 Tagline: To Belong...and be loved. In one of moviedom's most influential roles, James Dean plays Jim Stark, the new kid in town whose loneliness, frustration and anger mirrored those of postwar teens - and reverberate more than 40 years later. Natalie Wood (as Jim's girlfriend Judy) and Sal Mineo (in his screen debut as Jim's tag-along pal Plato) were Acadamy Award nominees for their achingly true performances. Director Nicholas Ray was also an Oscar nominee for this landmark film chosen as one of the Top-100 American Films by the American Film Institute. Rebel Without a Cause has been digitally mastered from newly restored elements, so this DVD offers the movie's picture and sound in its most optimal presentation since its original theatrical release. Storyline: Jim Stark is the new kid in town. He has been in trouble elsewhere; that's why his family has had to move before. Here he hopes to find the love he doesn't get from his middle-class family. Though he finds some of this in his relation with Judy, and a form of it in both Plato's adulation and Ray's real concern for him, Jim must still prove himself to his peers in switchblade knife fights and "chickie" games in which cars race toward a seaside cliff. Written by Ed Stephan Cast Notes: James Dean (Jim Stark), Natalie Wood (Judy), Sal Mineo (John 'Plato' Crawford), Jim Backus (Frank Stark, Jim's Father), Ann Doran (Jim's Mother), Corey Allen (Buzz Gunderson), William Hopper [I] (Judy's Father), Rochelle Hudson (Judy's Mother), Dennis Hopper (Goon), Edward Platt (Juvenile Officer Ray Fremick), Steffi Sidney (Mil), Marietta Canty (Plato's Nurse), Virginia Brissac (Jim's Grandmother), Beverly Long (Helen), Ian Wolfe (Dr. Minton, Lecturer at Planetarium). User Comment: tfrizzell United States • "Rebel Without a Cause" was a major film in 1955 as it was released shortly after James Dean's untimely death and it was the film that created his larger-than-life image. While Dean is excellent, the film is little more than a curiosity today. Dean is a young man whose family has just moved to a middle-class neighborhood in California. Dean's life is spinning out-of-control and it seems to be tearing apart his family as parents Jim Backus and Ann Doran just cannot cope. New neighbor Natalie Wood is having similar problems with her father. Dean desperately wants to fit in with the kids at his new school, but he becomes the target of some nasty thugs. Meanwhile a youngster (Sal Mineo, in an Oscar-nominated performance) is going down a path of destruction that will directly affect Dean and Wood in the end. "Rebel Without a Cause" was somewhat trail-blazing in 1955, but it has not aged as well as it seems somewhat routine these days. Dean is out-of-this-world and the film is worth one's time just because of his performance. However, do not watch the film expecting to be blown away because you likely will not be. Watch for a young Dennis Hopper as one of the thugs. 4 stars out of 5. It was nostalgic watching the movie again (43 years later) and remembering the tragic & relatively premature deaths of 4 of the stars: Dean, Mineo, Adams, Wood. However, it seems somewhat dated in light of the problems facing teenagers today. Summary: James Dean's Role in History Is Cemented IMDb Rating (03/14/15): 7.8/10 from 55,783 users IMDb Rating (03/24/05): 7.8/10 from 10,823 users
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