Now I've had discussions with a friend about James Dean. He feels Dean was an overrated actor, who acted in ways that would keep him unemployed in todays films. He may be right (his Oscar nominated performance in "Giant" is good for the first half but hooky for the second half), but no one can deny that his performance in "Rebel Without A Cause" to be one of the most legendary performances of our time. I recently re-watched the film and was amazed by the power in it. Yes, it's a little over the top. Most performances were back in the day. But Deans performance was rightly over the top. After all, he was playing a trouble teenager And face it: Most teens are a little over dramatic when they express themselves. What is compelling though is why Dean's character is angry.
He has a good life. There's nothing in particular that you can single out that would make him mad. What I always got was the little things that made him tick. His parents contradicting each other. The school bullies. The shyness around girls. This is one of the few movies that gives the troubled teenager so many little things to frustrate him that his rebeling feels inevitable. He has no specific reason to be angry, he just is. Maybe he doesn't realize why he's angry himself. Trust me folks, these unspoken emotions can't be found in the script. Stangely enough, while co-stars Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo got Oscar nominations for this movie the Academy foolishly passed over Dean, who was unagrubly the most important and emotional character in the film.
Shortly afterwards Dean would die in a car accident and the Academy would apologize for giving him Oscar nominations for "East of Eden" (an average performance) and "Giant" (an uneven but still decent performance). This performance though remains unnominated, despite the fact that it still influences creators today. Oh you don't believe me? Check out this picture of "Futurama"...
...and you tell me that this movie still isn't inspiring someone out there.
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