Review of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) by Byron B — 28 Sep 2009

He has trouble fitting in. Does that make him a rebel? In today's culture that just makes him an outcast. This movie wasn't at all as good as I thought it would be from James Dean's reputation of coolness.

I saw this picture last of the three major movies he appeared in before his death. I didn't like his agonized, constantly plagued by inner torment style of acting. Maybe I've been clueless all this time about why James Dean is really such an icon.

Maybe growing up in the conservative environment that I did led me to envision the legacy of Dean, with his leather jacket and comb always handy, as not much different than Fonzie on Happy Days. I realize since I've seen his brief filmography of movies that this is not what he represents at all.

He tried to copy Brando who told him once that he needed to seek psychiatric help. I'm going to be stereotypical here, but it seems obvious to me that James Dean was a closeted gay or bi-sexual youth.

Maybe it is just his instinctual acting in this role particularly where he seems equally smitten with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. But is this his real legacy? Is he beloved and remembered by a certain part of the population and avoided by another part because of this part of him? Or is it simply because of his passionate, wild partying, risky, and cool life?