Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Note Générale:

7,9/10   

Réalisateur:

Nicholas Ray

Scénaristes:

Stewart Stern (screenplay)
Irving Shulman (adaptation)

Date de sortie:

27 octobre 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drame | Romance

Accroche:

Teenage terror torn from today's headlines

Intrigue:

A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

Plot Keywords:

Cliff | Knife Fight | Mansion | Switchblade | Police

Récompenses:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

James Dean Cult-Classic about "misunderstood" teens in 1950s

Ensemble

James Dean	...	Jim Stark
Natalie Wood	...	Judy
Sal Mineo	...	John 'Plato' Crawford
Jim Backus	...	Frank Stark
Ann Doran	...	Mrs. Carol Stark
Corey Allen	...	Buzz Gunderson
William Hopper	...	Judy's Father
Rochelle Hudson	...	Judy's Mother
Dennis Hopper	...	Goon
Edward Platt	...	Ray Fremick
Steffi Sidney	...	Mil
Marietta Canty	...	Crawford Family Maid
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. Stark - Jim's Grandmother
Beverly Long	...	Helen
Ian Wolfe	...	Dr. Minton - Lecturer at Planetarium

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence and thematic elements. (2005 re-issue)

Durée:

111 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Warnercolor)

Rapport de forme:

2,55 : 1

Son:

Mono (optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound Recording) (magnetic prints) | Dolby Digital (DVD version)

Classification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:Not Rated (video rating) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1956) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1981) | Spain:T | Iceland:12 | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | USA:Approved (No. 17504) (original rating) | France:-16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:18 | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:AA (re-rating) (1976) | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:PG-13 (new rating) (2005) | West Germany:16

Lieux de tournage:

7529 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Société:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Anecdotes:

Margaret O'Brien tested for the role of Judy but was rejected by Nicholas Ray after he described her answers to his probing questions as "too pat". Jayne Mansfield also tested but Ray declined to film her audition, considering her 'an hallucination' from the Warners casting department.

Goofs:

Divers: In the scene in which Jim takes the ammunition out of Plato's pistol, he fails to remove the round that would have already been housed in the chamber. While this movie was filmed way before the emergence of realistic gun violence in movies, this is something the nitpicks find annoying.

Guillemet:

Plato: Do you think the end of the world will come at night time?
Jim Stark: Uh-uh, at dawn.

Connexions:

Parodié dans "3rd Rock from the Sun: Father Knows Dick (#1.18)" (1996)

Bande son:

Ride of the Valkyries

James Dean Cult-Classic about "misunderstood" teens in 1950s

Brilliant cast of well-known Hollywood icons in hard-hitting treatment of story that focuses on the hopelessness exhibited by many middle-class teenagers who were too young to recall the pains of WWII, but saw daily reminders of the threat of "the bomb", as well as inequities around them.

James Dean stands out as the troubled kid whose parents keep "moving" to escape their community's effects of their son's strange behavior. Equally great are the performances of Natalie Wood as a "wanna-be-bad-girl" who is hurt by her parents' implications that she is a "tramp"; and the child-like Sal Mineo, who lives in a mansion with a maid, but feels the pains of neglect from never-present parents.

The trio first meet at a police station, where they all see a well-meaning officer who is genuinely interested in getting these troubled kids back on the right track rather than throwing the book at them. He does seem to reach James Dean, who seeks help after getting into more trouble.

The relationship between the James Dean character and that of Sal Mineo is somewhat elusive. At times a more than friendly association is suggested, then the appearance of Natalie Wood makes it look like an odd threesome. 1950s America was definitely unprepared for any "spelling out" of suggested terms, so for nearly 50 years now anyone's guess as to what was going on here is as good as the next.

The supporting cast include Jim Backus as James Dean's well-to-do yet wimpish and henpecked father as well as a young Dennis Hopper as a member of a greaser gang. The parade of big name stars in itself is eye-candy of the highest caliber! References to scientific findings are still awe-inspiring today. Showing young college students' reactions to film footage during a lecture shows that humans can't fully grasp the insignificance of earthly life compared to the vastness of the universe. Carefully watch the final scene as the end credits are shown, when this "point" is driven home.

Rebel Without A Cause is one of the great classics with a sociological impact that has seldom been reached by any film, and likely never surpassed. This film is a ceaseless source of discussions. I recommend this film also for high school History, Sociology or Language Arts classes.