Rebel without a Cause (1955)

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm currently watching Natalie Wood films, and so I re-watched this one not for James Dean, but for Natalie.

The timeline bothers me. This is a lot to happen in a 24-hour period. If Jim's family just moved to this new location, how does the house already look like they've lived there forever? If this is Jim's (James Dean) first day at school, has he already given Plato (Sal Mineo) his address? For that matter, how exactly did the bad boys know that Jim and Plato and Judy (Natalie Wood) were at the old, abandoned mansion?

Anyway, I'd like the timeline to expand a little. Let's see the relationship between Jim and Plato grow. Let's give Judy a chance to move from the "bad kids" to Jim's side. And so on.

Let's unpack the stuff that's implied. I know it's a 1950s movie, but I need some help understanding what's really going on with Judy and her father. I read that it's an "Elektra complex," but that's a little cliche. Show me the relationship beyond what happened one night at dinner.

And what's the deal with Jim's dad? (Jim Backus). He's a little more developed. We see him in an apron, we get that he doesn't stand up for his son or offer him "man" advice. But is there a reason that the wife dominates the relationship?

Much of the film seem a little... odd. I do appreciate some of the camera angles -- either shooting up, or shooting crooked, etc. Other things, like Jim moving next door to Judy. feel a little to contrived. Convenient for the plot but contrived.

Judy and Jim seem to be from upper-middle class backgrounds. It's hard to accept that Judy's gang is all upper-middle class, or why she would associate with those guys and not kids from her own social circle. Is it just a cry for help?

Much has been written about Plato being "coded" as gay. Well, okay. If that's his bedroom and not his mom's room, it's pretty gay. In terms of him "liking" Jim as more than a friend, I would have to say I don't see it. They haven't known each other at all. Yes, we see that Plato makes up stories about things, and in his mind, it's possible, I suppose, that he could make up an elaborate story about Jim... but the story we get is that Plato sees Jim and Judy as being his "parents," which is pretty darn odd that one 16-year-old boy would see two classmates that way.

Interesting film, and I was thinking of it sort of in the "Cool Hand Luke" vibe. Jim, and Judy and Plato, don't fit in, don't know if there's really any purpose to life. And the movie just sort of ends without us knowing what will happen. Will Jim be punished for Buzz's death? For the standoff at the Planetarium? What happened to the kid shot at the Mansion, and the other kids who were there? What happened to Judy? Just a lot of loose ends and questions unresolved.

Cool red jacket, though.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"Digging for the Truth" Experiment #4 -- The Federalist Radio Hour

I first heard of Sean Davis last week. He created an online magazine called The Federalist in 2011, and he currently has about 500,000 followers on X. It was about last week that he posted something amazing. He suggested if the Supreme Court doesn't rule the way they should, not only should Trump just ignore the ruling, if they keep obstructing the administration, he should just dissolve the Court altogether. And I thought, wow. This guy is saying outrageous stuff like that, and there's an audience for it. So, I decided I'd listen to an episode of The Federalist podcast: April 17, 2025 -- Deportation, Due Process, and Deference to the American People (40 minutes) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deportation-due-process-and-deference-to-the/id983782306?i=1000703904873 In the 40-minute conversation, the host and guest discussed why due process wasn't required for illegal immigrants. The case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was mentioned for a brief second, but...

In Utero

In 1994, I wore my In Utero shirt to college. I’d walk down the hall, and people would look at the shirt. I still remember a professor looking at it, not apparently hip to the scene. She asked, “Bret, is there something you’re trying to tell us?” I had no idea what I was trying to say. Kurt Cobain had just shot his head off with a shotgun. Before that life-changing event, I hadn’t been the biggest fan of Nirvana, but I did recognize the immediate impact “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had on music, or at least on MTV. Nirvana had seemingly killed and buried Hair Metal, and they had done it single-handedly. What exactly was this “Alternative” sound? It was weird, because soon it felt like everything was “alternative,” and that didn’t make any sense. Once everything is the same, how can it be anything but standard, normal? Nirvana was okay, but at least at the time I was wearing the merch, I was much more into Offspring and Green Day and Tool. And that’s about as far as I went into...

I Must Betray You -- Ruta Sepetys

I appreciate the pacing. The author's epilogue includes her mission statement -- historical fiction as a way to keep history alive. Romanis is an obscure place, but she hopes people reading the book will take an interest in its history. She also makes the point that there are no clean endings. So, the evil dictator and his wife were killed, but the problems they created didn't magically go away, the country still had to find its way and move forward, and it was a process.

The Writer's Poke

Search This Blog