Rebel Without a Cause

The 1955 coming-of-age melodrama, Rebel Without a Cause, remains a staple part of cinematic history and even American pop culture to this day for its influence, portrayal and exploration of youth culture. Adapted from the 1944 book written by psychologist Robert M. Linder, Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath (though not referencing it anywhere within said film), the Warner Brothers feature has endured for as long as it has thanks to its social commentary surrounding disenfranchised youths clashing against their older generation parents, its introduced of the CinemaScope format and presentation, and for the leading performance of James Dean, who despite only appearing in three films, has been placed in Hollywood infamy for his tender portrayal of a troubled teen. For such a time-period specific movie, how well does it hold up nowadays?

Set within the mid-1950s in Los Angeles, a young teen named Jim Stark (played by James Dean) is brought into the juvenile detention facility for public intoxication, as he feels mentally splintered due to the constant bickering of his parents, Frank and Carol (played by Jim Backus and Ann Doran) which is made worse by Frank’s overly passive nature around his much more domineering wife. At the same time, two other delinquents are also voicing their woes at the station, including Judy (played by Natalie Wood), who hates her father’s lack of love for her now that she’s become a teenager, and Plato (played by Sal Mineo), a disturbed pre-teen who due to his absentee parents, resorts to small acts of cruelty in order to get attention. After being released, Jim (who recently moved to the area) prepares for his first day at school, and officially meets Plato (who instantly becomes infatuated with him) and Judy, who hangs around with a bunch of hoodlums including her greaser boyfriend, Buzz (played by Corey Allen). After a string of events bond the three youths together, they envision what things could be like without the stress of their family live burdening them with feelings of repression and anger, but reality intervenes and causes a fallout that is tragically fatal.

While Rebel Without a Cause is a decent flick with a few memorable scenes, visuals, and performances, it’s hard to see it as the complicated, psychologically rich character study it has come to be seen as in recent years, with the underdeveloped narrative, characters and even scripting holding back what in all honesty, could’ve been a really in-depth film.

While held to an incredibly high standard which did pay off at the time of its release by earning several Oscar nominations and being a box office success both domestically and internationally, the critical reaction for the film was a little divisive, with even critics at the time calling out the sluggish direction, overgeneralized themes, and underbaked roles. While some of these critiques feel a little harsh (and probably spurned from a more restrictive place given the time period), it’s undeniable that not everyone believed this movie to be extremely complex, and considering the 1950s didn’t commonly experiment with deep topics, mental issues or socio-political commentary unless it met the standards of the extremely rigid censorships, it’s in no way going to be as nuanced or as thorough as something that’d come out years down the line. It deserves credit for at least attempting to bring complexity to a group that many would’ve just viewed as reckless and beyond-help, and these characters do have the basis to be intriguing, but they’re usually stifled by a surprisingly brisk narrative that despite being given two hours to work with, barely feels like it explores this premise or is even given the ability to (the entire movie takes place over a single day, so not a lot of time to flesh things out).

The story doesn’t offer much in terms of narrative payoff or character arcs, the script written by Stewart Stern and adapted by Irving Shulman has a logistical speech that feels like it comes from the mouth of a psychiatrist and gives off the impression of character depth and dissection, but doesn’t have the fortitude or even presentation to back it up, and with the plot being as condescend and even as surface-level as it is, it doesn’t give much time for audiences to get fully invested in the character’s struggles. It does try to feel authentic and the directing by Nicholas Ray has a searing openness to it which leads to some unfiltered performances and naturalistic scene work and imagery, but there’s also a striking amount of melodrama which makes things hoaky instead of gritty, which just doesn’t work if the goal was to realistically portray teen issues. The movie does have its good elements and is memorable for what it’s attempting to get across, but when it reaches its conclusion, what should be tragic and cutting instead feels predictable and even too theatrically orchestrated.

