A teenage boy (Jim Stark played by James Dean) seem fated to get in to trouble and his family have to keep moving hoping that he will grow up and settle down. This proves to be a futile hope as things slide from bad to worse one fateful night.
Despite the sometimes over-the-top script and acting, there is something very special about James Dean on screen. However three films are not enough to judge him as an actor. Two of which are basically the same part.
Acting wise he was very Brando-lite, but more than that he had the vulnerable look and the fashion haircut. Not tall - barely 5'6 - but well proportioned and without an once of fat. A fashion trend-setter. The red jacket he wears here is worth several times his salary for making the film.
Sadly Dean's role as the world's "first teenager" is rather spoilt by the fact that he is - in fact - 24. Not even a particularly young looking 24 at that!
Strangely co-star Natalie Wood (Judy Hopper) is closer to the real age of her teenage character and yet - side by side - they look of a similar age. Her "middle aged" bomb-proof hairstyle making her look older than her years.
Best acting is actually Sal Mineo (Plato) as the homosexual hanger-on and social misfit, fresh from a psychiatrist's couch. More sad than bad. Despite what happens later.
I am not going to take this script seriously. Nor should you. Wood would need to be a psychopath to behave like she does on the "big night." How strange it seems to Europeans to see "children" driving and having their own car! So incredibly convenient for storming out the house after a chewing-the-curtains drama queen session with your folks.
Sad to think that all three of the above came to tragic early ends. Such is the fickle candle of life. Wood went on to West Side Story, which despite its fame didn't really take her in to orbit. Never scoring her "great role." Here she works well with Dean because he is trying too hard while she is trying too little to compensate.
Despite the sometimes over-the-top script and acting, there is something very special about James Dean on screen. However three films are not enough to judge him as an actor. Two of which are basically the same part.
Acting wise he was very Brando-lite, but more than that he had the vulnerable look and the fashion haircut. Not tall - barely 5'6 - but well proportioned and without an once of fat. A fashion trend-setter. The red jacket he wears here is worth several times his salary for making the film.
Sadly Dean's role as the world's "first teenager" is rather spoilt by the fact that he is - in fact - 24. Not even a particularly young looking 24 at that!
Strangely co-star Natalie Wood (Judy Hopper) is closer to the real age of her teenage character and yet - side by side - they look of a similar age. Her "middle aged" bomb-proof hairstyle making her look older than her years.
Best acting is actually Sal Mineo (Plato) as the homosexual hanger-on and social misfit, fresh from a psychiatrist's couch. More sad than bad. Despite what happens later.
I am not going to take this script seriously. Nor should you. Wood would need to be a psychopath to behave like she does on the "big night." How strange it seems to Europeans to see "children" driving and having their own car! So incredibly convenient for storming out the house after a chewing-the-curtains drama queen session with your folks.
Sad to think that all three of the above came to tragic early ends. Such is the fickle candle of life. Wood went on to West Side Story, which despite its fame didn't really take her in to orbit. Never scoring her "great role." Here she works well with Dean because he is trying too hard while she is trying too little to compensate.