Rebel Without a Cause

Plot synopsis:
Behind the opening credits, the film opens on a suburban Los Angeles street with teenager Jim Stark (Dean) drunkenly lying down on a sidewalk. He is arrested and taken to the juvenile division of the police station for "plain drunkenness". At the station he meets John "Plato" Crawford (Mineo), who was brought in for shooting a litter of puppies with his mother's gun, and Judy (Wood), who was brought in for curfew violation (she was wearing a bright red dress with matching lipstick and was mistaken for being a streetwalker). The three each separately reveal their innermost frustrations to officers; all three of them suffer from problems at home:
Jim feels betrayed and anguished by his constantly bickering parents, Frank (Jim Backus) and Carol (Ann Doran), but even more so by Frank's milquetoast attitude and failure to stand up to Carol and her mother, who lives with them. His frustrations are made manifest to officer Ray Fremick (Edward Platt) when Jim is released to their custody.
Judy is convinced that her father (William Hopper) has callously withdrawn his affections from her because she's no longer a little girl, so she dresses up in racy clothes to get attention, which only causes her father to call her a "dirty tramp".
Plato comes from a broken family. His father abandoned them when he was a toddler, and his mother is often away from home, leaving Plato in the care of his housekeeper.
Jim sets out for his first day at Dawson High School and again meets Judy (who lives nearby) waiting on the corner and offers her a ride. Seemingly unimpressed by Jim at first, she declines and sarcastically says, "You know, I bet you're a real yo-yo," and then is picked up by her "friends", a gang of delinquents led by "Buzz" Gunderson (Corey Allen). Arriving at school, Jim immediately gets in hot water for unknowingly stepping on the school insignia. While shunned by most of the student body, Jim befriends Plato, who comes to idolize him as a father figure. That afternoon, Jim's class goes on a field trip to Griffith Observatory, where they see a dramatic presentation of the bleak future of the Earth as the Sun goes through its red giant phase and post red-giant phase. As he walks out, Buzz and his gang slash one of Jim's tires and then begin taunting him by clucking and calling him "chicken", which is sure to set him off. When Jim asks Judy, revealed to be the "property" of Buzz, why she hangs around with them, Buzz pushes Jim away from her, then whips out a switchblade and challenges Jim to a knife fight. Having no knife, Jim refuses, so Buzz orders one of his gang to lend Jim his knife, but even then Jim still refuses. When Buzz again calls Jim chicken he goes off, and the two begin fighting, each one getting minor jabs on the other until Jim knocks Buzz's knife away and subdues him. Buzz wants another shot at Jim, which he accepts but not with knives. Buzz suggests stealing a couple of cars to have a "Chickie Run" at Millertown Bluff, a high seaside cliff. Jim agrees to meet them that evening before the observatory security guard runs the gang off. After they leave, Jim asks Plato what a Chickie Run is.
At home, before leaving for the chickie run, Jim ambiguously asks Frank for advice about defending one's honor in a risky, dangerous situation. But Frank, dressed in a frilly apron and doing housework while Carol is sick in bed, instead gives Jim a long-winded speech about avoiding confrontation of any kind. Jim changes his clothes and drives to Millertown Bluff. Buzz shows him the two stolen cars they'll be racing, and then go to the edge of the cliff alone and share a cigarette, where Buzz confides in Jim that he likes him. When Jim asks Buzz why they're doing the run, Buzz replies "You gotta do something, now don't you?". Meanwhile, Judy asks Plato about Jim; though they barely know one another, Plato calls Jim his best friend. When Judy asks what Jim is like Plato merely replies "You have to get to know him," but adds that people Jim likes most get to call him "Jamie".
As they prepare to race, Buzz explains the rules: the two are to race toward the edge of the cliff, and whoever jumps out of their car first is declared the "chicken". As the two cars speed toward the cliff, Jim tumbles out of his car, but Buzz's jacket sleeve gets caught on his door handle, preventing him from jumping out before both cars plummet to the rocky shores below, with Buzz screaming, until he meets his death in the fiery crash below. The rest of the gang flee leaving Judy stranded, but Jim, with Plato in tow, gives Judy a ride home, giving her back the purse mirror she left at the police station. Still with Plato along, Jim drives home. Plato then asks Jim if he would like to go with him up to an old abandoned mansion near the observatory and stay there for the night, but Jim declines and sends him home, but not before Plato writes down Jim's address in his pocket notebook.