Since this film premiered a mere month after James Dean was tragically killed in a car accident, it alongside his other two movies, East of Eden and Giant, stand as the only examples of his acting prowess, so the fact that he’s remembered all these years later is a testament to the impression he left. While his acting style can be a bit of an acquired tase as his clear preference for method acting in the vein of Marlon Brando (whom he was actually called out for replicating in this movie) can result in unfamiliar deliveries and reactions that aren’t always to the film’s benefit, that unpredictability and spontaneity are what make him so appealing, and his teen portrayals carried the familiar sense of lashing out and sex appeal, but also a vulnerability that made him feel more honest than other cinematic portrayals of the age demographic, and therefore more long-lasting and appealing to mass audiences. It’s no different with this performance, as the character of Jim is not incredibly well written or even feels that consistent (his familial struggles seem a little flippant, not that egregious and easily solvable with better communication skills), but Dean’s magnetism in the way that he emotes, moves and reacts is distinct and results in a memorable performance, it’s a tragically good showcase of a star lost way too soon.

The rest of the performance vary in terms of quality, also depending on the amount of screen time they have and how much depth the script provides them. Side characters like Corey Allen, William Hooper, Edward Platt, Marietta Canty, Virginia Brissac, and even Dennis Hopper (in a minor role) are annoyingly underused despite feeling like they should play crucial roles, Jim Backus and Ann Doran are actually pretty great as Jim’s parents and are given a fair amount of personality and depth, yet are weakened by the film’s odd stance on their dynamic (the father is deemed unmasculine for not beating his wife, wearing an apron, and refusing to blindly perform a life-risking stunt after being called a ‘’chicken’’). Considering both Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo were nominated for Oscars for their supporting performances, it’s clear they were liked on a level similar to Dean (or maybe even more as he wasn’t nominated), but it’s hard to see that in their performances. They aren’t really bad and outside influence definitely brought some added levels to their roles (as Wood was disturbingly in a relationship with the much older Ray, and Mineo was in a ‘spiritual relationship’ with Dean on set which sparked his own homosexuality), but either due to the hoaky atmosphere or limited depth in the screenplay, they don’t feel as strong as they should and don’t have the added benefit of a unique performing style to distract people with.

This movie was considered a landmark feature and even a step forward in terms of artistic and technical evolution for its use of the CinemaScope format, a cinematographic technique which used an anamorphic lens to produce widescreen pictures. Give it was only two years old, it would’ve felt like a brand new toy that many studios and producers would’ve loved to use, and considering the film was actually upscaled from what Warner Brothers initially considered a B-movie project that was shot in black-and-white, into something that needed to be reshot in color after then president of Warner Brothers, Jack L. Warner, saw how popular James Dean was, it wanted to look the absolute best it could to bank on this newfangled technology. While a coming-of-age teen melodrama doesn’t sound like the kind of movie that requires this kind of presentation, and very few of the visited locations feel enhanced by the wider screens, it does still look very nice and on certain occasions, there’s a specific shot or angle by cinematographer, Ernest Haller, that shows off the environment very nicely.

It’s ironic that this film wasn’t originally filled in color as the specifics splashes really seem intentionally placed (James Dean’s red jacket is about as iconic as the movie itself). While it would’ve functioned perfectly well in black-and-white and the presentation of L.A. is pretty standard outside of the size given many of the buildings and locations, the use of color feels purposeful and the staging and lighting choices on certain scenes does add a rich atmospheric quality to certain scenes. The darker moments with heavy shading are effectively claustrophobic and confronting, and the daytime moments are so harshly lit and almost overexposed in terms of coloration that it’s almost unsettling, it’s a well-handled element even if it was unintentional. The musical score by Leonard Rosenman almost forms an identity by bringing in a brassy, almost noir-type piece, but it’s never feels integrated enough to feel properly utilized, so what remains is a perfectly acceptable, but otherwise unmemorable score.

While remaking a classic film is usually frowned upon, a modern rendition of Rebel Without a Cause feels like a really good idea, as it’d be able to tackle the complicated themes and issues mentioned without any of the dated backage of the period it was released in. To use another Dean film as an example, much like how East of Eden is going to be given a mini-series to further explore and elaborate on its characters and idea starring Florence Pugh, the same should happen with this film as the potential just writes itself (if you can get Timothée Chalamet or Austin Butler in the lead, then it could honestly be perfect). As it is, Rebel Without a Cause isn’t a bad movie and deserves credit for at least trying to explore a complex subject in a way that could still be watched by mainstream viewers, but the plot, scripting and characters all feel underwritten and aren’t taken advantage of in a way that would have people curiously scanning their thought processes. There are some nice visuals, an occasional good dramatic scene, and an iconic James Dean performance, but aside from that, this movie is as much a misfit as its titular rebel.