Rebel Without a Cause

Movie Review: Rebel Without a Cause

Year of Release: 1955
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo

Plot outline: A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies (IMDb).

Rebel Without a Cause is a violent, brutal and disturbing picture of modern teenagers. Young people neglected by their parents or given no understanding and moral support by fathers and mothers who are themselves unable to achieve balance and security in their homes are the bristling heroes and heroines of this graphic exercise. They are children of well-to-do parents, living in comfortable homes and attending a well-appointed high school. But they are nonetheless mordant in their manners and handy with switch-blade knives. They are, in the final demonstration, lonely creatures in their own strange, cultist world. James Dean is a mixed-up rebel because his father lacks decisiveness and strength. Natalie Wood is wild and sadistic, prone to run with surly juveniles because her worrisome father stopped kissing her when she was 16. And Sal Mineo is a thoroughly lost and hero-searching lad because his parents have left him completely in the care of a maid. But convincing or not in motivations, this tale of tempestuous kids and their weird ways of conducting their social relations is tense with explosive incidents. There is a horrifying duel with switchblade cutlery between Mr. Dean and another lad (Corey Allen). There is a shocking presentation of a "chicky run" in stolen automobiles (the first boy to jump from two autos racing toward the brink of a cliff is a "chicken" or coward). And there's a brutal scene in which three hoodlums, villainous schoolboys in black-leather jackets and cowboy boots, beat up the terrified Mr. Mineo in an empty swimming pool. To set against such hideous details is a wistful and truly poignant stretch where in Mr. Dean and Miss Wood as lonely exiles from their own homes try to pretend they are happy grown-ups in an old mansion. There are some excruciating flashes of accuracy and truth in this movie. (NYT)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars