Short summary for those who haven’t seen it – Jim Stark and family move to new town, Jim goes to school, faces bullying and home issues, while searching for a solid start into the adult world – befriends Judy and Plato and begins on a new path in life. Through knife fights, car races, police chases and ultimately death, some characters mature and become the adults that they were destined to be.
The beginning of the film is the keystone for setting the basis for the characters for the rest of the film. In a short space of time, we meet each integral character and gain an insight into their personality and life. An icon forms on screen, James Dean stumbling blindly on to a new path in his life. Drunk, he lies like a child on the ground befriending a toy monkey, which he subsequently covers up so it doesn’t become cold (the beginnings of a surrogate father, perhaps?) This is repeated throughout the film as the role of the father figure skips from character to character – Jim providing his jacket to a friend, on more than one occasion, and Jim’s own father providing his to his son at the conclusion of the film.
Back to the police station, where major characters light up our screen. Take Judy – her appearance forces instant attention. There is some instant attraction that we don’t have with any other character (in that scene). She has this presence – we can’t help but sit up and take notice. There is this sense of rebellion about her, an inevitable connotation with the colour red, but when faced with authority she seems to crumble. All the barriers come down and we just see this young girl who just wants to be loved by her Dad. Daddy’s little girl isn’t little anymore, yet resorts to walking the streets to get attention.
The director cleverly manages to portray an inkling of the relationship between the members of Jim’s family. Jim’s Father pounds out advice, trying to protect his son from society’s corruption, but only hinders him in forming any solid relations with people his own age. His Father is constantly over-ruled by his dominant, controlling wife – a person always trying to gain that vital last word in the argument – however, that goes to his Grandmother. The Grandmother constantly plays one parent against the other, trying to come out as the good guy in all of this. Jim just wants to see his Father stand up against his mother but his Father lacks the courage.
This carries on to the next scene, Jim’s first day at his new school. The traditional American picture of the family all sitting round the breakfast table, before Father goes off to work, children go to school and the Mother left to be the good housewife that she is. Here, we find another battle for dominance – Jim’s Mother expressing that she made Jim’s favourite lunch, his Grandmother piping up about how she made the cake. This battle seems to cease as Jim’s nerves are obvious, before he even states the fact himself. However, you find yourself questioning how long they may stay in this town – for the reasons they have moved around so much start to unfold. His father once again provides his own advice as Jim walks out the door, basically telling him to choose his friends carefully – another clever script ploy that lets us into the family’s, and Jim’s past in particular. Not liking his Father’s input Jim storms away and begins his fast-paced, volatile relationship with Judy.
Our introduction to the ‘Kids’ is no real surprise – by the way Judy walks and talks on that first day meeting Jim just emits coolness. Or arrogance. It can be easily mistaken. You expect her to be the total opposite to Jim – who in a busy, loud family seems very lonely. It is only as the film plays out that we see that Judy is exactly the same as Jim – both of them are trying to find where they fit in, in the grand scheme of things, looking for a father figure they can idolise and a sense of being wanted by someone.
Judy’s home life is just as unsatisfying as Jim’s – we see in the police station her obsession with image – her use of lipstick and compact, an item that has strong connotations with her father. She seems to need her father’s attention and wearing lipstick is a way of fulfilling that need. However, it is his disgust of her wearing it that causes Judy to rebel.
Now beginning his first day of school, Jim encounters another key character that will change his life – Buzz. The audience will instantly see Buzz and his gang’s dislike of Jim, which, with further thought, can only be seen as envy. Jim expresses a very nonconformist attitude – he doesn’t portray a desire to join their gang or indeed even look up to them – it is they, in fact, that are in awe of him. Where as Jim is seemingly living in the real world, Buzz and his gang look as if they have stepped out of a book, or even a comic book (“you’ve been reading too many comic books” is stated by Jim as Buzz punctures his tyre on the class field trip). From the beginning of the film we realise Jim’s detest for the word ‘chicken’ – he tells Officer Ray of his troubles at home, about his father being constantly ‘pecked’ and nagged at by his mother – “I never want to be like him” he tells Ray. Therefore, we realise that the violent reaction Jim has to the word ‘chicken’ stems from his parents – to call him a chicken is to basically tell him that he has kind of morphed into his father – he is becoming the man he doesn’t want to be. It is this simple name calling that causes Jim and Buzz to get into the knife duel.
