Film of the Week: 4

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

There have been many famous car crashes in history, Grace Kelly for instance, suffered a stroke while driving her Rover P6 on September 13th, 1982, which caused her to steer down a mountainside. She died in the hospital the next day.

Jayne Mansfield crashed in a 1966 Buick Electra 225 and was almost decapitated on impact, dying at the age of 34 on June 29th, 1967.

However the most famous of all car crashes is the immortalised James Dean in his legendary 'Little Bastard'. This amazing young star had only stared in three films (all first rate films).

Starting with Elia Kazan's East of Eden, then Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (which was released only a month after his death) and last but not least, George Stevens's Giant (his most mature role).

A rebellious 17 year old with a dark past, Jim Stark (James Dean) arrives at a new high school deifying local bullies, disobeying parents and rebelling against the system. In pre-1955 films, we would hardly ever witness youngsters defying their parents, let along rebelling against the school or system.

His role as Jim Stark is downright mesmerising, showing the American youth as it really was in 1955 with the beginning of the so called beat generation, along with a very young Natalie Wood, Sal Mino and a barley recognisable Dennis Hopper. It is a ground-breaking film.

Sadly however, on September 30th 1955, James Dean's life was cut short when he crashed his Porsche 550 Spyder into a '50 Ford Custom Tudor coupe (belonging to a 23 year old student). He was taken immediately to hospital where unfortunately he was dead on arrival. Ironically, before he died, he filmed a highway safety commercial with actor Gig Young on the set of his last film. The legendary Porsche 550 Spyder has even said to be cursed as it has injured and taken the lives of several others. 

James Dean's icon stature could not be grander, as he is loved by all, not to mention he is very well loved in the gay community. There is even a rumour saying that he had a fling with the King of Cool himself, Steve McQueen. To me, James Dean's performances were only matched by one actor, and that is the young Marlon Brando and to some extent, even a young Montgomery Clift.

Rebel Without a Cause is both a haunting and immortal film, and thanks to the care of director Nicolas Ray, it's a masterpiece.

Click here for the trailer