Frank to start to act like a man so that he can respect him as a father; Jims family moves constantly, ostensibly to give their son a fresh start each time: There are 14 compilation albums for this title. The pursuit of realism continued to the supporting cast, which was chosen from somewhere between 300 and 500 young actors who came to the Warner Bros. backlot with their own cars in an attempt to earn a spot in the film. He even helped choreograph the knife fight based on a real encounter he had with another gang member. . Its really James but he likes Jim more. (Stern 73), Once Jim can articulate his own theory on why his family is dysfunctional to his parents, he has done all he can do to try to reach them. Rebel Without a Cause, American film drama, released in 1955, that is a classic tale of teenage rebellion and angst. Definition of a rebel without a cause in the Idioms Dictionary. The young actor challenged the director to a fist fight, and Rays preference was to simply fire Hopper and keep him away from the set. I had a great time watching "Rebel Without a Cause." Directed by Nicholas Ray, the 1955 drama tells the story of rebellious teen Jim Stark (James Dean) who moves to a new town with his timid father and domineering mother in hopes of a fresh start. Rebel Without A Cause (1955) Presented by TMC: Fathom Events Trailer. Plato, who momentarily cannot find his mother and father (Jim and Judy) feels abandoned once again and fires at Jim in anger. Jim demands immediate responses from his father, which Frank is unable to give. Irving Shulman, who adapted Nicholas Ray's initial film story into the screenplay, had considered changing the name of James Dean's character to Herman Deville, according to Jurgen Muller's Movies of the '50s. The three each separately reveal their innermost frustrations to the officers; all three of them suffer from problems at home: On the way to his first day at Dawson High, Jim again meets Judy and offers her a ride. As an example of how Jim uses the future as the standard to judge the degree of his concern, at the start of the story Jim has no friends, however, as he falls in love with Judy he assures her that they will never be lonely again. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. An example of how the objective story explores a certain way of thinking is when Buzz indicates to Jim that he likes him, just before the chickie race. There is a warmth emanating from the tight little group. Agreeing that they will never return to their respective homes, Jim suggests they visit an old deserted mansion Plato told him about. Director Nicholas Ray noticed this trend, and became interested in the idea of a film about juvenile delinquents. Franks lack of desire to change the circumstances of his family life undermines his efforts to be a strong parent to his son. The Production: 4/5 Told mostly from a teenage point of view, Rebel Without a Cause tells the story of three emotionally confused teenagers in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s deemed as juvenile delinquents. Rebel Without A Cause boasted some especially groundbreaking themes for the era in which it was made, and heres the movies gay subtext explained. Thanks to East of Edens success that spring and early screenings of Rebel Without a Cause, by September of 1955 James Dean was on the verge of mega-stardom. Dont you ever cut the scene, co-star Dennis Hopper later recalled, and noted that Dean wanted to preserve the realism of his injury for the camera. Warner Bros. Pictures, . While tracking Jim down, they shake down Plato for information, causing him to snatch up his mothers gun for Jims protection and to go off in search of his friend. . The plot of the film essentially traces Jim's desire as a teenage boy to become a respectable man, despite the fact that he seems to lack a suitable role model for doing so. In Rebel Without a Cause, the themes of the 1950s were shown greatly throughout. Jim wants to do the right thing and report his involvement in Buzzs untimely end to the police, much to his parents dismay. Warner Home Vdeo, Ray: You were getting a good start in the wrong direction back there. He gave us our lines; he dominated the entire thing, Ann Doran, who played Jims mother, later recalled. Ray and Stern both believed that the film should be shot like a B movie, with a grittier style that was perfectly suited to black-and-white, and Ray even began production by shooting this way. . Published in 1944, the book was a case study of a young man named Harold who was then an inmate at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. You might also like Although he admitted that there are moments of accuracy and truth in the film, he found these "excruciating", and discerned a "pictorial slickness" in the production's use of the CinemaScope process and its filming in the widescreen format, a slickness he declared was at odds with the realism of Ray's directing. [16], Wanda Hale of the New York Daily News found fault with Rebel's depiction, in her view, of its adults as cardboard figures and of its middle-class teenagers as hoodlums, arguing