Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Film: Rebel Without A Cause

Director: Nicholas Ray

Country: USA

Released: October 1955

Runtime: 111 minutes

Genre: Drama

Studio: Warner Bros

Influenced: Godard, Truffaut, Philip Kaufman, Wim Wenders, Mary Harron, Gus Van Sant

Already an acclaimed director with two fine early films, They Live By Night (1948) and In A Lonely Place (1950), Nicholas Ray went on to make two of his most influential films in the mid-50s, Johnny Guitar (1954) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Revered by the Cahiers Du Cinéma coterie that went on to become the rebellious French New Wave – Godard famously said that “cinema is Nicholas Ray” – both of Ray's mid-50s films embodied a new spirit in American cinema, reflecting trends in popular music such as the rock & roll of Bill Haley & The Comets and Elvis Presley. Teenagers were suddenly a new audience to tap into for film studios and record companies, and no movie reflected back those themes of teenage delinquency and apathy like Rebel Without a Cause.

A graduate of New York's groundbreaking Actors Studio founded by Elia Kazan and Cheryl Crawford, James Dean embodied those themes like nobody before him on screen, mixing machismo and vulnerability, calm confidence and emotional angst. Ray shot the film in expressionistic colours to heighten the sense of melodrama and drama, and right from the film's bizarre opening shot of Jim Stark (played by Dean) drunk on the floor, we feel that sense of teenage alienation and rebellion. Not only would Rebel Without a Cause reflect the emerging youth culture of the 1950s, it would influence so many actors and directors that followed.

Dean's performance, along with those of his co-stars Natalie Wood (as Judy) and Sal Mineo (as Plato), was widely praised at the time for its realism and emotional depth. Plato seems to represent a broken generation of kids who lost their fathers in WWII, and who were lacking direction and looking for heroes or at least a father figure. At times things can a bit melodramatic, like when Dean hits the desk in frustration near the start of the film and the rousing music kicks in, and Dean’s mannerisms such as his bursts of laughter and pained facial expressions can be disturbingly odd. Dean’s first conversation with Natalie Wood is stuttering and almost philosophical. There’s a vitality and youthfulness to the film, and also a strong sense of a breakdown between the generations, in both Dean’s and Wood's families.

“It’s just the age when nothing fits,” says Dean’s Dad in reference to being a teenager, as he tries his best to connect with his son but Ray's direction always gives a sense of distance between them, like the scene where the Dad is wearing a pinny while trying to give out life advice. Iconic scenes such as the "chicken" car race at the cliff have a genuine sense of drama and peril, and it's fun seeing Dennis Hopper there as one of Buzz's stooges, chewing gum and looking gormless. The film portrays the emergence of gang culture in America, and you can see the influence of scenes like the terrorising of the Stark family home (“Where’s your son, Daddy?”) on later gang films such as The Wanderers (1979). The film's frank portrayal of issues like the breakdown of the traditional family unit helped to spark important conversations about the challenges facing American society at the time, and its influence can still be felt (distantly) in contemporary discussions about youth culture.