Rating: 
Summary: Had a few moments
Review: This is an example of a bad good film. Not a film so bad, such as "The Thing" or "Plan 9", that is still fun to watch, but a film held in such high regard as to fall short in nearly all categories. Most of the "high school" kids were 19 or older (except Sal and Natalie), and James Dean was 24 - which strains credulity. Natalie's boyfriend drives off a cliff and is killed, yet she shows no emotion about it. The movie did have a few truly good moments - "you're tearing me apart" is the classic scene, and "give me something, dad", but on the whole it was as forced and unreal as the studio "interviews" of cast members also on the DVD (with staged close ups of directors giving commands, etc). James Dean's death seemed to launch him into some icon level, but I'm not sure his acting in the big three melodramas (RWAC is the middle film) warranted it. It might have been big when it was released, but it seems overblown and dated today. It might be worth a watch, but I found it entertaining for the wrong reasons.
Rating: 
Summary: Sal Mineo, James Dean, Natalie Wood, in a masterpiece
Review: What can be said about a film that is one of the most influential classics ever made? PLENTY! "Rebel without a cause" is still a timeless masterpiece. Kids of today can still relate to it's basic premise, of youth misunderstood.. .of wanting to belong.. The clothes, hair, and times may have changed, but the story of 3 teens, bonding as the world around them seems to cave-in, is just as potent today as it was in 1955. James Dean delivers a knock-out performance, as Jim Stark. It's his first day at a new high school. Only, this time, he wants to do things the right way: A troubled past, his parents avoid problems by simply moving. On this day, Jim truly wants things to be different for good. The night before wasn't great!. Arrested for public intoxication, his parents, perhaps the first glimpse of a "dysfunctional" family on screen, hardly know how to handle the situation: Mom is overbearing, self-centered and constantly ruling over anything his father has to say. His dad is a lilly-livered man with good intentions, but Jim needs guidance. He begs for it, in his rebellion. At the police station, among the other teens in trouble, is Judy (played by the gorgeous, Natalie Wood). Judy has similar problems with her parents. Her father actually slapped her for kissing him on the cheek! All Judy wants is to feel loved. Also at the jail, is John "Plato", played to perfection by Sal Mineo (Nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor). When we first meet Plato, he is being questioned why he shot a bunch of puppies, a horrifying way to introduce a character, but somehow, Mineo makes us care about Plato, a rich kid with tons of problems: His dad disappeared, and his mom is always away on trips, leaving him to be cared for by the family maid. Plato is looking for somebody to be his friend, or family. And by the end of 24 hours, these 3 will make their own tightly knit little circle. After a rough start in school, Jim finds trouble during a field trip at "Griffith Park Observatory" with a bunch of rough kids, including Judy, who runs with the wrong crowd. Jim meets Plato at the Observatory, who warns him not to "monkey with" them. But, the kids are dead-set on causing Jim trouble, and before we know it, Buzz, the leader of the gang, forces Jim into a knife-fight.. Jim, Judy, and Plato form a kind of "family",(and it's obvious Plato has a crush on Jimmy,possiby the first gay teen in cinema history) and end up hiding out at a deserted mansion near the Observatory, as the gang searches for them, as well as the police. In Jim, Judy finds a young man who she can truly love...And Plato finds a buddy he always has wished for.. .. The performances are so gut wrenching, and real, you cannot help but feel their pain.. .When Plato screams out, "save me" holding a gun, as the gang closes in, you cannot help but feel his pain. These 3 not only make you care for them, but you can almost "feel" their agony. "Rebel" is not just the tale of teens trying to fit-in. It is also about friendship.. it's about loyalty.. integrity, and the basic need to feel loved. That is what makes this movie so potent. That is why generation after generation have discovered, and embraced "Rebel". Times have changed, but human emotions haven't: We all long for human interaction, and companionship. And for 24 hours, at least, this family of 3 found it. We should all be so lucky.
Rating:
Summary: Why?...Because... End of Discussion....
