Rebel Without a Cause (film)

• Release Date: 1955
• Director(s): Nicholas Ray
• Writer(s): Nicholas Ray
• Principal Actors and Roles: James Dean (Jim Stark); Sal Mineo (John 'Plato' Crawford); Natalie Wood (Judy); Corey Allen (Buzz Gunderson); Jim Backus (Frank Stark); Ann Doran (Carol Stark); Dennis Hopper (Goon); Edward Platt (Ray Fremick)
• Book / Story Film Based On: Rebel Without a Cause by Nicholas Ray

Rebel Without a Cause was adapted by screenplay writer Stewart Stern from a story about a real case study on a delinquent teenager. The film is a drama and became a symbol of defiance of upper middle-class young people in the 1950s. The film was initially shot in black and white but later was changed to color.

The film starred James Dean, the young, twenty-four-year-old heartthrob and icon for rebellious teens and who would not live to see the film’s opening in October 1955 due to an automobile accident in September. Dean and actress Natalie Wood did not make their debuts with this film, but his performance in Rebel Without a Cause helped create Dean’s status as a screen legend and the film launched Wood’s career. Wood was a teenager when she starred in the film and was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. She went on to star in West Side Story and was also nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Splendor in the Grass.

In the film, Dean’s character Jim is a troubled teenager who must cope with moving with his family to a new town and starting a new school. He faces many challenges in his new surroundings, such as gang members and the continuing strained and disconnected relationship with his parents, especially his father. Judy (Wood) and John (Sal Mineo), nicknamed Plato, are also troubled teenagers. Judy, Plato, and Jim meet in a police station and are brought together by their mutual angst and discontent with their parental relationships. The film begins and ends with a tragedy, and there are tragedies throughout the film that, in effect, help Jim reconnect with his father and Judy to find comfort in Jim that she no longer receives from her father.

Plot

The film is set in suburban Los Angeles in the 1950s. It takes place in five acts, and the duration of the film focuses on about a full day’s length. Jim Stark has just moved with his family to a white, mostly upper-class neighborhood because of his delinquent behavior. The film opens with Jim lying on the ground. He is drunk. The police pick him up and charge him as a juvenile delinquent. At the police station, Jim sees two other teenagers, Judy and Plato. Through dialogue and actions and interactions with other characters, the three show how they have dysfunctional relationships with their parents. For different reasons, their parents are either absent or disconnected. Plato immediately takes a liking to Jim and befriends him. Judy’s relationship with Jim is more abstract. Judy belongs to a gang at school that torments Jim, but she is also interested in him.

Jim’s parents, especially his mother, are focused on their image in society. Jim is disappointed in his father who succumbs to his mother’s domineering personality. His hopes for a strong father and role model do not materialize.

After a school field trip, Jim is provoked by Buzz, Judy’s boyfriend and gang leader, to fight with switchblades. Jim wins the fight but Buzz challenges him again to a "chicken run" later that night: two drivers race their cars at the edge of a cliff and the first person to jump from his car is the "chicken." Jim goes to his father for help and guidance, which his father simply cannot provide.

While Jim and Buzz are preparing for the chicken run they share a cigarette and talk about the edge of the cliff that one of them might indeed hit if he runs from his car before the other. During the race, Buzz’s sleeve gets caught on his door handle and he dies, not being able to get out of the car before it went over the cliff. After the tragedy, Jim and Judy become closer and begin to fall in love.

In the meantime, Buzz’s gang members are on the hunt for Jim. They go to a mansion where Jim, Judy, and Plato have been hiding out. Plato shoots one of the gang members and is pursued by police. He hides in an observatory, where Jim talks him into surrendering. As Plato walks out to police with a gun in his hand, he is dazed and confused by the bright lights and is shot dead. After this tragedy, Jim’s father reaches out to him to reconcile and restore their broken relationship. The film ends with Judy and Jim uniting with Jim’s parents as they leave the scene of the tragedy.

Significance

Teenage and teen rebellion were popular terms in 1950s. Just a few years after the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, Americans experienced a baby boom and saw increasing numbers of automobiles, the building of many interstate highways, the beginning of the television industry, the popularization of rock and roll music, a thriving US economy, and suburbanization. Many teens at this time engaged in youthful rebellion, aimed at and in defiance of their parents. Juvenile delinquency and gangs became more common than in the previous decade. Rebel Without a Cause embodied these themes, realities, and sentiments. Many teens wanted to rebel against the conformity of the decade, and this film appealed to them.

Rebel Without a Cause was shot in wide screen using CinemaScope, which was new technology at the time. It gave the film an edge in the artistic and technical arenas. The use of widescreen enabled the director and director of photography to stress the divisions between the young people and their parents (and other adults) in the film. The use of color schemes and lighting were seen as dramatic and innovative as they provided a glimpse of hope to the struggling teens whose frustration and angst are evident throughout the film. They also captured the deep and conveying emotions of the characters.

Leonard Rosenman wrote the film’s musical score. Like the film’s use of color and light, Rosenman shaped the film’s score to reflect the emotions of each scene and of the characters. The score was complexly orchestrated and at times raucous.

Rebel Without a Cause ushered in a new era of rebellious teen films and served as a milestone for the genre. It shocked audiences and while presenting a story about the decay of youth in America, it also fashioned sympathy to misunderstood youth.

Awards and nominations

Nominated

• Academy Award (1955) Best Supporting Actor: Sal Mineo
• Academy Award (1955) Best Supporting Actress: Natalie Wood
• Academy Award (1955) Best Writing: Nicholas Ray

Bibliography

Carter, Graydon. Vanity Fair’s Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Doherty, Thomas and Thomas Patrick Doherty. Teenagers and Teenpics: Juvenilization of American Movies. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2010. Print.

Driscoll, Catherine. Teen Film: A Critical Introduction. Oxford: Berg, 2011. Print.

Frascella, Lawrence and Al Wiesel. Rebel Without a Cause. New York: Touchstone, 2006. Print.

Pomerance, Murray, ed. American Cinema of the 1950s: Themes and Variations. Piscataway: Rutgers UP, 2005. Print.

Rathgeb, Douglas L. The Making of Rebel Without a Cause. Jefferson: McFarland, 2010. Print.

Slocum, J. David, ed. Rebel Without a Cause: Approaches to a Maverick Masterwork. Albany: State University of New York, 2005. Print.