that it lacked credibility and that "[a]s an honest purposeful drama of juvenile hardness and violence the film just doesn't measure up." Dawson High School, the school in the film, was actually Santa Monica High School, located in Santa Monica, California. Jim chases after Plato as he runs into the planetarium. Helen is a lifelong fan of the horror genre which started in the 1980s when films like Gremlins and Cats Eye scared the life out of her as a kid. Helen Armitage is a freelance writer based in the UK who has been writing online since late 2013. In 1954 Ray brought his idea, in the form of a treatment called The Blind Run, to Warner Bros., who bought the idea and ultimately asked Ray to merge it with their existing ownership of the Rebel Without a Cause book. (Stern 83-84). He also looks at problems in terms of cause and effect. . From a historical perspective, however, and for the significance of James Dean, it is worth a viewing, at least once, if you want to know at least what the industry leaned towards in the 50s. original, Release Date (Streaming): Copyright Fandango. can you answer me now? As an example, he is not equipped to deal with Platos instability when he fails to fulfill the boys desire to be his father figure: You crazy, crazy nut! Jims drunkenness lands him jail; Buzz cannot get out of his car in time to prevent his driving over the cliff which results in his death; Platos death brings the Stark family together; and so forth. It's still well worth watching for its themes and actors, Wood, Mineo, and most of all Dean, who is like a young Brando, full of screen presence, full of promise. [14], Reviewer Jack Moffitt of The Hollywood Reporter, who correctly thought the film would be a money maker, wrote a less critical, more laudatory review. At the beginning of Rebel Without a Cause, it is clear that father and son love each other, yet they cannot relate to one another. This absence of integrity results in a lack of respect from Jim. Plato: Oh, I dont know. The film taps into this sense of teenage isolation, and there is clearly a plea to be listened to, loved, and understood. From Oscar-winning films like Call Me By Your Name or Moonlight to critically acclaimed TV shows . I dont see how we can get out of that by pretending it didnt happen (Stern 72); Judy sobs to the juvenile officer: (Stern 115-116). It would come four years later, in the movie version of Streetcar, which earned him an Oscar nomination and made him into a rising icon. By creating an account, you agree to the Warner Bros. wanted the young star to stick around, though, and so Ray settled for giving Hopper a smaller role, with no lines. Over the years, the film has achieved landmark status for the performance of Dean, fresh from his Oscar nominated role in East of Eden, in his most celebrated role. I think he felt like he just didn't fit in, and didn't have the emotional tools to deal with that or to ask for help from anyone else. One of the best . Plato describes Jim to Judy: . Jim is protective and fatherly toward Plato and sensitive toward Judy. As a teenager, Jim has no wealth of experiences to draw on when faced with a difficult decision, which is why he asks his (presumably experienced) father. Getting money isnt the problem of teen-agers in Rebel. Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 - February 12, 1976) was an American actor. The movie featured James Dean in one of his final roles; he died one month before the release. By what name was Rebel Without a Cause (1955) officially released in India in Hindi? The opening of Rebel Without a Cause introduces three upper middle class rebellious teens, Jim, Judy, and Plato, and their respective troubled family relationships. Frank recollects his own drunken antics as a teen, as a way to excuse his sons: I guess I cut pretty loose in my day too (Stern 12). An example can be found when he picks up his drunk son from the police station: Would you do it? The juvenile officer suggests to Platos maid that his mother had better start trusting in what a psychiatrist could do for her deeply disturbed son; if Jim can meet the gangs challenge his trustworthiness will be unquestioned, Cut off a button and you get to join the club (Stern 42); Jim and Judy discuss their lack of trust in others: Warner Bros. released the film on October 27, 1955, nearly a month after Dean's death in a car accident on September 30, 1955. Jim questions him about why, then, must they engage in a dangerous contest: Mazzola gathered his friends and had them actually hassle Ray and Dean (who was not yet famous) as if they were really making a move on Athenian turf. Franks interactions with his wife and mother have given Jim the impression that his father is weak and a chicken. This has developed into a problem in their relationship, as Jim cannot respect his father, and, in his effort not to turn out like him he finds himself constantly fist fighting. Buzzs friends come after Jim, thinking he has ratted on all of them. After a warning from the gang, Plato takes his mother's gun and rushes to the mansion to protect Jim. Irving Shulman, Jim wants to do one thing right (Stern 73) by informing the police of his part in Buzzs accident. Now I want to do one thing right and Im not letting you run away. The film was partially shot in black and white, but the studio then stopped production and reshot in colour. Corrections? The three teens band together because they share in the same feeling of alienation from their families, and in the tragedy that strikes during Jims initiation into the gang. Dinah Washington - Not Without You [1955] theUnforgettablesTv. He called me a goddamn juvenile delinquent! 