Jim tells of his involvement in the crash to his parents who saw a news report about it on TV, but when Jim considers turning himself in, they warn him not to volunteer himself to the police. When Carol declares they're moving again, Jim asserts that he won't let her use him as an excuse to keep running away. Jim then begs Frank to stand up with him against her, but he doesn't. Jim angrily jumps and strangles Frank until he is pulled away by Carol. He storms off to the police station and is accosted by Buzz's fellow gang members Crunch (Frank Mazzola), Goon (Dennis Hopper) and Moose (Jack Grinnage) who were just released from custody. Jim ignores them and goes in looking for Fremick, but the desk sergeant rudely tells him that Fremick will be out all night. Before leaving, Jim tries to call Judy at her home, but the call is intercepted by her father who abruptly hangs up.
Jim drives back home and finds Judy waiting at the same spot where they met that morning (she greets him with "Hello, Jamie"). When Jim reveals he was attracted to her from the moment he saw her (and even gently kisses the side of her forehead), Judy apologizes for the way she treated Jim that morning, blaming peer pressure, and the two begin to fall for one another. Agreeing that they will never go back to their respective homes, Jim suggests they go to the mansion Plato told him about, saying "You can trust me, Judy."
Meanwhile, Plato is just arriving home on his motor scooter when he is grabbed by Crunch, Goon and Moose. Convinced that Jim ratted them out to the police, and looking to avenge Buzz's death, they demand to know where they can find Jim, but Plato refuses to talk. They grab Plato's pocket notebook as he gets to the front door and run off. Plato runs upstairs to his bedroom and, after throwing away a child support check from his father, grabs his mother's gun and runs off to find and warn Jim. At Jim's house Frank and Carol hear knocking at the front door. Frank answers to find a live chicken hanging over their door, and Buzz's friends asking about Jim, but Frank hurriedly shuts the door. After they take off, Plato shows up for the same reason, but when Frank asks Plato about Jim, Plato quickly apologizes and hurries off to the mansion where he finds Jim and Judy.
The three new friends act out a fantasy as a family, and Plato tells them about when the "head shrink" got him to open up about hearing his parents fight when he was a baby, and how his mother later decided the money being spent on his therapy was better spent going off alone to Hawaii. Wishing they could stay there, but unable to ignore his situation, Plato decides he "might as well be dead anyway" and lies down to doze. Judy hums the Brahms' Lullaby to him before she and Jim go exploring the rest of the mansion. Jim and Judy find a place, and they exchange their first kiss. Crunch, Goon and Moose, now armed with chains, find their way to the mansion and wake up Plato. Frightened and distraught, Plato fights them off, both in the empty swimming pool, and in the mansion, until he finds his gun and shoots Moose, and then mistakenly fires at Jim when he comes back. Jim tries to restrain Plato, but he runs from the mansion, shooting at police who have just arrived.
Plato runs to the observatory and barricades himself inside as more police converge including Fremick who, with Frank and Carol, was out looking for Jim. Jim and Judy follow Plato into the observatory, and Jim persuades Plato to trade the gun for his red jacket; Jim silently removes the ammunition before giving the gun back. Jim then convinces Plato to come outside after asking Fremick to turn the police lights off. As they start to come out the police notice Plato still has the gun and turn their lights back on, which incites Plato to break away and charge the police. When he is shot down, Jim screams, "I got the bullets!! Look!!" Seeing Jim's jacket, Frank believes at first that Jim had been shot. He runs to comfort the openly grieving Jim, and promises to try and be a stronger father, one that Jim can depend on. Judy's father takes Jim's jacket, and covers Plato's body. Now reconciled to his parents, Jim introduces them to Judy saying "She's my friend", first briefly opposed by Carol, until Frank assures her that it's all right.
As dawn encroaches, and as everyone leaves in their respective cars, a lone figure in a business suit with briefcase walks toward the observatory, completely unaware of what just transpired.

Tags: cult, violence, romantic

Review:
It certainly added more to the disjointed feeling and wasn't just there for style purposes like todays movies.The only point at which the film falters is the pat resolution between Jim and his parents at the end.
His actions provide an easy way for the director/writer to answer all questions about his character, and then to facilitate an ending which is tragic, but more than a little contrived.Despite what I feel is a cop-out ending, _Rebel Without a Cause remains a thoroughly powerful film.
Dean's on-screen persona, together with his vivid, intense performance, overwhelms all other elements in this film about 1950s teenage confusion and angst.Newly arrived in town, Jim Stark finds himself trapped in a typically hostile high school, and confronted by an in-crowd of leather-jacketed hoods with names like "Buzz", "Crunch", and "Goon".
