Teenager Jimmy Stark (James Dean) is the new kid in town with a troubled past that causes his middle-class parents Frank Stark (Jim Backus) and Carol (Ann Doran) to move from town to town. Arrested on a drunk and disorderly charge, Jimmy screams at his parents, "You're tearing me apart!"
Carol Stark: (shocked) "What?"
Jimmy Stark: "You, you say one thing, he says another, and everybody changes back again!"
Carol Stark: "That's a fine way to behave!"
Grandmother: "Well, you know who he takes after."
At the police station Jimmy befriends Judy (Natalie Wood) and John "Plato" Crawford (Sal Mineo). Judy's boyfriend Buzz Gunders (Corey Allen) is a gang leader and involves Jimmy in a chicken race with stolen cars. Buzz plummets to his death over a cliff, and Jimmy is held responsible. Jimmy, Judy and Plato hide out in an abandoned mansion, and play act the roles of father, mother and son. They are sweet, sensitive kids.
Jimmy: "Nobody talks to children."
Judy: "No, they just tell them."
Plato: "Do you think the end of the world will come at night time?"
Jimmy: "Uh-uh, at dawn. I'll bet you'd go to a hanging."
Plato: "I guess it's just my morbid personality."
Their friendship is shattered by a tragic yet exciting end. But out of the bleakness of the finale comes a ray of hope that Jimmy will finally be understood. The performances by Dean, Wood, and Mineo are superb. Unfortunately, in real life all three actors had tragic deaths.
The cast also includes: William Hopper (Judy's father), Dennis Hopper (goon), Edward Platt (Ray Fremick), Steffi Sidney (Mil), Virginia Brissac (Jim's grandmother), Beverly Long (Helen), Ian Wolfe (Dr. Minton), Frank Mazzola (Crunch), Robert Foulk (Gene), Jack Simmons (Cookie), Tom Bernard (Harry), Jack Grinnage (Moose), Clifford Morris (Cliff), and many others. The story is by Nicholas Ray, the adaptation is by Irving Shulman, and the screenplay was written by Stewart Stern. Music is by Leonard Rosenman. Nicholas Ray directed.
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE began as a case history written by Dr. Robert Lindner in 1944. Director Nicholas Ray chose James Dean for the starring role and it was his second film after EAST OF EDEN (1955). Dean made only one more film, GIANT (1956). That's it, except for some TV dramas made in New York and two commercials (one ironically promoting Safe Driving).
James Dean's classic film about juvenile deliquency is an early sign that teens in the 1950's were alienated from the older generation and were developing their own culture. It was the first film to show that juvenile violence existed outside the slums, and there was a conflict with the values of parents and their kids. This somewhat dreary melodrama made Dean a symbol for teenagers and catapulted him to superstardom. He became a cultural icon as well, but never lived to enjoy his success.
"Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse," is what James Dean said. At age 24 he died in a violent car crash around 6 pm, Friday, September 30, 1955 near Cholane, California. He was virtually unknown at the time. Only EAST OF EDEN had been released and just as the public was becoming aware of this astonshingly talented actor, he was gone.
James Byron Dean was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the only person to have two such nominations posthumously.