2:57. (the pounding ceases) See? Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, RT25: Celebrating 25 Years of Rotten Tomatoes, Betty Gilpin & Co. on Deciphering Mrs. Davis, Weekend Box Office Results: Super Mario Sets Record in Its Second Weekend, Rebel Without a Cause is a searing melodrama featuring keen insight into '50s juvenile attitude and James Dean's cool, iconic performance. When Jim takes the ammunition clip out of Plato's pistol, he fails to remove the round that would have already been housed in the chamber. Their deaths only added to the cultish appeal surrounding the film. You know what kind of drunken brawls those parties turn intoits no place for kids. It portrayed the character of Jim Stark inebriated to the point of belligerence screaming at a car in the parking lot "It's a little jeep jeep! From Oscar-winning films like Call Me By Your NameorMoonlight to critically acclaimed TV shows like Love, Victor and Euphoria, theres an abundance of productions that feature young LGBTQ characters discovering and accepting their sexuality. Frank: ListenI took a steak out of the freezer. Ray: That why you moved from the last town? Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary, the webmaster's page for free fun content, a reed before the wind lives on(, while mighty oaks do fall), a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma, a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tomatoes in Church. He explains the importance of taking this step, but instead of giving the guidance that Jim needs his father can only offer empty platitudes as to why he shouldnt make himself vulnerable to the law and potential trouble. And man, existing alone, seems himself an episode of little consequence." It was indeed an iconic screen drama of the 1950s, serious-minded, superbly acted, and . I dont think I can prove anything by going around pretending Im tough anymore, so maybe you look like one thing but you still feel like another. Judy: Yes! . Wood looks up into the projection of the stars, while Dean frowns as if Camus himself. One of the boys is wounded by Plato. (the father is mute, helpless . The story of the making of Rebel Without a Cause actually goes back nearly a decade before it arrived in theaters in 1955, to a book of the same name by Dr. Robert Lindner. While "Rebel Without a Cause" has a very familiar story, with predictable climax's and obvious character arcs, this James Dean film is not one to miss. Buzzs friends, thinking Jim has squealed to the police about what had happened up on the cliffs, set out to avenge their dead friend. Young people sought to model themselves after the rebellious teen character . One of the teens, Judy, is picked up aimlessly walking around at 1:00 AM. In 1947, they took a chance and screen tested a young New York theater actor to play the rebel at the heart of the story, then envisioned as a much more psychopathic criminal than the disillusioned teen that Jim Stark ultimately became in Rays film. Dean was apparently so angry over Rays decision to stop the scene that he walked off the set in a rage and had to be coaxed back to filming. The scene was considered unproductive to the story's progression by head editor William H. Ziegler and ultimately was cut. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. (Stern 13) She apologizes for her prior treatment of him due to peer pressure, and the two begin to fall in love. Warner Bros. According to an AFI interview with Stewart Stern, with whom Shulman worked on the screenplay, one of the scenes was thought to be too emotionally provocative to be included in the final print of the film. He praised the realistic manner in which Ray depicted the police station scenes and the engaging manner, according to Moffitt, in which he captured the nihilism of the teenage subculture for his audience. The parents nod warmly and smile at her. His frustrations are made manifest to officer Ray Fremick when Jim is released to their custody. Under those circumstances, only a dangerous test of valour can sort out the men from the boys, while, suddenly, the equally persecuted pariah, Plato, and Stark's charming next-door neighbour, Judy, become Jim's unusual alternative family: the only refuge from their seemingly callous parents. Jim: No! Jim and Frank attain the experience necessary to be a man. Rebel Without a Cause began as a black-and-white, academy-radio (4:3) picture, but the revolution in cinema brought about by the threat of television meant the original footage was scrapped and production started over in