Rebel Without a Cause (Two-Disc Special Edition)

this movie is the best movie out there about teenagers. James Dean and Nataile Wood- as always- are great in this movie. this is one of my favortie movies ever, its worth watching!

James's acting was supperb in this film. I think that James really didn't have to act because most of this character WAS him. The plot of this story also defines what life was like in the 1950's.

Rebel Without a Cause is a great contrast to the outcome of teenage lives provided by Catcher in the Rye. I have used the two--read Catcher, watch Rebel--for several years in class and the effect is what I am looking for. Students see themselves and begin to effect changes in their own lives.

This is a great film that ultimately is about families and their inability to communicate. Just like the more modern tv drama "The O.C." this film shows that behind the clean facade of rich, well-to-do neighbourhoods lies the broken pieces of parents who are unable to relate to their children who in turn end up looking for this missing love and understanding in all the wrong places with violent and destructive effects.

Dean's character is ashamed of his father who in his eyes is hen-pecked and cowardly and he insists upon good answers from his father as to why he is feeling the typical hormone-induced depression that most teenagers go through and when that is not forthcoming, he rebels in an attempt to hurt his parents. Wood's character is similar in that she also has communication problems with her father who is uncomfortable with physical closeness now that his daughter has become an attractive teen perhaps in an over-reaction to his own incestual desires? Confused at his behaviour Wood's character believes her father hates her and so she too rebels in an attempt to hurt him. Mineo's character is the most pitiful and perhaps most deserving of sympathy; his parents are divorced and they truly appear not to care about him at all leaving him alone with a live-in maid as sole companion. This film is truly touching for me as I can personally relate based upon my own experiences growing up with many of the issues portrayed here.

The dvd is also a treat as the bonus features contains a couple of good behind-the-scenes documentaries and except for a few minutes at the start, the picture quality is very good and the sound quality has been remastered very well in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround making this the best old movie picture and sound quality-wise that I've seen on dvd to date.

A very good film and a very good dvd version of it; highly recommended!

**** 1955. Original story and direction by Nicholas Ray. Three nominations for the Oscars. James Dean and Natalie Wood, in conflict with their parents, meet Sal Mineo, a neurotic kid. They'll have to deal with a local gang and the police forces. Plato's myth of the Cavern revisited by Nicholas Ray. Behind the usual clichés of a movie about juvenile delinquents, the director tells us again the Greek myth that opposes the world of the shadows (night, planetarium, abandoned mansion) to Reality. Highly recommended.