Review: Released soon after James Dean's death, in the same year in which East of Eden also appeared, this film immediately attracted and rewarded great interest and has continued to do so. Part of its appeal is explained by the fact that Dean died instantaneously in a violent car crash, Natalie Wood drowned, Sal Mineo was stabbed to death, and Nick Adams overdosed on prescription drugs. Their premature deaths enrich even more the poignancy of their roles as teenage rebels "without a cause." Actually, much of their behavior is explained by their unhappiness in their dysfunctional families. Jim Stark (Dean) feels smothered by his parents who move from one town to another, hoping that he will finally "find himself." Judy (Wood) desperately needs love from a father (William Hopper) who is unwilling and/or unable to provide it. Plato (Mineo) seems to have no contact whatsoever with his parents. Meanwhile, Judy eagerly agrees to be gang leader Buzz Gunderson's "trophy girlfriend." After his death, she shifts her attention to Jim. They and Plato briefly become a "family of three," in one scene in an abandoned mansion even pretending (albeit satirically) to be father, mother, and son. (FYI, the set in which this scene was shot is alleged to have appeared earlier in Sunset Boulevard as Norma Desmond's mansion.) All of the film's action occurs within a 24-hour time period, beginning in a police station and ending with police also involved because.... Nicholas Ray directed Rebel Without a Cause and also co-authored the script. Working with an exceptionally talented cast, he succeeded so well with evoking great performances from that cast that Dean, Wood, and Mineo have since become icons for teenage malaise. They brood, they pout, they withdraw, they whine, they whimper, while feeling totally misunderstood by adults. They especially resent their parents' inability to "get it" even without knowing what that "it" is. I saw this film again recently, again impressed by the quality of the acting but, probably inevitably, much of the film now seems dated to me even as it retains much of its innocence. Some scenes remain quite vivid, such as when Judy stands proudly out in the field, bathed in automobile headlights, before "officially" starting the "Chickie Run" contest; also when Jim urges his Mitty-like father (Jim Backus) to stand up to his (Mr. Stark's) badger-like wife (Rochelle Hudson). It is probably not realistic to expect young people in relatively comfortable circumstances to have a "cause" except to be accepted, respected, and loved on their own terms. This is a "classic" of sorts. When seeing it now, I have the feeling that I have opened a time capsule from 1955 and the film is among the items contained in it.
Rating:
Summary: How about a little Chicky run?
Review: What can I say about this masterpiece of a movie? I love it, It's intelligent cinema, and some people just don't get it. I don't want to attack anyone who has reviewed the movie because, everyone is entitled to an opinion.
But there is a review from someone in Illinois, that obviously did not pay attention to the movie. They comment on the fact that Judy does not grieve the loss of Buzz, Duh! Thats the point, the feeling of isolated youth and the confusion that youth brings. Judy has lost someone so close to her and yet she is not able to cry for him or even show any signs of loss, (Kinda deep huh?)
This same reviewer pointed out that all the actors in the movie overact, What movie were you watching? With all the fake soap opera type acting we see in todays cinema the acting in Rebel seems low key given the circumstances.
Another fact pointed out was the script and lack of quality it showed. Sorry, But I'm gonna have to disagree with you. The script was a combination of other ideas and I feel it has important structure and symbolism that is sometimes missed by the less intelligent viewer.
As for the character played by Sal Mineo, we know from the opening scene that he is a powder keg. He blew away a bunch of helpless puppies because he was upset and distraught. He felt abandoned by Jim and Judy (Just like his mother and father!) and those same feelings made him feel like killing something or someone else. Totally believable.
In closing I would suggest that The reviewer take another look at the movie, maybe three or four more looks. This movie is much deeper than a lousy script and some overacting actors. I would strongly recommend this movie to anyone with a strong and open mind.
Rating:
Summary: You're tearing me apart!
Review: If there's a James Dean movie to be seen, "Rebel Without a Cause" is it. I give this movie thumbs up on the storyline, acting, and cinematography. It is an intense movie about tragic teenage rebelliousness set in the 1950s and depicted in a timeless fashion. James Dean emanates star quality as he gives it his all to portray a character filled with angst and confusion, leaving him lost in a life of parental hypocrisy that he cannot understand or accept. I especially like the clips from the actual audition and his brief interview/promo of the film. He ends the interview with an ominous advice and request for fast/reckless drivers to be careful while driving, stating "The life you save may be mine".
Rating: 
Summary: What movie were you guys watching?