The duel means more than what we see on the screen. To the gang it is fun, a taunt, a game. However, to Buzz it is almost an initiation – to test Jim, perhaps. To Jim, it is a chance to change fate – to step up, have the courage and not crumble like his father. This is the same when the ‘chickie run’ takes place. It is in both of these situations we realise why Buzz is perhaps the leader of the gang – it his honesty that puts him above the rest, he has no surprises for him in life. “He’s cute, but he’s real tough too” he honestly states. However, Jim and Buzz cannot just kiss and make up – they have to do something macho to express their affection for each other. The ‘chickie run’ is a perfect way to do this – unfortunately, Buzz’s death means that any possibility of a future friendship or alliance is ruined. Buzz and Plato can only exist in a world that couldn’t possibly be real. If they survived life wouldn’t evolve, I don’t think – it would be this never-ending cycle, where nobody matures.
Following Buzz’s demise, we see Judy and Plato idolise Jim – moulding him into a role of an ideal father figure. We see Jim desperately trying to be nothing like his father. However, Plato creates a character in his head, like from a book. It is through Jim that the audience see Plato transform – Jim listens to him and stands up to the challenge, unlike Plato’s father whom he, and we, never see.
The observatory plays a big part in the film – it is where Jim and Plato’s close relationship truly begins. Where Plato and Jim talk about the end of the world eerily predicts a sombre future – ‘do you think the end of the world will come at night?’ Plato asks – Jim replies ‘No, dawn’ which ultimately proves true for Plato. The deep admiration for Jim stems from a relationship off screen, where Mineo admitted he was attracted to Dean, and that reflected on the set.
Plato thinks that the end of the world will come at night – this forces us to question his decision for only emerging from the observatory if all the lights would be out. In the dark, people can’t focus on faces, features, emotions or reactions.
It is the end scene where all the issues the teens face culminate and result in Plato’s death. Chased into the observatory, Plato sulks in the dark, feeling that Jim ran out on him back at the old house they hanged out at. Here, we get a real sense of Plato’s personality – sulking is his way of proving how much he cares – children sulk to prove love. It is Jim’s maturity and, acting like he feels a father would in this situation, that coaxes Plato to come out.
It is Plato’s death that kick starts a new path in Jim and Judy’s life – not in the imaginary, fictional-like world we saw them in before, but the adult world that they were so desperately searching for. The audience see a repeat of the coat being provided by Jim, as he covers Plato’s body – an action not only of affection, but almost a symbolic stance of ‘yes, I am an adult now, I’m entering a world that is more meaningful.’ This then reflects to Jim’s father, who then protects Jim with his jacket. Nicholas Ray’s simple actions in a film so full of issues, seem to show the audience the complexity of real life and what humans face – simple acts changing the way we interact and live.
The whole film and the issues it covers are amazingly accurate for today’s times. For a film that was made in the fifties we see the beginnings of an almost downfall in teenage society – in basic terms we see gangs, knife crime, peer pressure and a constant fight against authority. We even see the dominant female – Jim’s Mother and perhaps Judy, to a certain extent. In a world where most fathers seem absent in a child’s life this film is as relevant as ever. Ray almost has a message for teens (perhaps a personal message for Dean) – don’t look back at what could have been. When adulthood occurs don’t move so fast to blame your parents for the way you live now or how you turned out (Dean’s parents dying, causing him to live the way he did).
The ending, ends like most teenage films – with a resolution. All films will perhaps force us the question what will happen next, when the film has ended – but Rebel Without A Cause ties up most of the loose ends.
I truly love this film – it is very hard to pick my favourite film of all time, but this is one I can’t live without. The icon that is James Dean, the almost sheer ruggedness of his acting shows a passion for his craft. However, it is well known that Dean’s true flare came on the stage – it is only in photographs and rare footage that we see a glimpse of that. Anyone who saw it in the flesh will have been blown away. I am saddened that I never saw it in my lifetime.
The film means so much to me.
