James Dean has only made three movies before he died in a car crash in 1955. "Rebel Without a Clause" is one classic movie. It looks at teen anguish in the 1950's. It's abou three teens who must relay on each others. In other words, they trust each other more than their parents. The only good adults in the movie are the Ray the Juvenile Officer and the maid to one of the teens. The kids are played by Natalie wood and Sal Mineo. Both they and Dean gave great performances. Even James Backus is good in a rare dramatic performance. The film made a staement about teen rebel in the 1950's and they made a good statement. There was a powerful opening, one of the best opening of the movie has Dean playing with a mechanical monkey and make it go to sleep by putting newspapers on it's body. Mo only the movie's tough and at times it's touching as well.

This is one of those movies that you have to watch simply because it is considered a classic by so many. Watching it in the present day may make one wonder what the big deal was, however. I think its status may be elevated due to the death of James Dean shortly before this movie was released. That's not to say that it's not good, but it may have been more gritty in 1955 than it is when viewed by today's standards. Teen angst is well recorded in the halls of cinematic history since then, so some of the themes presented in this movie may not carry the same weight with contemporary audiences.