In his three film trilogy James Dean worked with three of the best directors around, George Stevens in Giant, Elia Kazan in East of Eden, and Nicholas Ray for Rebel Without A Cause.
The problems of this crowd just don't seem as serious as those in the other two films.But because of the quality performances of James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo you do sort of feel for these kids.
If ever a player left the scene with fans begging for more it was James Dean.Seen today over 50 years later Rebel Without A Cause still remains the ultimate film in teen angst.
Brilliant cast of well-known Hollywood icons in hard-hitting treatment of story that focuses on the hopelessness exhibited by many middle-class teenagers who were too young to recall the pains of WWII, but saw daily reminders of the threat of "the bomb", as well as inequities around them.James Dean stands out as the troubled kid whose parents keep "moving" to escape their community's effects of their son's strange behavior.
Equally great are the performances of Natalie Wood as a "wanna-be-bad-girl" who is hurt by her parents' implications that she is a "tramp"; and the child-like Sal Mineo, who lives in a mansion with a maid, but feels the pains of neglect from never-present parents.The trio first meet at a police station, where they all see a well-meaning officer who is genuinely interested in getting these troubled kids back on the right track rather than throwing the book at them.
1950s America was definitely unprepared for any "spelling out" of suggested terms, so for nearly 50 years now anyone's guess as to what was going on here is as good as the next.The supporting cast include Jim Backus as James Dean's well-to-do yet wimpish and henpecked father as well as a young Dennis Hopper as a member of a greaser gang.
Carefully watch the final scene as the end credits are shown, when this "point" is driven home.Rebel Without A Cause is one of the great classics with a sociological impact that has seldom been reached by any film, and likely never surpassed.
He finds underdog youth as Plato (Sal Mineo) and Judy (Natalie Wood , to whom Ray was rumored to have made advances) in a Police Station and soon later they befriend turning into three outcast friends .Good film dealing with adolescence problems from the 50s , being magnificent played by a group of splendid young men .
Ray, screenwriter Stewart Stern, costar James Dean, and Sal Mineo himself all intended for Mineo's character Plato to be subtly but definitely understood as gay , although the Production Code was still very much in force and forbade any mention of homosexuality, all worked together to insert restrained references to Plato's homosexuality and attraction to Jim, including the pinup photo of Alan Ladd on Plato's locker door, Plato's adoring looks at Jim, his loaded talk with Jim in the old mansion, and even the name "Plato," which is a reference to the Classical Greek philosopher ; for that mansion scene, Dean suggested to Mineo that Plato should "look at me the way I look at Natalie." Furthermore , the film packs a colorful and glimmer cinematography in Technicolor by Ernest Haller .
It was only when Ray met 24 year old James Dean at a party did he realize that this hot new talent would be perfect for the role of Jim Stark, a troubled youth whose world is unraveled in a 24-hour period.
(as an aside, the person who argued that Plato was gay, I agree that this is intentional, [how else would he be so attracted to James Dean after only knowing him 3 seconds] and the movie does get some points for slyly tackling a taboo thing like that).
and for the rest of it, you feel like cringing every time one of these badly acted emotional scenes comes along.It may've been good for its time, but, really, its drivel.It must've just been hype about Dean's death that has over-inflated the reputation of this film..
Rebel Without a Cause is incredibly weak on every level, and the little that's offered is so absurd and incoherent it would destabilize the most tolerant.Whether it is the plot itself, uninteresting because almost non-existent, or the characters you are told nothing about and who are even a bit creepy in their behaviours, everything just stays superficial in this scenario which, as often happened in those days, tried to mix different genres but never went deeper on any of them, the most blatant example being the rushed and totally unbelievable love story between Jim and Judy.The content hardly could have been worse and unfortunately the form doesn't compensate for, the direction is clearly poor, the editing and soundtrack don't match the action..
For Jim Stark this is more than he can handle.Nicholas Ray's classic Rebel Without a Cause is a look into the life of Jim Stark (James Dean) and his attempt to try and figure out what he wants to do with his life.
I'm going to go out on the unpopular limb here and say that the reason Rebel Without a Cause is such an iconic movie is because of the tragic death of James Dean just before the film was released.
Nicholas Ray directed this popular and influential film that stars James Dean as Jim Stark, who has just moved to a new town, and tries to make a good impression on his high schoolmates, but they prove reluctant, and instead challenge him to a switchblade fight, then a "chicken run" with their cars.
