Rebel Without a

CauseRelease Date:

27 October 1955 (USA)

Storylinehttp://www.imdb.com

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.

Plot Summary

Jim Stark's family has just moved to the suburbs of Los Angeles. He meets Plato, and Judy, whom he likes. He somehow gets mixed up with some tough guys who talk him into participating in their "Chickie run", which involves driving cars towards the edge of a cliff. One of the other boys accidentally dies, and he was Judy's boyfriend. So, Jim, Judy and Plato are forced to hide in an old abandoned mansion to hid from the police and the friends of Judy's boyfriend, who believe that Jim ratted on them to the cops.

Actors and charactersJames Dean as Jim Stark Natalie Wood as Judy

Actors and Characters

Sal Mineo as John“Plato” Crawford

Jim Backus as Frank Stark Ann Doran as Mrs. Carol Stark

Corey Allen as Buzz Gunderson

Dennis Hopper as “Goon”

Trivia• For the knife fight between Jim (James Dean) and Buzz (Corey Allen

), the actors used real switchblades and protected themselves by wearing chainmail under their vests. Link this trivia

• James Dean did not get malaria during filming, as some have reported. Nick Adams had a relapse of an old case of malaria he got while he was a merchant marine. Link this trivia

• James Dean badly bruised his hand during the police station scene where he physically vents his rage on a precinct desk and had to wear an elastic bandage for a week. Link this trivia

Triviawww.imdb.com

• In the final scene where the camera pulls away from the observatory, director Nicholas Ray is the person walking toward the building. (possible director's trademark for it is rumored he appeared in all of his movies) Link this trivia

• Originally in the beginning of the movie, there was a gang beating up a father, who drops a toy on the sidewalk. The studio thought it was too violent, so it was cut. Jim Stark can be seen playing with the toy after he finds it on the ground during the opening credits Link this trivia

• T-shirt sales soared after James Dean wore one in this film.