In addition to household names such as John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Hemingway, James Dean is also on the list, he only lived for 24 years, starred in only three movies, but relied on "Rebel for No Reason" to influence the aesthetics of a generation of young people in the United States.
Filmed in 1955, Rebel Without a Cause is about the one-day encounter of three young men, Jim, Judy and Plato, who are rejected by their families.
The film opens with Jim drunk, lying on the ground with a toy monkey in his hand, curled up, bored and helpless, and as the sirens sound, the scene shifts to the police station, where Jim meets Judy, who was arrested for wandering the streets, Plato who shot the critters, and the kind police officers call their families on bail.
In the morning, Jim, who has transferred schools many times because of fights, enters Dowon Middle School, and as soon as he enters the school, he is ridiculed by the led by Buzz, including Judy. He goes to the planetarium for class, rises to learn cow barking, but unexpectedly provokes Buzz, and after class, he wants to put a near Plato over to warn Jim that he is in trouble. Sure enough, Buzz and the others surrounded Jim's car to provoke, Jim, who could not escape, had to go down to communicate, the two used knives to single out, Buzz lost, unwillingly he let Jim play cliff flying car.
In the evening, Jim drives to the edge of the cliff, where many people have already gathered, including Judy and Plato. Judy as a referee, Jim and Buzz drove all the way to the cliff, almost to the end, Jim braked in time to jump out of the car, but the arrogant Buzz was hung by the cufflinks, unable to get out, even people with the car fell into the cliff and died.
The others scattered. Jim sends the frightened Judy home and says goodbye to Plato, who returns home and confesses what he has done to his parents and asks to turn himself in. Jim angrily left the house, turned around and met Judy, the two went to an abandoned mansion next to the planetarium, and then Plato with a gun in his pocket came to Jim, and the three young people had a lot of fun in it, and the family rushed to the police. Outside the door, the accomplices who avenged Buzz also found...
The birth period of "Rebel without Cause" coincided with the era when the "Beat Generation" was in vogue, the male protagonist Jim was as goalless as the novel "The Catcher in the Rye", longing for love and recognition under the world-weary appearance, and the howls that appeared many times in the film echoed with the famous work "Howl" of the "Beat Poet" Ginsburg, and the lack of paternality and same-sex friendship were the standard of such themes. Jim's father is a man who is afraid of his wife and is a non-committal man, and there is no example for Jim who wants to grow from a boy to a man; Judy's father hates his daughter to be close to him, which leads to the lack of love Judy to gain comfort by making boyfriends; Plato's parents are not around, and he will not let go once he catches a little warmth. The film directly changes John's name to Plato, indicating that his friendship with Jim is more attached and ambiguous, and the picture of the three snuggling up to each other is a bright color in the cruel youth.
The rebellious and confused tone of the film influenced many later films, such as the "threesome" in the New Wave movie, "My Private Iowa" and "Angry Youth" have their shadows, and in the mainland movies, Lou Ye's "Weekend Lover" is barely one.
It was as if the emotions of a generation were reflected in James Dean's handsome face, when alone, he was miserable, he was lonely, he was vulnerable, he was afraid, he was crying darkly, and in the crowd, he was smoking a cigarette, and his forehead showed cynical folds, desperately trying to be strong, though knowing nothingness. Dean portrayed the bad boy who is not bad in heart, but always doing the wrong thing, and he has a cute childishness, a sophisticated serious posture and a mysterious atmosphere emitted by alienation.
Dean's style in "Rebel without a Cause" has become a fashion classic. A messy hairstyle shows a casual flavor, a red jacket, a short T-shirt, jeans and boots, and you can see the same outfit in Taxi Driver. T-shirts were considered lingerie in the United States before the 1950s, but Marlon Brando became a sex symbol after wearing "Desire Streetcar", and Dean's white T-shirts are not tight but close-fitting, charming and handsome, and are best suited for rock vocalists to show off their figures.
Natalie Wood plays the heroine Judy, a girl who struggles between different boyfriends in search of security, and she is one of Jim's main motivators of rebellion. Natalie's style in the film is beautiful, retro, brown curls, orange scarf, often shown in short skirts, combining youthful vitality and mature elegance.
Sal Mineo plays Plato, who goes from a weak child to a murderer, the most repressive and timid person is the most easily instigated and the most out of line, like Neil in The Society of Dead Poetry. The plot of Plato's feet wearing socks of different colors also reminds the author of the writer's boyfriend in "The Life of the Rejected Pine Nut", and the socks seem to be their fate.
Strangely enough, none of the three main actors in "Rebel without a Cause" had a peaceful old age. In September 1955, before the film was released, James Dean, who was obsessed with racing, was speeding on the highway, accidentally crashed and killed the car.
In 1976, Ami Mineo was robbed and killed on his way home after the show.
In 1981, Natalie Wood was in a fight between her husband and friends on a yacht trip to the island, resulting in Natalie drowning.
Hollywood has never lacked bizarre stories, which make Rebel Without a Cause even more legendary because it has all the elements that became popular in that era.