The general consensus- on which one might dub a film like Rebel Without a Cause overrated- is that this film is THE film on teenage angst and dislocation from the adults of the period, and that it's essential because of James Dean, or that it might be considered director Nicholas Ray's best film.
From a historical perspective, however, and for the significance of James Dean, it is worth a viewing, at least once, if you want to know at least what the industry leaned towards in the 50s.Now, on to the actual film- it's the story of Jim Stark, who is disaffected and with a sort of glow about him (if glow is the word, maybe just, um, malaise), and its more of a reflection on his parents (Jim Backus, who is actually quite good here, and Ann Doran as his mother) than on society as a whole.
Entwined in a web of maturity, conformity, social-acceptance, rejection, love and friendship, this film provides a vivid picture of teenage anger, rebellion and the difficult task of proving one's self to society's obscure ideals and morals.The plot is simple; Jim Stark is the new kid in town who's stuck in a desperate search for a sense of self-worth and acceptance, but can never find it because he and his family is always on the move due to Jim's troubles with school and the law.
So once again, his character and courage is tested with knife-fights to "chickie" runs, leaving one to wonder, is this a promising beginning or the "end of the road" for Jim Stark?James Dean stars as Jim Stark, a lost and confused character who's always tried, but has failed so many times to be the son his parents always wanted him to be.
At times, his monologues could not be understood due to his mumbling, but overall, his performance was top-notch throughout the entire movie.Rebel Without A Cause tells a wonderful and original story while skillfully portraying the constant struggle of today's youth trying to escape alienation.
Despite a few superficial characters flaws, like Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato's (Sal Mineo) broad 2-dimensional acting, this movie is still worth watching..
"You are cold, I will warm you." This is a recurrent theme, and a human answer to the existential dilemma.There are other symbols I love in this movie, like the recurring use of the color red, and the mismatched socks.I loved the secondary characters, especially the policeman, Jim's parents, his grandmother, and Judy's father (loved seeing William Hopper in a role away from Perry Mason).
Released in 1955, "Rebel without a Cause" is a youth drama about a troubled teen, Jim Stark (James Dean), a new kid on the block in Los Angeles, where he meets other confused mid-50's youths, e.g. Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo).
I mean, this film didn't help at all to resolve the growing concern of delinquency which was rearing its ugly head amongst the American youth.But RWAC did make it clear that a problem such as hooliganism was a two-sided coin where full blame for its existence could neither be laid solely on the confused parents' indifference, nor on their bored children's defiance.All-in-all - RWAC, with its timely message, was well-structured story-telling that literally screamed out at the top of its lungs - "Money can't buy me love!" *Trivia note* - If James Dean were alive today he'd be 83 years old..
On the 1970's movie called "Over The Edge" there were the same type of scenes in Rebel Without A Cause such as: kids shooting at police officers, kids getting into fights with weapons, kids doing drugs, kids talking back to their parents and getting slapped in the face, kids running away, kids not understanding that they will be able to look back when they are adults and say, "How stupid of me?" 	The same type of thing happens today such as shootings, but the only difference is that it's being reported more often.
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE Aspect ratio: 2.55:1 (CinemaScope)Sound format: 4-track magnetic stereoA troubled teenager (James Dean) struggles to find his place in a new school, where he falls in love with a fellow student (Natalie Wood) and is forced into a confrontation with her bullying boyfriend (Corey Allen), leading to unexpected tragedy...Nicholas Ray's quintessential Fifties melodrama arrived during a sea-change in American cinema, at a time when the glossy fantasies made popular during wartime were becoming supplemented by tougher movies offering a realistic depiction of contemporary society (cf.
Stewart Stern's coy script may seem a little dated now, but the drama still resonates with modern audiences, and there's a wealth of surprising subplots and subtexts, including Natalie Wood's impressive turn as an immature teenager who feels rejected by her father (William Hopper) because he refuses to indulge the kind of affections he lavished on her as a child, and Sal Mineo as the brittle interloper who keeps a picture of Alan Ladd in his school locker and develops an obvious crush on the dazzling new boy, played by Dean.
The fact of the matter though is that the film here is more Nicholas Ray's than Dean's and with the star's energies focused by a sympathetic director into an altogether more congenial role than Jett Rink in "Giant", consequently my enjoyment of the movie soared.It would have been all too easy for the likes of Ray to dumb down his talent and vision in adapting to a film aimed fore-square at the burgeoning teen market but it's to his credit that he fully engages with subject and character and delivers a well-rounded end-product which to these eyes and ears crosses the generation gap better than the fictional protagonists manage here.That said the story does take some time to heat up and I found many of the scenes and situations in the first half somewhat unnatural and forced, with acting occasionally to match.
