First, I have to say that Dean was one good lookin' guy.

Ok, now I need one of you who were around at the time of this movie to discuss it with me. I'm not really sure I understand it very well - and I've seen it several times.

He did get into the knife fight, but I don't know that I see the deep angst that I was supposed to. What exactly was wrong with the parents? I mean, his father _was_ pretty wimpy, and the mother was domineering, but I see that in the world sometimes now.

Maybe I'm missing something, and I really want to understand it. I do think it's a good movie; I just don't quite get parts of it!

I just watched the movie--I hadn't seen it in a very long time.I did see it when it first came out, but I do not recall being able to identify with any of the characters, although I was a teenager at the time (but I was younger than the teens in the movie).It is hard to believe how repressive the 50's were and what little influence teens had.The voting age was 21, and teens were not the marketplace consumers that they are now.Being a teenager then was sort of like being in limbo--you were just waiting to be a adult.You had no power and very little influence over anything.When I watched the movie today it struck me as an indictment of all of the parents of the three central characters--Mineo's for abandoning him, Wood's for not being able to deal with her sexuality, and Dean's for not providing role models, support, or empathy.Basically all three kids needed more love and understanding than they were getting.I think that in the knife fight scene part of the character's angst came from the fact that he was desparately trying to stay out of trouble (given his past history) but he also did not want to be thought of as a coward.He was also more mature than the others and he rightly understood that fighting with weapons was dangerous.His parents were both more caught up with their own needs than with his.The Dean character could not tolerate the father's emasculation by the mother.He needed a role model to show him how to be strong, how to make decisions, how to express anger (or at least he thought he needed those things).In fact, Dean's character was a much stronger individual than his father, and, in the end, he helped his father to grow a little.I had the feeling that there were more problems in the parents' relationship than were expressed in the movie. At one point Dean's character says to the mother that she is always blaming their need to move on him or on the neighborhood but ,"You never look at yourself". I wondered whether the father had a drinking problem that was entirely omitted from the movie, and that Dean blamed his mother for for that also.I think Dean's character was trying to goad his father into being a man, just as he wished his father would help him become a man (the irony was, Dean's character was already a man).The times were different then and many of the outlets teens have now just didn't exist.In addition it was a time of relative unquestioning
obediance to authority.There was also the threat of atomic warfare and the
world blowing up (which is why the explosion in the plantarium slideshow at the beginning of the movie elicited

a strong reaction from the kids).The Dean character really didn't seem all that rebellious now-although he clearly did not want to be as conventional as his parents, and he was determined to be his own man.This time around I finally appreciated what a fine actor he was--he had extrodinary power to convey naked, raw emotion.It is a rather timeless
portrayal of adolescence--although todays' teens would probably act out out their angst in much more flagrant ways.

It's my understanding that the director gave the actors free license to redo any scenes they wanted to. Apparently, Dean asked to redo the last scene a great many times. Mineo wondered what he was doing wrong that his friend wanted him to redo the scene, but then realized that Dean wasn't quite happy enough with his _own_ performance. Mineo said that Dean's acting just got better and better each time they reshot it. Wow - and it truly is powerful.

Thanks for reminding me about the threat of atomic bombs during that timeperiod. I had forgotten that that would have been a very real and timely thing for them. That makes the planetarium scene make a lot more sense in my mind.

I like your analysis. You have some great points that I hadn't considered. Thank you!

It is interesting to know that the directer gave Dean so much leeway in doing his scenes--he certainly got great results!Since you are much younger than I am, I am curious about how the movie struck you.Do you think that the theme of alienation (very prevalent in the 50's)--these kids were alienated from their peers as well as their parents--rings true now? The basic idea of teens wanting to "fit in" is still true, but these kids had so few options in terms of expressing themselves, that it might not make sense to a younger person these days.If the movie was made today, the issue of dealing with sex and anger would have been expressed much more openly.Do you think the title fits the movie? Do you think Dean looked too old for the part? I do--although I'm sure glad he was cast for the part.

Oooooh. Good questions. I may have to think about my answers some before I can really answer, but here's what I thought of off the top of my head.

Maybe the reason that I am having difficulty understanding it is my age. Compared with what you see and hear on the tv now, Rebel was so tame. I guess it really brings home just how bad things have become - we're desensitized.

Does the title fit? A week ago, I would have said no. But, now that you have me thinking more about what life was like for that generation, maybe it does. It certainly wouldn't fit the movie today.

It's hard to say whether Dean looked too old for the part or not. Looking back through yearbooks and photos of that time (and even earlier decades), people seemed to look older than we do now. I've heard it said that it comes from having to mature faster and take on more responsibilities at an earlier time. My parents were married when Mom was 19 and Dad was 21 (they just celebrated their 36th anniversary and are as much in love now as then! ). I cannot even fathom being married at that age. Yet, this was not unusual for the timeperiod. In that regard, I'd say that Dean really appears like any other teenager of that day. Surprisingly, I'm not sure if I'd say he looks too old for the part. (Keep in mind that tv/movies today cast even older people in teenage roles. John Travolta as a teenager in Grease? Now, _that's_ too old for the part. No disrespect intended to him - I loved that movie and him!) Besides, Dean was such a cutie that I'd hate for him to not be in the movie!

Mineo sure was young looking, though. What is some of his later work that shows him older? I know he did some acting later in his life.

Tell me more about this alienation that they had. What do you feel is the difference between teens today and then? What changed and when? In your earlier post, you said that teens have outlets now that they didn't have then. What are these?

