Hollywood icon James Dean plays the lonely new kid in town in Nicholas Ray’s watershed film. Taking place over a 24-hour period, Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo are drawn together as kindred spirits, and forever changed by tragedy. Filmed in vivid color and widescreen Cinemascope, the ensemble cast keeps pace with the method acting Dean, whose tragic death just a month before the film opened, forever solidified the legend of an acting giant.
“Enormously influential at the time, a milestone in the creation of new idea about young people. 4 Stars” – Roger Ebert
“This tale of tempestuous kids and their weird ways of conducting their social relations is tense with explosive incidents.” – Bosley Crowther, The New York Times
“Almost free of mannerisms under Ray’s pacing, Dean is very effective as a boy groping for adjustment to people. As a ‘farewell’ performance he leaves behind, with this film, genuine artistic regret, for here was a talent which might have touched the heights. His actor’s capacity to get inside the skin of youthful pain, torment and bewilderment is not often encountered.” – Variety
Garret Mathany discusses Rebel Without A Cause on the New Beverly blog.