magnificent widescreen and colour. we could . That night, during the chickie run, Buzz plunges to his death when the strap on his jacket sleeve becomes entangled with his door-latch lever, preventing him from exiting the car in time. It's an idiotic game, but that's what young people do sometimes, idiotic things, and a classic line has Dean asking 'Why do we do this? Hes mine! Every time you cant face yourself you want to move and you say its because of me or the neighborhood or some other phony excuse. Perhaps most importantly, though, both Ray and Stern drew on their own lives, and Stern in particular took inspiration from his own relationship with his parents. Exterior scenes at the abandoned mansion to which the characters retreat were filmed at the William O. Jenkins House, previously used in the film Sunset Boulevard (1950). At the time she was cast in Rebel Without a Cause, Wood was romantically involved with Hopper, who was also set to co-star in the film. (Stern 102). Marlon Brando as a surly motorcycle gang leader in "The Wild One" (1953), James Dean in 1955 . ', and the other boy, played by Corey Allen, responding, "You've gotta do something, don't you?" During the production, though, Wood also struck up an affair with Ray, and one day Hopper apparently discovered them together. Plato, concerned that Buzzs friends will do harm to Jim, believes he has no other option but to brandish a gun to protect his friend; Jims angst has turned to utter devastation when Plato is killed, which at this point leaves him one of two options, continue to spiral downward in his depression, or look to his father to resurrect his spirits; once Frank recognizes he may lose his son, he takes the option to grow up to be a real man and father; and so forth. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles with his parents, 17-year-old Jim Stark (James Dean) enrolls at Dawson High School. Related: Why David Duchovny's Trans Twin Peaks Character Denise Was So Groundbreaking. Plato, through his death, has helped these two find each other. As an example of how attention is focused on expectation in the objective story, Jim expects the same kind of amused reaction from the kids when he moos at the planetarium lecturers discussion of the Taurus bull that Buzz received when he imitated the Cancer crab; Judy anticipates the same kind of affection from her father as a teen that she had always received as a little girl; Jims family expects he will make friends if he can stay out of trouble; and so forth. I put quotations around the words "essential" in that one line because, really, I'm not totally sure what essential means really when it comes to seeing films from that decade. At one point while shooting the fight, Allen reached out and actually cut Dean. Wood finally won the role after she was involved in a car crash that also included future Rebel Without a Cause co-star Dennis Hopper, with whom she was romantically involved. Rebel Without a Cause is a searing melodrama featuring keen insight into '50s juvenile attitude and James Dean's cool, iconic performance. (He stops as he sees the emptiness in them.) As the title states, their causes are impossible to define. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Plato then falls asleep, and Jim and Judy leave to explore the mansion, where they share their first kiss and voice their love. Mother: I still think you should go down. and the Seemingly unimpressed by Jim at first, she declines and is instead picked up by her "friends", a gang of delinquents led by Buzz Gunderson. The tragedy of Platos death brings the Stark family, that (for now) includes Judy, closer together. What could happen. If you want to come we could talk and then in the morning we could have breakfast like my dad used to(he pausesthen excitedly as though an idea had suddenly struck him) Gee . After a field trip to Griffith Observatory, Buzz provokes and challenges Jim to a knife fight. After explaining she had a fight with her father, the juvenile officer asks: Do you think you can get back at your dad that way? (Stern 6); Buzz tests Judys loyalty after observing her walking with Jim; Buzz challenges Jim at the planetarium, This is the test, man. Frank is entrenched in a fixed way of thinking. (Stern 73-74). It significantly boosted the career of James Dean, who died tragically in a car accident before the movie's release and became the cultural icon that we know him as today post-mortem. You better give me something fast. , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. This realization occurs at the planetarium when he witnesses his sons emotional and physical vulnerabilities: Ray, alarmed that his star had been injured, called cut, and Dean was furious. Released on October 27, 1955, nearly a month after Dean's fatal car accident on September 30, Rebel Without a Cause was a groundbreaking film that portrayed the disillusionment of the post-war American teenager while attempting to shine a light on the less-than-stellar parenting of the era.
Macdill Afb Food Court,
Dashiell Weinstein Pictures,
Lily Fraser Daughter Of Hugh Fraser,
Articles R
