It figures that the one event I’m late for sells out. A one night showing of Rebel Without a Cause with screenwriter Stewart Stern is a big deal. I took to the Banister of Shame to wait the other numbnuts who couldn’t make it on time. And who happened to be there with me? Why it was The Stranger‘s very talented Associate Editor Eli Sanders! We were the last people on the waitlist; only one of us was getting in. Not to brag, but I think I’d win that fight. Sanders may dress nicer and have a better vocabulary, but I would fucking decimate him. It’d be a good fight, but let’s not kid ourselves.
Anyway, I out-polited Sanders and forced him and his pal to go see Rebel while I stupidly waited for another seat that didn’t open up. Eventually, Sanders tiptoed into the lobby and waved me over. Motherfucking badass dude snuck me in.
Having missed half the movie, I don’t know if I can really review it. Honestly though, I was confused. This was my first viewing, and a movie titled Rebel Without a Cause elicited images of Fonzi throwing bricks at babies while shooting heroin. Instead James Dean, who is the bee’s knees, possesses a solid moral compass. Sure, he’s in a game of chicken that kills some asshole, but he’s the only guy who goes to tell the cops. He doesn’t want to get mixed up in shit. Then again, I’m sure I missed at least a couple plot details in the first half of the movie.
For me it was impossible to watch without thinking of how different the 50’s were. Granted my impression is based on a single work of fiction, but I expected the cops to do more than huff and puff when two guys were stabbing each other with switchblades. I did love how subtle the trash talk was though. Dean was set off when he got called a “chicken.” Imagine an Xbox Live match where the worst insult was “chicken” and not, oh, “shit-eating faggot noob bitch.” We’ve come so far as a people.
The event was one-of-a-kind. Hearing Stewart Stern’s stories after the movie was the real highlight. It was like listening to the last lion on Earth talk about what Africa was like. Poignant stuff. A good recommendation, even if I botched it.
You’ve got me rolling, Mr. Regan!!! Keep writing reviews just like this and I’ll keep reading them (for free).
This kind of movie review reminds me of the ones at http://www.oddtodd.com and http://www.ruthlessreviews.com both of which I adore!
Keep up the good work Kyle!
There is a reason why movies in the 50s contain insults like “chicken” instead of the more realistic “shit-eating faggot bitch”. It’s not because the f-word wasn’t invented yet (or the b-word or the s-word). It’s because of a little something called the Hayes Code, Hollywood’s pre-MPAA-rating censorship rules. The film industry was very restricted in terms of the language and subject matter that could be portrayed on film. So, not exactly an accurate representation of everyday life and language in the 50s. Something to keep in mind if you should ever view RWAC or any other excellent 50s movie in the future.
It is a classic film, but I am a professional film journalist who studies and writes about film for a living. I have a regrettable memory of watching this film with my college classmates back in the 80’s, and most of them laughed AT the film, especially at James Dean’s performance, which supposedly influenced generations of method actors. The title, “Rebel Without a Cause,” and the name, James Dean, had been pop culture references for years, but when this generation finally saw the film and the actor they dismissed both as hokey and corny.
It is not that the 80’s, 90’s, or millennial generation is all that enlightened or sophisticated. Hardly. They have simply deluded themselves into believing that being hyper-cynical and snarky about everything is the equivalent of being smart. Which it isn’t.
@3: Does it make you feel better to hear that when I showed it to my hyper-cynical and snarky high school students (as a preface to Catcher in the Rye), one of them — *the* most snarky of them all — said, “…Actually, that was pretty good.” High praise, from them.
If figures that the most interesting, enjoyable writer at The Stranger is someone they don’t even pay.
It’s spelled “n00b,” you shit-eating faggot bitch.
(Should there be a comma between shit-eating and faggot?)
Seriously, Kyle: I look forward to reading your posts each day. Atta boy!
Yes, it seems rather quaint by today’s standard of migraine-inducing non-stop action movies. But in its time, it was truly badass.
On the plus side, did you notice there wasn’t a single product placement? How novel.
@5 kyle regan may be Holden, may be Clement, you seattlebikeguy may be Hecht, I may be me. It doesn’t matter. Sincere hardworking people are out of work and I’m pretty sure Paul Constant, their antithesis, is a paid employee of Tim Keck or whoever, why in fucking’s god name? because he’s a literary ass sniffer. i prefer East of Eden anyhow.
I never got the pose on the poster for that movie. What is he pointing at?
James Dean was the shit-ass faggot noob bitch par example.
Re: #10
So says Fnarf. Presumably ironically.
Great read, thanks Kyle.
Out in the great wide open
A rebel without a clue
RE: #9
My guess is he’s not pointing.
Maybe the Creative Dept. was trying to not too subtly suggest a “handgun” for a more menacing edge?
What good is Hayes approved delinquency without slipping implied violence past the censors?
And, after all, subliminal sells.
@8 i may be me too righteously wrong. take “Sincere hardworking” and sub with “Sincere, physical labor inclined, non-jokey”
@9 @14
He’s holding a cigarette.
Re: 16
I thought that was obvious and not worth including since it looks contrived, which was my point.
9: I never got the pose on the poster for that movie. What is he pointing at?
I think he’s doing a Lynndie