Rebel Without A Cause Reviews

Nostalgia and nothing more

How do these old films end up in the top 100 films of all time lists?

The acting is appalling, the script equally as bad and the direction is absurd.

The way the conversations flow and the way people move around each other and respond to on screen action etc... is completely un-natural. Its laughable. The same applies to this film.

Fair enough it was good at the time, but that alone does not justify its inclusion in the top 100 films of all time list. If this film was made today, in exactly the same way, with the same level of acting and direction, it wouldn't even see the light of day. All I can summise is that the people who create these lists are as old as the films they include and only do so because of the nostalgia they envoke in these people.

It's not a bad film per se, and worth watching, and is certainly better then a lot of the crap made today - The fast and the furious being one example - but don't rent this and expect something on a par with the Pianist or Gladiator because it will just dissapoint.

Ummm... Classic

No two ways about it - when Jim Stark turns to his parents in the police station and begs 'You're tearing me apart', you feel like your heart is being pulled out of your ribcage from behind.

You cannot stop yourself from watching this guy. James Dean broke so comprehensively with any rules of acting that his performance remains the standard for adolescent angst. An original enough story, with a cracking support performance from Sal Mineo as Plato. However, this will always be the movie that marked the moment when film acting burst through the screen.

Not as great as i was lead to believe, but still pretty bloody good. The original and best "teen rebellion" movie.

Still Brilliant, Still Important

Rebel Without a Cause may seem somewhat tame to many teenagers today, to whom the depictions of hot rod racing and knife fighting have been diluted by a constant stream of less analytical expositions of teen rebellion, from Grease through to Boyz n the Hood. Despite this, it is the very age of this film which lends it its unique and enthralling perspecive about exactly why teenagers buck the trends of their parents' generation, and rebel so apparently motivelessly.

Central to this is the film's rather linear message: it's all the parents' fault. Every major character seems to be searching for a father figure, or attempting to make a subservient or emotionally distant father into an acceptable role model. Thus we see James Dean, in an epoch-defining role, assuming the role of father for a whole host of characters. Jim Stark, his character, appears less as a rebel in the reactionary sense and more like a perfect father existing in a world of rebellion- where masculinity is at once suppressed and wildly exaggerated. As you can probably guess, this film is a feast for pyschologists- or head-shrinkers, to use the parlance of the film...

Although the film handles this issue well, it can appear somewhat one-sided and simplistic, relying more on external influences rather than individual character traits to define the characters. Characters such as Plato, a character best described as unstable, seem to have little cause for their rebellion other than the one shown to the viewer through direct images portraying paternal weakness. But then again, maybe i'm missing the point of this film. Rebel Without a Cause is not a fair and balanced look at the psyche of the individual, but a powerful and necessary insight into the role of parenting in determining teen rebellion. It's easy, after all, to cast a 21st century perspective over a film which, although brilliant and emotionally gripping, is firmly of its times. Although you can see complex inferences, such as homosexual innuendo between the male protagonists (particularly with Plato- and, more subtly, Buzz), such themes are underdeveloped at best.

Psychological meanderings aside, I would recommend simply sitting back and basking in one of Hollywood's most breathtaking and sobering films of the 50s. Films like this don't come along very often.

So called classic

I hired this movie to see what all the fuss was about but soon found out it is a movie out of its time. I can see that it would have been shocking for its day and it was a well told tale with good solid performances, but i do not think time has been kind to this film and I guess I was a little dissappointed at that if it had been made today it would have confronted many more issues

James Dean at his moody best

I was a teenager when this film came out, and we all thought that it put our points of view very well. Now that I'm an OAP I don't agree!Good film, though

Dated, but good.

Rebel Without a Cause has obviously dated in terms of how shocking the teenage delinquents behaviour is to our modern society, but the film remains watchable due to an astonishing performance from James Dean - a justifiable legend based on this performance. Some nice direction and bright colourful cinamatography, Rebel Without a Cause contains some great dramatic scenes (the knife fight, the clifftop 'chicken run') but as a product of it's time it seems to move at a snails pace at times. Dated - but still worth watching.

Strange but good

I seen it twice. Didn't get it first time, but really enjoyed it second time. He's a great actor. He's totally messed up with along the rest of the characters in the film.

a true classic

This film lived up to every word i have ever heard or read about it. It is one of the few cases of the film utterly deserving the hype. I am a Dean fan and therefore expected to focus on him all the way through. I was surprised however, when i came away with the impression that Sal Mineo was in fact the best actor in that film (with Jimmy a close second of course). Natalie Wood was, in my humble opinion, a little bland and unbelievable as a female counterpart to Jim Stark. I think the 'moo' scene in the planetarium will touch everyone who has ever been a teenager.

Dean's Finest

Gritty as hell - don't let anyone convince you otherwise. OK, it may be a little more sugar coated than if it would be made today, though considering the date of release, moralising is kept to a minimum. A great exploration of Californian youth, treated with genuine empathy by all those involved.