Rebel Without A Cause

Kassy and I followed last nights excellent dinner and a movie with another one tonight. I got to choose this time and decided it was time to watch Rebel Without a Cause, one of only 3 major film roles that James Dean had before his premature death. This is probably his most famous role and when people thing of him, They imagine him in that leather jacket with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he does as Jim in this film. That image has become iconic. The film itself is pretty good. Most of the action taking place in a single day, it focuses on Jim's first day at a new school and how his rebellious nature sets off a series of events that will change his life. Dean has the same quality that Brando did in Desire and Waterfront, a magnetism that made me want to be his friend and gain his approval. I have seen him in Giant, which is his greatest role in my opinion and he is the same in that one. I was surprised at how good Natalie Wood was in this, also, for some reason. I have never seen her in anything before and only knew of her from her tragic death, but she has a confidence in this that is very good. She begins the film as sortof the first ever "mean girl", but of course comes around. I really enjoyed the psycology of the film. All three main characters were motivated completely by their father issues. The writing was rock solid. The biggest surprise to me though was Jim Backus's role as Dean's father. Backus is famous as the millionaire Mr Howell on Gilligan's Island and as the voice of Mr. Magoo, so when I saw him in the opening credits, I assumed he would be playing some sort of comic relief. He instead delivers a vulnerable performance of a man completely lacking in confidence, a stark difference to Mr. Howell. I felt that both him and Dean deserved Oscar nominations for the film, but both were snubbed. The film is a perfect portrait of the alienation everyone feels at that age and is a subject that rarely gets visited in film and is never this good, with the exception of maybe The Breakfast Club. anyway, Has anyone read one of these notes and seen the film afterwards? I hope so...You won't regret it. Goodnight.