Rebel Without a Cause is a
1955The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
film directed by
Nicholas RayNicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.-Early career:...
that tells the story of a rebellious teenager played by
James DeanJames Byron Dean was an American film actor.Dean's status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled high school rebel Jim Stark...
, who comes to a town, meets a girl, disobeys his parents, and defies the local high school bullies. It was an attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and exploit the
differences between generationsThe generation gap is a popular term used to describe differences between people of a younger generation and their elders, especially between a child and his or her parent's generation....
. The title is adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner's
1944The year 1944 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Samuel Hopkins Adams - Canal Town*Jorge Amado - Terras do Sem Fim *Saul Bellow - Dangling Man*Jorge Luis Borges - The Book of Imaginary Beings...
book,
Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.
I never thought I'd live to see eighteen. Isn't that dumb? Every day I look in the mirror and say "What? You still here?"
[to Jim] Hey, you want to come home with me? I mean, there's nobody home at my house, and heck, I'm not tired. Are you? See, I don't have too many people I can talk to... If you want to come, we could talk, and in the morning we could have breakfast like my dad used to. Gee, if only you could have been my dad.
Teenage terror torn from today's headlines
...and they both come from good families!
To Belong...and be loved.
Jim Stark... a kid from a good family - what makes him tick... like a bomb?
The bad boy from a good family.
Rebel Without a Cause is a
1955The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
film directed by
Nicholas RayNicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.-Early career:...
that tells the story of a rebellious teenager played by
James DeanJames Byron Dean was an American film actor.Dean's status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled high school rebel Jim Stark...
, who comes to a town, meets a girl, disobeys his parents, and defies the local high school bullies. It was an attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and exploit the
differences between generationsThe generation gap is a popular term used to describe differences between people of a younger generation and their elders, especially between a child and his or her parent's generation....
. The title is adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner's
1944The year 1944 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Samuel Hopkins Adams - Canal Town*Jorge Amado - Terras do Sem Fim *Saul Bellow - Dangling Man*Jorge Luis Borges - The Book of Imaginary Beings...
book,
Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath. The film itself, however, does not reference Lindner's book in any way. In 1990,
Rebel Without a Cause was added to the preserved films of the United States
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
's
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
The film had its opening on 27 October 1955, almost one month after James Dean's fatal car crash. The actors playing the three main characters—James Dean;
Natalie WoodNatalie Wood was an American actress....
, who played Judy; and
Sal MineoSalvatore Mineo, Jr. , better known as Sal Mineo, was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause....
, who played Plato all untimely met tragic deaths. First, Dean dying in the automobile accident, then Mineo at the age of the 37 was stabbed to death in an alley outside his apartment, and finally Natalie Wood died the eldest of the three, drowning at the age of 43.
Plot
The
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy...
is 17-year-old James 'Jim' Stark, shortly after he and his parents move to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
, where he enrolls at Dawson High School. The film begins with Jim brought into police station for
public drunkennessPublic intoxication, also known as "drunk and disorderly conduct" , is a summary offence in many countries...
. His mother, father and grandmother come to retrieve him, and Jim's family situation is introduced. Jim's parents are often fighting. Often the father is the one who tries to advocate for Jim; however, Jim's mother always succeeds during the arguments. Jim feels betrayed both by this fighting and by his father's lack of moral strength, causing feelings of unrest and displacement. This shows later in the film when he repeatedly asks his father "what do you do when you have to be a man?."
While trying to conform with fellow students at the school, he becomes involved in a dispute with a local bully named Buzz Gunderson. While he tries to deal with Buzz (
Corey AllenCorey Allen is an American film and television director, writer, producer, and actor. He began his career as an actor but eventually became a television director...
), he becomes friends with a 15-year-old boy, John, nick-named
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
(
Sal MineoSalvatore Mineo, Jr. , better known as Sal Mineo, was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause....
), who was also at the police station the night of the opening scene for shooting puppies. Plato idolizes Jim, his real father having abandoned his family. Plato experiences many of the same problems as Jim, such as searching for meaning in life and dealing with parents who "don't understand."
Jim meets Judy (
Natalie WoodNatalie Wood was an American actress....
), whom he also recognizes from the police station, where she was brought in for being out alone after dark, who originally acts unimpressed by Jim, saying in an ironic tone "I'm bet you're a real yoyo." She belongs to the high school gang of Buzz Gunderson. The thugs challenge Jim to a "
Chicken RaceThe game of Chicken, also known as the Hawk-Dove or Snowdrift game, is an influential model of conflict for two players in game theory...
" with Buzz, racing stolen cars towards an abyss. The one who first jumps out of the car loses and is deemed a "chicken" (coward). The "game" ends in tragedy for Buzz when a strap on the sleeve of his leather jacket becomes caught on the car door and he is unable to jump before it goes over the cliff.
Jim tries to tell his parents what happened but becomes frustrated by their failure to understand him and storms out of the house. When Jim is seen trying to go to the police by some of Buzz's friends, they decide to hunt him down, and harass Plato and Jim's family to try to find him. Judy and Plato join him in the garden of an abandoned villa, where they act out a "fantasy family," with Jim as father, Judy as mother and Plato as child. The thugs soon discover them, and Plato brandishes a gun, shooting at one of the boys, Jim, and a police officer, in a clearly unstable state.
Plato hides in the
Griffith ObservatoryGriffith Observatory is located in Los Angeles, California, United States.Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the...
which is soon besieged by the police. Jim and Judy follow him inside, and Jim convinces Plato to lend him the gun, from which he silently removes the ammunition magazine (though he neglects the round in the chamber). When Plato steps out of the observatory, he becomes unstable again at the sight of the police and charges forward, brandishing his weapon. He is shot fatally by a police officer acting in defense of himself and the bystanders, despite Jim's yelling to police that he removed the bullets. Plato was wearing Jim's jacket at the time, and as a result, Jim's parents (brought to the scene by police) think at first that Jim was shot. Mr. Stark then runs to comfort Jim, who is distraught by Plato's death. Mr. Stark promises to be a stronger father, one that his son can depend on. Thus reconciled, Jim introduces Judy to his parents.