The language employed by the youngsters could for me have been a little more contemporary with a bit more slang usage at the expense of an occasional speechifying tendency but in the dead quiet of the planetarium at the conclusion, Ray shows his mastery of control as the final tragedy is played out in near-darkness with his actors at last speaking quieter, shorter and altogether more telling lines.There's many a film with an exaggerated reputation in terms of its historical context and "Rebel Without A Cause", its lustre propelled into the limelight by Dean's demise and his being latched onto by the young rock'n'roll generation as a symbol of rebellious youth, has a bigger cross to bear than most.
There are moments of dialog that so perfectly capture what its like to be a teenager that you want this film to be preserved for people to see in thousands of years to come.The protagonist of this film and its notoriously famous and over-parodied title is Jim Stark, aka James Dean who was killed in a car accident before the release of this film, and before he was nominated for Oscars for his other two films: East of Eden and Giant.
Along the way he also, as many film-rebels rarely do, sticks up for the underdog Plato and makes a compelling father figure.The best scene comes when Buzz admits, shortly before the "chicky race," that he likes Stark.
Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood and of course James Dean all seemed destined for great things, and this film truly showcases what phenomenal talent and dramatic prowess the three of them possessed.
(There are Spoilers) Being picked up for drunkenness Jim Stark, James Dean,is at the police station where he meets, without any formal introduction, Judy and Plato, Natalie Wood & Sal Mineo, who would become bonded with him later in the movie to the point where their a family.
In the case of Buzz ,Corey Allen,his involvement with Jim would be his last day on earth.Released just under a month (October 27, 1955) after James Dean's tragic death at the young and tender age of 24 in a car crash on September 30, 1955 the Nicholas Ray directed film "Rebel Without a Cause" impact on the youth of America, as well as the movie going public all over world, was like that of an 100 plus megaton hydrogen bomb.
With the local police now out looking to arrest Plato for shooting Crunch he runs into the Griffith Observertory with Jim and Judy running the police roadblock and dragnet to try to talk Plato into giving himself up before he ends up getting shot and killed.One of the best youth movie of all times "Rebel without a Cause" breaks away from to usual family stereotype in the movies and TV and shows real people with real emotions that shocked moviegoers back then and even now, over 50 years later.
Jim Stark (James Dean), Judy (Natalie Wood) Plato (Sal Mineo) are the stars of this movie.
Fans of 50's movies and anyone that was once a teen will love `Rebel Without a Cause'; especially because James Dean is in it.
We'll never know "what could have been", only that his was a talent that was taken too soon.Everything about this film is stunning from the acting to the camera angles, not to mention the stark use of color in different sequences.James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo make up a sort of fractured family, the castoffs whose normal families just don't understand.
The film begins when the three characters are in a police station,Jim Stark(Dean)has some behavior problems;Judy(Natalie Wood)an insecure young lady who felt "abandoned" by her father and similar to her is John or "Plato"(Sal Mineo) who desperate needs a father figure.The three of them meet again at school(who resembles a police station) they quickly formed an "Alliance" against incomprehension and adults.
James Dean would have continued to wow us if not for his car wreck and Sal Mineo still had some good movies left in him as did Natalie Wood too.
Eventually it mixes it up with a gang of teenagers at his school but he then forms a relationship with the equally troubled Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo).As everyone knows, Dean died before REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE was released and I've always wondered what would have happened had he lived.
A Classic High School Drama That is a Must See. The high school drama Rebel Without a Cause is directed by Nicholas Ray and stars James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.
Beautifully acted by James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo who would have to do it all so differently if this film was to be re-made in 2004.
It is a shame that the ending is a cop-out and wraps things up too easily, but Rebel Without a Cause is otherwise a must see for particularly James Dean's performance and as a textbook example as to how to make a film with the teenager-struggling-to-fit-in theme.
It is special because of the power of its performances, and because it was James Dean's last movie before the car crash that claimed his life.The story of "Rebel Without a Cause" is simple, a format followed often by subsequent films in the same genre.
I think 'Rebel Without A Cause' is a great movie and James Dean gives a very good performance..
The film almost seems like a eulogy when seen today, since so many of its cast members -- James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Nick Adams -- died young.
This only makes the movie more genius, for its time and for the modern day as well.And the actors in the film were genius as well, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, and James Dean all doing a terrific job.