Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Stewart Stern (screenplay)
Irving Shulman (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

27 October 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Teenage terror torn from today's headlines

Plot:

A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

Plot Keywords:

Cliff | Knife Fight | Mansion | Switchblade | Police

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

James Dean	...	Jim Stark
Natalie Wood	...	Judy
Sal Mineo	...	John 'Plato' Crawford
Jim Backus	...	Frank Stark
Ann Doran	...	Mrs. Carol Stark
Corey Allen	...	Buzz Gunderson
William Hopper	...	Judy's Father
Rochelle Hudson	...	Judy's Mother
Dennis Hopper	...	Goon
Edward Platt	...	Ray Fremick
Steffi Sidney	...	Mil
Marietta Canty	...	Crawford family maid
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. Stark, Jim's grandmother
Beverly Long	...	Helen
Ian Wolfe	...	Dr. Minton (lecturer at planetarium)
Frank Mazzola	...	Crunch
Robert Foulk	...	Gene
Jack Simmons	...	Cookie
Tom Bernard	...	Harry
Nick Adams	...	Chick
Jack Grinnage	...	Moose
Clifford Morris	...	Cliff
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Abbott	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Jimmy Baird	...	Beau (Judy's little brother) (uncredited)
Paul Birch	...	Police Chief (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Desk sergeant #2 (uncredited)
Chuck Hicks	...	Ambulance attendant (uncredited)
Louise Lane	...	Policewoman (uncredited)
Nelson Leigh	...	Desk sergeant #1 (uncredited)
David McMahon	...	Crunch's father (uncredited)
Peter Miller	...	Hoodlum (uncredited)
Bruce Noonan	...	Monitor admonishing Plato (uncredited)
House Peters Jr.	...	Officer at police station (uncredited)
Stephanie Pond-Smith	...	Girl (uncredited)
Nicholas Ray	...	Man in last shot (uncredited)
Gus Schilling	...	Attendant (uncredited)
Almira Sessions	...	Old lady teacher (uncredited)
Dick Wessel	...	Planetarium guide (uncredited)
Robert Williams	...	Ed (Moose's father) (uncredited)

Directed by
Nicholas Ray

Writing credits
Stewart Stern		(screenplay)
Irving Shulman		(adaptation)
Nicholas Ray		(from a story by)

Produced by
David Weisbart	....	producer

Original Music by
Leonard Rosenman

Cinematography by
Ernest Haller		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler		(as William Ziegler)

Production Design by
Malcolm C. Bert		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Malcolm C. Bert		(as Malcolm Bert)

Set Decoration by
William Wallace

Costume Design by
Moss Mabry

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Don Alvarado	....	assistant director (as Don Page)
Robert Farfan	....	assistant director
Gary Nelson	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Stanley Jones	....	sound
Carl Mahakian	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Stunts
Rodney Amateau	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Ron Burke	....	stunts (uncredited)
Mushy Callahan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Hickman	....	stunts (uncredited)
Carey Loftin	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Floyd McCarty	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Other crew
Dennis Stock	....	dialogue supervisor
Frank Mazzola	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)

Other Companies

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)  this picture made under the jurisdiction of (as I.A.T.S.E.)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence and thematic elements. (2005 re-issue)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound Recording) (magnetic prints) | Dolby Digital (DVD version)

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:Not Rated (video rating) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1981) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1956) | Spain:T | Iceland:12 | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | USA:Approved (No. 17504) (original rating) | France:-16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:18 | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:AA (re-rating) (1976) | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:PG-13 (new rating) (2005) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

7529 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

There's a fan photo of Alan Ladd in Plato's school locker.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the fight between Buzz and Jim behind the planetarium, Buzz kicks a switchblade at Jim. It rolls on the ground and stops about 3-4 feet in front of Jim. The next moment when Jim picks it up, it's right at his feet.

Quotes:

Police Chief: You know if the boy ever talked to a psychiatrist?
Plato: You mean a head-shrinker?
Crawford family maid: Oh, Mrs. Crawford don't believe in them, sir.
Police Chief: Well, maybe she better start.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Getaway: Golden Getaway: Getaway Goes to the Movies (#16.13)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

(You May Not Be an Angel, but) I'll String Along with You

My favorite Nick Ray film

Nicholas Ray may be the most distinctive American director of the 1950s, and certainly the most deeply romantic. His career was marked by indiosyncratic stories about characters driven by deep internal conflicts, inward violence and outward sexual confusion. Rebel Without A Cause is the film where all of his themes meet, and slightly edges out Johnny Guitar and In A Lonely Place as my favorite Ray film.

Some people will certainly find the dialogue here to be rather stilted, and the performances melodramatic. I won't argue. Ray's films in general opposed 'realism' (that most unreal of artistic concepts) in favor of the mythic.

What's particularly satisfying about the film is its cohesiveness, binding together its many disparate events and characters with highly parallel themes and motifs. All of its central characters seem caught in psychosexual conflicts rife with familial gender conflict. Jim (James Dean) is caught between a weakling, effeminated father and a domineering but inneffectual mother. Judy (Natalie Wood) and her father are seperated by his uncomfortable relation to her sexuality. Plato (Sal Mineo), worst of all, is a practical orphan, who suffers all the more for his just under the surface homosexuality. (It's interesting to note here that Plato may be Hollywood's first sympathetic of a gay character.) All of them are driven by internal demons springing from these conflicts.

As usual, Ray is a remarkably sensitive photographer. And here he proves himself a master of color. There are too many beautiful scenes to mention here, but the planetarium scene (with the recorded voiceover about human loneliness) beginning of the 'chickie run' are both stunning.

The film seems divided between claustrophobic nightmares and utopian fantasies. The skewed camera angles of Jim's scenes with his parents contrast with the heavenly dream of teenage paradise in the abandoned house. The staircase motif seems to mark several of these transitions.

In any case, this is a stunning film by a consummate artist, and should certainly be viewed apart from the distorting lens of the James Dean myth. Dean, for his part, is remarkable here, although, as I stated above, the performances here are in a style far removed from what today's audiences are accustomed to.

It's quite silly to say, as several people have here, that this film's themes are 'dated'. They seem to be the constant themes of youth: idealism vs. cynicism, the turmoil of sexual awakening, the desire to fit in, and the internal violence that constantly threatens to become external. To say that these no longer apply because these kids have never heard of ecstasy or the crips is like saying that "Hamlet" no longer rings true because nobody swordfights anymore.

My one complaint about this film is with the title. Certainly quite dramatic, it sounds more like a marketing tagline than any kind of description of the goings on of this film. Jim seems less like a rebel than a young man caught in an inescapable turmoil, and his reaction to the final tragedy belies his lack of a cause. But this is a minor complaint, and I can recommend this film without reservation.