When I think of James Dean, the marketing for 'Route 66' always shows up in my brain, with all the artists portraying him alongside Marilyn Monroe and Elvis. But to consider James Dean in the same breath as Monroe and Elvis always felt, fraudulent. So, I finally sat down to examine one of the more iconic Dean films, the rebel. The film started off well, with a few hiccups, but well nonetheless. It was hard to see Dean as anything less than 21 years old, but here he portrays a more youthful character with obvious flaws. I think the perception of ourselves in high school is not what we see when we encounter a schooler today. I think we would, or at least I would like to think of myself as adult as Dean was in this film. Hollywood I think has portrayed adults as children for much too long, distorting realistic portrayals of that culture. You could make the same arguments against "Grease", "Carrie", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", etc. These films clearly have adults portraying children, and for my brain, it never works. "Napoleon Dynamite" wouldn't work except it adds to the hilarity of everything happening, as opposed to what is happening in other films whether a comedy or not.
When I think of films that do, I think about "E.T." in the moments of all the children throughout the film and portraying real youth filled desires throughout the ages shown. I am not a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, but it does capture a bit more realistic take on the personalities of children. I think "American Graffiti" is another successful take, I think it borderlines on a few levels, but portraying the shift from high school to college, it does a superb job in capturing a culture.
James Dean's acting was really mediocre as well, and I don't see from this performance how he could generate enough ability to carry a film like so many others. He definitely doesn't have the ability on camera that Elvis does with a microphone. Maybe famous tragedy is just enough to project someone into the halls of glory eternally, at least on this rock, but I just don't make the connection. He is no more than a decent actor with mediocre charm.
The film is really sporadic, not really identifying itself in one or even 2 patterns. Instead the film turns down a different road every few moments, so much that I would just ask to be dropped off. I think that this film will keep fading as it is tested by time, and the truly great or even good films will make it through.
As bad as I feel the direction was in the film, Dean's presence was pretty much the only bearable part of the film. Really too much melodrama with things I have never seen before or believe exist in any form. It was a marketing film, a film to project Dean as a Hollywood prop for women.
"Rebel Without A Cause"
6 / 10