Cast
- James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor.Dean's status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled high school rebel Jim Stark...
– James "Jim" Stark
- Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood was an American actress....
– Judy
- Sal Mineo
Salvatore Mineo, Jr. , better known as Sal Mineo, was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause....
– John "Plato" Crawford
- Jim Backus
James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film actor, character actor, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of "Mr...
– Frank Stark
- Ann Doran
Ann Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
– Mrs. Stark
- Corey Allen
Corey Allen is an American film and television director, writer, producer, and actor. He began his career as an actor but eventually became a television director...
– Buzz Gunderson
- William Hopper
William Hopper was an American actor. He is probably best-remembered for playing Paul Drake on TV's Perry Mason.-Biography:...
– Judy's father
- Rochelle Hudson
Rochelle Hudson was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Career:The Oklahoma City-born actress may be best remembered today for costarring in Wild Boys of the Road , playing Cosette in Les Misérables , playing Mary Blair, the older sister of Shirley Temple's character,in the...
– Judy's mother
- Edward Platt
Edward Cuthbert Platt was an American character actor best known for his portrayal of "The Chief" in the 1965-70 NBC/CBS television series Get Smart. With his deep voice and mature countenance, he played an eclectic mix of characters over the span of his career.-Early life:Platt was born on St...
– Ray Fremick
- Nick Adams (actor)|Nick Adams]] – Moose
- Dennis Hopper – Goon
- Jack Grinnage – Chick
- Beverly Long – Helen
- Steffi Sidney – Mil
- Jack Simmons
- John Righetti – The Big Rig
- Chris Kambach – The stuntman who drove Buzz's car off the edge
Production
Warner Brothers had bought the rights to the book, intending to use the title for a film. Attempts to create a film version in the late 1940s eventually ended without a film or even a full script being produced. When
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando, Jr. was an American actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. He was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute, and part of Time magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century He is widely considered one of the...
did a five-minute
screen testA screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role.The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
for the studio in 1947, he was given fragments of one of the 1940s partial scripts. However, Brando was not auditioning for
Rebel Without a Cause and there was no offer of any part made by the studio. The film, as it later appeared, was the result of a totally new script written in the 1950s that had nothing to do with the material Brando screen-tested with. The screen test is included on a 2006 special edition
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
of
A Streetcar Named Desire.
According to a biography on her, Natalie Wood almost did not get the role of Judy because Nicholas Ray thought that she didn't seem fit for the role of the wild teen character. While on a night out with friends, she got into a car accident. Upon hearing this, Ray rushed to the hospital. While in delirium, Wood overheard the doctor murmuring and calling her a "goddamn juvenile delinquent;" she soon yelled to Ray, "Did you hear what he called me Nick?! He called me a goddamn juvenile delinquent! Now do I get the part?!"
Dawson High School, the school in the film, was actually
Santa Monica High SchoolSanta Monica High School , informally known as Samohi or just Samo, is a public school located in Santa Monica, California which was founded in 1884 . It is one of the oldest High Schools in California...
, located in
Santa Monica, CaliforniaSanta Monica is a city in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and Venice on the...
.
The film was in production from 28 March to 25 May . When the production began, they used black and white film stock. Eventually, they decided to switch to colour film stock and had many scenes reshot in colour.
The 1949
MercuryThe Mercury Eight was the first Post War Mercury design, and the first named Mercury model . The engine was a Flathead V8 that produced slightly more power than the also newly-designed 1949 Ford...
Coupe James Dean drove in the movie is part of the permanent collection at the
National Automobile MuseumThe National Automobile Museum, located just south of the Truckee River in Reno, Nevada, displays historic automobiles from the late 19th century up to the 1960s and in some cases later. Most of the vehicles displayed are from the collection of the late casino owner William F...
in
Reno, NevadaReno is a city in and the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 180,480 at the 2000 census; in 2008, its population was estimated at 217,016, making it the fourth-largest city in the state after Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, and the largest outside of...
.
Awards and honors
Wins
- 1990 National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
Nominations
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
– Sal Mineo
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
– Natalie Wood
- Best Writing, Motion Picture Story – Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.-Early career:...
- BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the Milo and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
- BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor – James Dean
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition
- 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
The first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
#59
Empire magazine recognition
- Ranked 477th on list of the 500 greatest movies of all time in 2008.
In popular culture
- The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
episode "Lisa's Date with Density"Lisa's Date with Density" is the seventh episode of the animated television series The Simpsons
' eighth season, which originally aired December 15, 1996. It was written by Mike Scully, and directed by Susie Dietter...
" shares many plot similarities. And in "Take My Wife, Sleaze"Take My Wife, Sleaze" is the eighth episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It aired on November 28, 1999.-Plot:The family visits the 1950s themed Greasers Cafe where Homer and Marge win a dancing contest. Their prize is a Harley-Davidson motorcycle...
", Homer is watching a similar movie, where a character that resembles Mr. Stark exclaims "He's a rebel I tell ya! A rebel without a cause ...just like the boy in that popular movie we saw."
- The 1991 Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American pop singer, record producer, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality....
music video for the single "Rush, Rush" is an adaptation of the film with Keanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Lebanese-born Canadian-American actor, best known for his portrayals of a spaced-out metalhead in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and in two action films that were both financial and critical successes: the "ticking time bomb" thriller...
as the James Dean character, Jim, and Abdul as the Natalie Wood character, Judy.
External links