Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
92%RT Audience Score: 88%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 3 Oscars
3 wins & 7 nominations total
Rebel Without a Cause is a searing melodrama featuring keen insight into ’50s juvenile attitude and James Dean’s cool, iconic performance.
Rebel Without a Cause is the ultimate teenage angst movie that will make you want to slick back your hair and rev up your motorcycle. James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo give performances that will make your heart thump and make you want to rebel against the establishment. Nicholas Ray’s direction is outstanding, and the hepcat dialogue is clunky but still valid today. This movie is a mighty, ageless jolt of teen petulance that will make you want to talk to your dad about emotional literacy. Don’t miss this heart-rending film that stands as a potent expression of teen angst still vital today.
Production Company(ies)
Jolly Film Constantin Film Ocean Films,
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros.
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Griffith Observatory, 2800 E Observatory Rd, Los Angeles, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
PG-13
Year of Release
1955
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:2.55 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 51m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 27, 1955 Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 31, 2005
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen, directed by Nicholas Ray, written by Nicholas Ray, Irving Shulman, Stewart Stern, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Jack Moffitt, Kate Muir, Charlotte O’Sullivan, David Parkinson, Peter Bradshaw, Dave Kehr, Eugene Archer, Francois Truffaut, Brian Eggert, André Bazin, David Nusair, Éric Rohmer, PG-13, Warner Bros Pictures, Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros., new kid in town, troubled teens, juvenile attitude, iconic performance, psychological complexity, teenage angst, outsider, misfit, existentialism, knife fight, drag race, chickie run, emotional literacy, parental issues, repressed gay character, absent parents, screen presence, fresh take, well-crafted drama
Worldwide gross: $212,780
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,680,587
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,338
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 292,321
US/Canada gross: $212,780
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,680,587
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,966
US/Canada opening weekend: $116,668
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $1,469,775
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,237
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $18,896,894
Production budget ranking: 1,391
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $10,175,977
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$26,392,284
ROI to date (est.): -91%
ROI ranking: 1,964
Natalie Wood – Judy
Sal Mineo – John “Plato” Crawford
Jim Backus – Frank Stark
Ann Doran – Mrs. Stark
Corey Allen – Buzz Gunderson
Nicholas Ray – Director
David Weisbart – Producer
Nicholas Ray, Irving Shulman, Stewart Stern – Writers
Director(s)
Nicholas Ray
Writer(s)
Nicholas Ray, Irving Shulman, Stewart Stern
Producer(s)
David Weisbart
Film Festivals
Berlin
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 3 Oscars
3 wins & 7 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (56) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (4)
It contains some extraordinarily good acting by the late James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. The direction by Nicholas Ray is outstanding… This is a superficial treatment of a vital problem that has been staged brilliantly.
October 30, 2018
Jack Moffitt
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
With his slicked-up quiff, turned-up jeans and revved-up attitude, Dean instantly achieved icon status.
December 31, 2017
Kate Muir
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Looks and sounds so good it makes your heart thump.
April 18, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
Charlotte O’Sullivan
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
A mighty, ageless jolt of teen petulance. Dean is supreme.
April 14, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The drama and hepcat dialogue feel clunky now, but the movie’s plea for dads to talk to their children — what we now call emotional literacy — is valid enough.
October 23, 2007 | Rating: 3/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
An unmissable film, made with a delirious compassion.
October 23, 2007
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Rebel Without a Cause settles a number of questions regarding Dean’s capacities as an actor. Working more or less on his own, without benefit of Kazan’s rigid control, Dean gave a performance which dominated the film.
June 7, 2022
Eugene Archer
Film Culture
Nicholas Ray is the best current American director. Nobody can doubt it after seeing Rebel without a Cause, a heart-rending film in which James Dean repeats, while expanding upon it, his surprising achievement in East of Eden.
May 6, 2022
Francois Truffaut
La Parisienne
Rebel Without a Cause stands as a potent expression of teen angst still vital today.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Johnny Guitar was the first movie of his to make me reconsider the tempering of my esteem and to make me think that the Nicholas Ray fanatics were right. After Rebel Without a Cause, there can no longer be any doubt about it.
December 8, 2021
André Bazin
L’Obs (France)
…an overwrought, unconvincing endeavor…
February 8, 2021 | Rating: 2/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
No other director knows how to give his characters so clearly the air of having a common genealogy. They are marked with the seal of the same fate, the same moral or physical disease that is not quite taint or decay.
February 1, 2021
Éric Rohmer
Cahiers du Cinéma…
Plot
Jim Stark is the new kid in town. He has been in trouble elsewhere; that’s why his family has had to move before. Here he hopes to find the love he doesn’t get from his middle-class family. Though he finds some of this in his relation with Judy, and a form of it in both Plato’s adulation and Ray’s real concern for him, Jim must still prove himself to his peers in switchblade knife fights and “chickie” games in which cars race toward a seaside cliff.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
James Dean’s performance in Rebel Without a Cause is often cited as one of the most iconic in film history.
Nicholas-Ray.jpg
