Troubled juvenile, Jim Stark (James Dean), falls victim to a society dooming him to being a delinquent.

Jim meets up with (becomes father figure to) boy (Plato) who hangs on to him. Early on a friendly police officer gives Jim a break or this could quite easily have become a prison drama. Judy (Natalie Wood) (she with the big red lips at one point in the movie) is equally troubled by the relationship with her father.

These three souls all meet up but trouble is only a heartbeat away...

"Why did they make Natalie Wood wear those clown lips in the police station? I think we should be told."

"Clearly the hood in this movie is from the Ivy League - the point of having a knife fight in my neighborhood was to maim or kill, 'sticking it in' was de rigueur."

"Would we have remembered this movie so long had it not been for James Bean?"

"Would James Dean have succeeded had he been bald?"

"My, what a rebel - he drank that milk straight from the bottle out of the fridge! No wonder he is always in so much trouble - damn him!"

Our three heroes go to a Mansion to hide from trouble, but trouble soon comes a'knockin. Plato shoots his handgun and the police are called.

The siege situation is ended when Plato runs out, shooting. Police shoot him dead. Jim cries, hugging his father's leg.

Oh, James Dean, you quintessential essence of juvenile delinquency in our 1950's, pre Elvis, world. A consummate performance by a 24 year old still at High School, with all the angst riddenness that situation implies.

A claustrophobic endeavor, with our hero trying to be accepted, but not being, due to a society full of spittle, cars to trash and not enough warmth for a group hug. A perfectly ordinary soul looking for a reason for his delinquency, but where to look? - 'tis his society at fault, not our little Jim's. Then the killing starts...

But Jim is unable to stop the execution of Plato by the 'boys in blue', who shoot, after Plato shoots at them first - thus bringing an end to that siege that is all our teenage lives.

Thank the Lord, in a very loud voice, they didn't make this movie in the 1970's as those '70s fashions would have made this a laughing stock.

Bubble gum flavored popcorn.

In the knife fighting position, but sitting down or lying on your back.

There is a distinct lack of bubble gum throughout, clearly a terrible oversight for this time in the US's cultural evolution. A few more bubbles, particularly in the knife fighting scene, would have been entertaining - a missed opportunity, are they playing for laughs or what?

A completely accurate portrayal of small town hood-dom of the 1950's. Nobody understands anybody, and, as there is no Elvis yet, there's nothing for the kids to do. Come on Elvis, where were you babe, bring that pelvis over here!

It's difficult to place what the audience for this movie is today... Obviously aging 1950's rockers, of course.

Youngsters will be filled with horror at the dated nature of the picture. Perhaps some will relate to the relationships in here, but maybe not. One for a rainy day, or a James Dean retrospective.

If you have to play a game of 'chicken', try to avoid doing it over a cliff top.

And the most important point to take from this movie is that when you have a knife fight the point is 'not to stick it in'... OK?

75lbs. (Yes, her red lips in the first scene, in the police station, really do look like two slugs.)

A mechanical hair quiff which wobbles from side to side, and up and down.

Thankfully, there are no teenage actors in this movie. Nobody has spots, and everyone has immaculate hair.

A landmark in teen angst from the 1950's. Following this movie, juvenile delinquents were never seen the same way again.

This movie is, of course, remembered because James Dean is in it, one of only three movies he made before killing himself in a car accident - all very ironic as in the movie a teen gets killed playing him at 'chicken' (this scene has always annoyed us - they just found two cars to waste like that???)

Something for James Dean fans of course, but, if you're not, difficult to recommend, although probably culturally important for its time, for all they tell us.

March 9, 2003