I'm trying to get my coworker to watch the movie, so we can discuss it, too. She's 31, so that would give us another younger opinion. When she does, I'll ask what she thinks about your comments/thoughts.

The 50's were characterized by an overwheming emphasis on conformity, a
lack of any passionate causes (maybe that explains the title of the movie), and a corresponding pervasive hypocrisy.In the movie Dean's parents embody all of these qualities.People were less psychologically sophisticated --they didn't delve into their own feelings, much less those of their chidren.What was missing in terms of outlets for teens? Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. Sex was neither seen (in movies everyone slept in twin beds and always kept their clothes on) read about (books by D.H. Lawrence and Henry Miller were still banned) or talked about. Among high school students in the 50's there was little sexual intercourse--females were expected to be virgins when they married and there was a fear of pregnancy.Natalie Wood's character was apparantly "rebelling" by acting too sexual for the time--but it was such a repressive era they couldn't make it explicit in the movie. Dean's character was shown drunk ( a no-no then.Even at parties high schoolers did not drink in the mid 50's). He also expressed strong emotions, challanged his parents, and did not go along with their hypocrisies.He may also have been wrestling with homosexual concerns--a topic never openly discussed in the 50's-hence his emphasis on being "manly" and his revulsion at his father's passivity. In those days men wore the pants in the family (literally and figuratively).Women didn't have careers ( unless they were teachers,librarians , nurses or some other traditional job).We lived in a country which still had institutionalized racism and school segregation.And nobody really made much noise about any of

those things (it is hard to believe now).In the 60's all of that changed--the sexual revolution, the woman's movement,the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war protests, the drug scene, rock and roll all happened and everything freed up. But in the 50's when these kids lived , you couldn't use the word "virgin" in a movie.And when they did "rebel" their outlets were so limited that their behavior seems very tame now.At the time, however, just showing teens having real feelings, real concerns, and serious conflicts with teir parents was radical.

I just thought of something else.One glaring thing that stuck me in the movie was the lack of response to the death of the boy in the race scene.They were frightened of getting into trouble but there was no real response to the death of a friend.Wood's character is shown at home only mildly upset (wasn't he her boyfriend?) and the other "hoods" are only upset that they got called down to the police station. Dean's character really didn't know the kid that died, but his main concern was telling the truth about the incident
(and no real horror about the death of another kid).Dean's parents likewise don't react to the death--they seem more concerned about appearances and want their son to stay out of it. If anything captures the emotionally stifling,repressive quality of the 50's it is the failure of the filmmaker to show any real reaction to this death.That is not really the way people react !!! But that is the sort of denial that went on in the 50's.Even the death of Mineo's character at the end, while it elicits more of an emotional reaction from the other characters,is
minimalized because the movie then ends--so that death becomes a plot device to draw the other people closer together and give a slightly upbeat ending to the movie.You just can't imagine how closed-in the world was in the 50's--looking back on it I find it hard to believe.And I'm so glad the 60's came along and changed it all!

C-belle, again, I have to thank you for your interpretation of this movie for me. "Talking" to you has really given me some insight into the film that I never had. And, all the other people I've talked to about it have been other 30-35 year olds, who, like me, had no understanding of it.

It's so easy to watch this movie through 1990's eyes and wonder what the big deal about it is. I think the fact that the movie really requires that you forget your present outlook on life and recall a different era makes it even more of a classic that ever.

I would really like to rewatch the movie with your thoughts in mind and see if my interpretation of it is clearer.

I'm going to need to reread your last posts and think about them more before I really make a comment. But, if you think of something else before I do, please post again. Your analysis is extremely helpful.

The movie is very dated. It does help
to know something about the 50's
because, by today's standards, the
behavior of those teens seems very
tame indeed (except for Mineo's
character who would be considered
disturbed today also). Nice middle
class teens in the 50's were
suppossed to be happy because they
were materially comfortable--period.
The feelings of angst these
characters express are
timeless--teens today still have the
same problems.But the format of the
movie dates it. If you made a movie
now about teens in the 50's it would
be a very different sort of film. The
50's were a time of active censorship in this country--particularly with regard to sex and any sexually related subjects.The director of this movie could not show Wood's character even "necking" with her first boyfriend or with Dean--let alone show anything else.The language in the movie could not infer anything sexual--nor could anybody curse.No way could homosexuality even be hinted at--but all the mumbling about being "manly" is skirting around that one.So the movie is dated in it's presentation of it's subject--very dated.But because the acting (particularly Dean) is so good and so honest it overcomes some of the phoniness that is inherent in a 50's movie of this type. His performance is what makes the film worth watching now.For a 50's movie which comments on the climate of the 50's take a gander at "The Invasion Of
The Bodysnatchers" (the original black & white film with Kevin McCarthy--not the later remake with Donald Sutherland). People are being turned
into conforming automatons without emotions or soul (the movie had nothing to do with aliens--it was a social comment on the times)--and the 50's was like that.It was a somewhat abberant period---but many of us did not realize that at the time.

Trivia note on "Rebel": the old house where Dean, Wood and Mineo hid out was the very same mansion of Norma Desmond, in Billy Wilder's masterpiece, "Sunset Boulevard". tjoeb};>

Since this was on tv last night, and some of you might have watched it, I'm moving the topic back up to the top to see if we can get some more comments about it.

Aw... why dont we get re-runs like that in Hong Kong, You all really made me want to see it again.All I remember is swooning every time Dean came on the screen and covering my bedroom walls in his pictures.I know I was overwhelmed with the reality of his acting, and must have been identifying with the character, but I really need to see it again NOW... love renJP