Review of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) by Daniel P — 21 Aug 2012
A film that, in my opinion, has its reputation for a single scene, the one in which Jim Stark (James Dean) pleads with his hen-pecked father, "Stand up for me, Dad." Beautiful colour for its day, and well acted, for the most part, it's undeniably a classic, if unfortunately dated.
To Truffaut, American cinema began and ended with Nicholas Ray, but for my money, Truffaut did it better. Kind of like On the Waterfront: subversive and aggressive in its day and a testament to a lot of great talents, but tame by the modern standard.
Still, valuable for the way it cracked the veneer on the nuclear family, which was heavily idealized at the time. Watch it as a film history lesson.
This review of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) was written by Daniel P on 21 Aug 2012.
Rebel Without a Cause has generally received very positive reviews.
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