Saturday, June 11th, 2005

James Dean Double Feature

EAST OF EDEN (1955)
The film is set around WWI and takes place in Salinas, California.  Cal Trask (James Dean) feels angry and frustrated that in spite of his best efforts, his father loves his brother Aron much more….and makes that painfully clear.  He tries to win his father’s favor, only to be thwarted at every turn.


James Dean is terrific!  He seems to play the role of a wounded angry youth better than anyone else ever has before or since.  Considering he had a broken relationship with his father in real life, this had to have fueled his performance.  I’ve read that he also hated Raymond Massey (the actor who played the father.)  Director Elia Kazan apparently encouraged their animosity knowing that it would serve them well on screen.  He was right.



REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
Once again James Dean plays the troubled youth, only this time the setting is Los Angeles in the 1950s.  James Dean plays “Jim Stark” whose parents keep moving around and he must constantly try to fit in.  He is naturally angry, troubled and confused about his life and about how to be a man.  His father (who is beaten down by the overbearing wife) is not much of an example.  He befriends Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo) and the three form a bond that they could never find elsewhere.  Tragedy ensues as they are chased and threatened by the local thugs and then the police.  While the film feels very much like a product of the 1950s, in other ways it feels timeless.  Even though the clothing styles and cars have changed, the feelings of alienation, loneliness and teenage angst still ring true.  Clad in blue jeans and a crimson red jacket, James Dean seems to come alive as a walking talking ICON.  He was (and is) the personification of rebellious youth.  Time has done nothing to diminish that.


Warner Home Video just released a James Dean box set with all three of his film and a documentary included.  EAST OF EDEN had been unavailable for years, so if you missed it in the theatres, this is a great chance to see his work.