A few thoughts on Rebel Without A Cause

Dan & I went to see TCM/Fathom Events’ presentation Rebel Without a Cause on Sunday.  I’ve seen it several times, starting in 1990, this was Dan’s first.

Rebel Without A Cause has become somewhat legendary over the decades, partly owing to the premature deaths of its three lead actors – particularly James Dean.  It tells the story of disaffected youths in Southern California during the mid-1950s, a time that was idealized by some as a golden age.  But the societal issues which would come to fruition during the 1960s are seen gestating here.  The MPAA ratings board didn’t exist in 1955, but Rebel has retroactively been given an PG-13 rating – which speaks to some of the issues it raises. 

Screen captures courtesy of movie-screencaps.com

 SPOILERS

Jim Stark (Dean) is the new kid at Dawson High School.  He’s already had several run-ins with the law, including a drunk and disorderly booking at the film’s beginning – a scene where the audience also encounters Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo).   On his first day at his new school, Jim learns that Judy is his neighbor.  Things go awry that day during a field trip to Griffith Observatory, and he’s triggered into a knife fight with the school delinquents: Buzz (Corey Allen) and his gang, the Wheels.  Jim prevails in the knife fight and is challenged to a “chickie run” that night.  Buzz is killed in the ensuing race and Jim struggles with the moral dilemma over whether to go to the police and admit his role in the incident.  Jim’s parents, more interested in climbing socially than providing an example to follow, advise Jim to avoid getting involved.  Plato, whom Jim has befriended, is briefly captured by the Wheels, who learn Jim’s location and try to stop him from telling the police.  Plato steals a gun from his home, where his mother is away on vacation with only the family maid watching over him, and rushes away to warn Jim.  Jim and Judy take refuge in an abandoned mansion with Plato.  But when the Wheels track them down, Plato suffers a mental breakdown, shooting and wounding one of the Wheels, and runs away to hide in the nearby observatory.  Jim and Judy follow, where Jim comforts Plato and discreetly removes the ammunition from Plato’s gun.  Jim brings Plato outside, but Plato becomes frightened by the police, brandishing his gun.  The police, unaware Jim has removed the bullets, shoot and (it’s implied) kill Plato.

Jim & Judy

James Dean was, of course, a spectacularly talented young actor, and his death shortly before the film’s release was its primary box office draw.  But his training at the Actor’s Studio and his personal dynamism place him at odds with the older cast members.  This is particularly obvious in scenes with his parents, where Dean’s improvisation leaves the other actors fumbling around trying to keep up.  In other scenes, his acting runs the gamut from scenery chewing hysteria (“You’re tearing me APART!”) to the subtlety of his quiet dialog with Natalie Wood’s Judy.  His best acting in the film is in his scenes with Judy, Plato, and a rather homoerotic moment with Buzz – where the two share a cigarette (an indirect kiss?) and Buzz confesses that he likes Jim.  Rebel, along with Dean’s other two major roles, East of Eden and Giant, offers a fascinating glimpse into what might have been.  

Jim & Buzz. “You know what? I LIKE you. You know that?”

Through today’s eyes, it’s obvious that Sal Mineo’s character Plato is the school queer – and he’s made to suffer for it.  Not only is he harassed by his school peers, but the film’s writers drive the point of Plato’s “otherness” home by painting him as not merely experiencing an emotionally needy “crush” on Jim Stark, but as mentally unstable and possibly psychotic.  This is made clear from the film’s beginning when it’s stated that Plato’s being booked at the Juvenile Division for shooting several puppies, and by the way Plato tells his booking officer that “Nobody can help me.”  Plato also has issues stemming from an absent father, which certainly plays to the old Freudian theory on homosexuality.  For me, the treatment of the Plato character is severely dated – and yet there’s something about Sal Mineo’s portrayal that’s touching.  Seeing his torment, I wanted to wrap my arms around Plato and tell him that everything would be all right. 

Jim & Plato

Even more dated than Plato’s pathology is the film’s almost total lack of people of color.  True, Southern California was not as diverse in 1955 than today, but the fact that the film has only one minority speaking role (an African-American “mammy”-type maid at that) tells volumes about the mindset of the studios of the time.  On the other hand, this is still an issue in today’s entertainment, isn’t it?

The film was beautifully shot in CinemaScope and in color, presenting the rugged beauty of Southern California without undue glamour – and the various actors never looked better than in this film.  Leonard Rosenman’s score (Rosenman was James Dean’s roommate at the time), which flirts with atonality in parts, suits the films atmosphere to a “T” – far superior to the drivel he wrote for Star Trek IV. 

Today, Rebel Without a Cause has a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  I beg to differ, and suspect the high rating is based more on nostalgia than quality.  Ultimately Rebel was worth watching in the theatre once, but the weakness of some of the material and uneven nature of the performances does not merit repeat viewing.