Jim Stark lives as if trapped: he does not understand what is eating him, but there is no peace of mind. He does not find common ground with his parents, though he tries to fit in the image of a quiet young man from a decent family. His rebellious nature makes the hero take part in a dangerous contest, the aim of which is to prove to the tough Buzz and his gang that he is no coward. Accepting Buzz’s challenge, Jim becomes involved in a chain of dramatic events.
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The answer to the burning interest, “Why is he so serious?” came years after the departure of the exuberant James Dean in the title of the Beatles’ sixties hit, “All You Need Is Love,” which, however, had nothing to do with the character portrayed in this film, the young actor’s instant rise to fame.
Love was needed not only for the obstinate Jim Stark, but also for his casual friends who met him in the corridor of the police station, where a drunken dandy tried to offer his jacket to a boy who was shivering, who had shot innocent dog pups in hysterics, and, at the right moment, grabbed the powder-blonde who had forgotten her when she confessed to the inspector about her uncomfortable family life.
They were brought together almost in the first frame, without any subplots or protracted theorems – here they are, all at once: the son of parents living at odds with each other, a young girl, seeking kind attention from her father, and a boy abandoned by everyone, set against the whole world, which also seems to be against him.
Alienation in the home sends the sufferers to seek shelter on the side or locks them in themselves, making them troublemakers, testing the unending patience of the school, piling a tedious headache on the guards of public quiet, pestering the peaceful population of the sleepy outskirts of the slumbering town with outrages.
Thrown towards them, they comfort the bitterness of their misfortunes by finding a friend, exhausted by the doubts of tired worries, gaining the love and trust of an open soul, grasping for the saving truth of sincerity, which directly challenges the artificial morality of well-being, poisoning thoughts with the poison of hypocritical lies.
Pretty Judy (Natalie Wood) and the slob nicknamed Plato (Sal Mineo) are drawn to the openness of the perfect rebel, worrying about himself and worrying about others, not knowing who and what he is, why and for what purpose he is here, around, understanding only the need to be close to them, because he has no one.
Platonic (and maybe not just platonic) love, Plato and Judy, mesmerized by the hotheaded guy, share the attention of the main character, doomed to become a symbol of self-determined personality for his generation of peers, remaining an idol and carrying the ideal of freedom even to those who do not need it.
Flipping the signs, James Dean proved invincible in the agonizing grief of an outcast, grinding out his anger and rage, mining the answer, taking responsibility for two lives trusted to his good shoulder, fighting off the right of kinship and family by right of misfortune and sympathy, as sincere as those that conquered the living, those living who saw the living in the outstanding image of the actor, who set this role a point, which no monument, even a bronze one, can replace – the peak of the possible and the limit of the performed, he is doomed to be an icon, and therefore – not to live.
The image and style of freedom, he had little left – to die in style, which he did, lying down under the feet of the spies as a star on Hollywood Boulevard, under that famous Griffith Observatory, where in the stellar darkness of the planetarium a living star ignited and swept across the human sky.
The world was on the threshold of space, and Dean showed the planet a cosmic depth, letting go of lingering complexes, letting go of uncontrolled lines, unpredictable, unclear, doubtful, different, presenting an open book of heartache to which the soul lies, finding in the image of the questioning rebel a kindred spirit – an untainted perspective of a future that each of us masters.
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (64.9 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.55:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.55:1
Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish (Latino): Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional).
