Rebel Without a Cause

'''This page is dedicated to James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood. May these three stars who were gone too soon rest in peace.''' Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. The film stars James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The film sympathetically views rebellious, American, restless, misunderstood, middle-class youth.
 * 2) Jim Stark, Judy and Plato are all relatable and very deep.
 * 3) Jim's is also an interesting take on the "bad boy teen" trope. In a world of momism and crumbling facades of adult authority figures, he longs for old-fashioned honor. He’s not wild, he’s just aching because he can’t see how to make his life honorable.
 * 4) The film also provides a rich, but stylized (though partly dated) look at the world of the conformist mid-1950s from the perspective of the main adolescent male character, without resorting to teen stereotypes like various other films focused on similar topics. The 24-hour timespan makes things more compelling.
 * 5) Another thing that sets this film apart from other juvenile delinquency films is that the film spends almost no time in high school. The framing planetarium scenes seem intended to impart a cosmic dimension to the film. Pretty ironic, considering it's intent in the high schoolers early on being forced to sit through an astronomer’s lecture on the order of the universe.
 * 6) Even though James Dean had a short life (he died when he was 24), his three starting films -- this one included -- left a serious impact on the "misunderstood bad-boy teen" trope of its time.
 * 7) James Dean does a fabulous portrayal as the rebellious and idealistic protagonist Jim Stark, to the point where a became an landmark icon of the 50s even after his death.
 * 8) Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood are also talented in their roles.
 * 9) The ending at the Griffith Park planetarium at night, when Plato gets shot down by police who think he’s armed and dangerous as Jim Stark stands by helplessly, unable to make the police see that he had emptied the bullets from the pistol that Plato had previously handed him in friendship, is a completely heartbreaking scene.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) There are various aspects of the film which may not have aged very well.

Trivia

 * The film was released in theaters less than one month after the main actor, James Dean, died in a car accident.
 * Prior to that, James Dean had only started in three Hollywood films: Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, and Giant.
 * Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood had also died young: Natalie Wood had drowned, and Sal Mineo was stabbed to death in a mugging.
 * The movie was parodied in an episode British Stop-Motion show "Rex the Runt" from Season 2 titled "Bob Joins a Gang".