Review: Although I can appreciate that Rebel had a big impact when it originally came out, I cannot for the life of me figure out the praise bestowed upon this awful movie. First of all, every actor in the movie overacts. Not for one minute did I believe that I was watching anything but a bunch of actors trying desperately to rise above the mediocre script. As for that script - could it be any worse? At one point James Dean risks his life because someone called him chicken. He lives but another kid dies. This happens to have been the boyfriend of Natalie Wood. Does Natalie grieve for her boyfriend? Not for one second! James Dean doesn't seem to care or remember what happened either because within a couple of hours he and Natalie are laughing it up and they end up making out. I'm sorry, but this is completely unrealistic. Are James Dean and Natalie Wood inhuman? I know that he's supposed to be a rebel, but it's completely inconsistent with what happened earlier in the film. There are so many similar examples of terrible writing in this movie that to mention them all would be to replicate the script of this movie. However, one thing else that should be mentioned is Sal Mineo's performance. Although his overacting brings you in to try to see what he'll do next, the movie never adequately explains why he goes crazy. Again, it's the script that's just not realistic. Are we supposed to believe that Sal would just start shooting people, including James Dean, because James and Natalie left him alone to sleep for a couple of minutes? The ending is also lousy - and abrupt
Rating:
Summary: A Great Classic
Review: This movie is about a teenager (James Dean) who was a troublemaker that caused his family to move alot. He meets a pretty teenage girl (Natalie Wood) and a troubled boy (Sal Mineo)at the police station (where he was found drunk by a cop earlier). Later he meets the girl's boyfriend and his gang who terrorized him.
The three teens had trouble times with their fathers: James' character had a spineless father who won't stand up for him in front of his domineering mother. Natalie's character was distraught because her father won't return her affections. Sal's character was neglected by his own father (the only time his father paid attention to him was a check sent to him, but no "Hi" or any written note).
There are tender times like in the deserted manison that the three stayed at after a hard night with their families, and tragic scenes like the "chicken run" James had with Buzz, Natalie's character's boyfriend (Buzz died).
There are more to it than I am telling you here, so you just have to watch the movie. This is a very good drama in the 1950s, and James Dean made it so real with some of his emotions and outbursts in the movie. Go buy this movie in DVD or video -- this is worth a lot to watch!
Rating:
Summary: Unwitting Indictment of American Youth
Review: Someone called this movie "The Quintessential American Film". Such hyperbole is not far off the mark. Only in America could the hapless lives of a bunch of spoiled brats be turned into fodder for a mannered story of hand-wringing teenage existential angst. Elsewhere, teenagers are too busily engaged in the business of living and surviving to indulge in the navel gazing so blithely practiced by the young people in this film. I don't mean to say that this is a bad film. It is a great film, a classic film, but for reasons the very antithesis of those cited by its admirers. It is great because it exposes everything that is wrong with American youth: the self-centredness, the self-pity, the lack of self-motivation, the blaming-everyone-but-themselves mindset. It's all there, for those honest enough to see it; and it's all encapsulated in a bunch of misfits so full of themselves that they cannot see beyond the confines of their own paltry little universes. A lot has been written over the years about James Dean's performance. But whether or not he or Natalie Wood or Sal Mineo overplayed their roles is beside the point. What is important is that they effectively conveyed the emptiness in the lives of suburban youth. This film is not a classic because it made Dean an icon, or because his real death would soon immortalize his fictional character, but because of the skill with which insignificant lives were vested with seeming significance. In many ways, this film can be considered the progenitor of the grunge realism school of cinema, a school that persists to the present day and has spawned the pretentious art house films that infest university campuses all over the world. This film could only exist in a world where affluence is so commonplace that it is taken for granted, where life is so self-centred that aimlessness can be elevated to the status of tragedy, and where thrills are so cheap that the jaded can only feel alive by promoting risks that take them to the edge of death. This film gave rise to innumerable games of chicken, knife fight scenes and squint eyed antiheroes mumbling nihilistic doggerel, but it has also suffered from being considered nothing more than the sum of such stylistic devices. In reality, it is an unwitting indictment of American youth, and viewed as such, it achieves a significance that is wholly unintentional.
Rating:
Summary: jimmy dean lives on 4ever
Review: a classic that was a movie of teen angst and now it still remains in the eyes of the viewer. James Dean will always be the rebel and he'll always be there, no matter what. his death was tradgic and his career little, but the impact he had on many still remains and thats why he's considered a great actor of his era. a great movie this was. with award performances by Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo give this life like it ever was. the end is gripping and so are the car racing scenes. you also get to see a young Dennis Hopper which this is his second movie in his career. dont miss this gem. directed by Nicholas Ray
Rating:
Summary: Rebel without a Cause
Review: James Dean is considered the American Rebel for his performance in Rebel Without a Cause. This movie shows real situations that happen for real and it shows how a teenage boy, Jim Stark(Dean), handles the problems that sometimes come with being a teenager.
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