#465. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Natalie Wood and James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause (1955).

I've finally got around to watch the classic Rebel Without A Cause (1955), which I've previously only seen parts of. Generally. it was exactly as expected, as it is known for being one of the earliest true teenage dramas. Many of the themes are still relevant today, although the setting and the mentality is very 1950s. Acting wise, it reminded me of Elia Kazan's movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), where you can see two acting schools clashing against each other, the new method acting and the old classical Hollywood acting, but in this movie James Dean is the method actor and basically the rest of them are of the classical school (in many ways, even Natalie Wood).

I won't say too much about it other than it was nicely shot, with some interesting tilted framing, which I usually dislike in films. Also, some of the obvious moralizing dialogue took me out of the movie from time to time, and the choppy acting as well (from all the cast). It also surprised me where the story went. In the end, you feel like it didn't accomplish much, or tell anything truly significant about life as a whole. This might sound a little bit unfair because it deals with teenage life, but even then, I believe one could dig a little bit deeper and be a little bit more creative. One thing is for certain though, the movie is pretty entertaining all the way through, and never feels too long. Everything about the movie is a bit too middle-of-the-road.

5/10