While
James Dean acted in both television and commercials from the beginning of his
career starting in the early 1950s, he made three movies and three movies only.
Of course, the iconic star’s films were released when I was only 3
and 4 years old and I didn’t catch them on reruns as a teenager and
never quite bothered to watch them on television or DVD. I watched two of them
for the first time this past weekend.
James
Dean’s mythic fame, however, is such a part of our culture that his face is
recognizable by generations who have NOT seen his films. References to James
Dean in music are perhaps the best example of his iconic allure. Depending on
which list you read, there are dozens of songs that either reference his name
or allude to him. These include David
Essex’s “Rock On” and the Eagles’ hit, “James Dean.” Everyone from David Bowie, John Cougar
Mellencamp, Madonna, Englebert Humperdinck sang lines about James Dean’s blue
eyes, that fateful ride, or his famous slouch.
While
all three of Dean’s movies were shot in one year – 1955 – only one was released
before his death. In fact, “East of
Eden” was the only one of Dean’s films that he saw on screen. “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) was released
only a month after his death. “Giant” was hit the silver screen posthumously
the next year and James Dean earned his second Academy Award nomination.
James
Dean was only 24 in September 1955 when he perished in
an automobile accident on his way to a car race event in Salinas,
California. Driving 85 miles an hour (after being stopped only hours
earlier), he collided with a car driven by a 23-year old college student
who had crossed the center line. At the
high rate of speed, Dean could not avoid the car which was too close
to his lane. The impact was practically
head on.
The
screen rights of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” (1952) must have been sold
nearly simultaneously – it was created on celluloid within in three
years of the print publication. The screenn drama only covers
the second half of Steinbeck’s family biography and isn’t particularly faithful
to it.
Steinbeck’s bestselling book, has
not been out of print in over 60 years. The two definitive biographies of
Steinbeck (Jay Parini’s “John Steinbeck, A Biography” 1995 and Jackson J.
Benson’s “The True Adventures of John Steinbeck," 1984) are now twenty and
thirty years old, respectively. Biographer Parini was helped by Steinbeck’s
widow in writing about John’s life (Steinbeck died in 1962) and was granted
access to Stanford’s collection of letters.
The
film version of “East of Eden” is also a classic. Apparently, not only did director Elia Kazan
order Dean to get a tan and fatten up to look more like a farm boy of
California for the movie, but he requested that James visit his
estranged father to reawaken some of the emotional angst. Dean’s painful relationship showed in his
acting, and in his life. His roles as a troubled teen or surly young man were
iconic, and evidentially very true-to-life. His mother had died when he was
only nine years old and Dean was virtually abandoned by his father to be raised
by his aunt and her husband until he graduated from high school. James Dean himself had a complicated
relationship with his father – much like the one depicted in the movie.
Dean’s
second film, “Rebel Without a Cause," was released only a month after his
dead. Actors, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, won Academy Awards for their
supporting roles in the film. They were both only 16 and 17 years old when
the movie was made. Nineteen-year old Dennis Hopper made his big-screen debut
in “Rebel." Performances by William
Backus (“Gilligan’s Island”), Edward Cuthbert Platt (“Get Smart”)
were immortalized by “Rebel." The movie holds a 96%
‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (If you aren’t familiar with the movie
critiques on Rotten Tomatoes, “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940) has a 100%
Rotten Tomatoes fresh rating; the recent “Lego Movie” received a 96%. You might need to adjust your own ratings
according to your own taste.)
Most
of the biographies of James Dean (such as “James Dean: Little Boy Lost” 1992 by
James Hyams, “Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean” 1996 by James Spoto)
are two to six decades old, but most libraries have them on their shelves.
William Bast’s “Surviving James Dean," originally published in 1956 was
recently updated and re-released in 2006 to a current audience of readers.
Warren Beath is the author of “James Dean in Death: A Popular Encyclopedia of a
Celebrity Phenomenon (2005).”
And
so, it’s true that the popularity and mythic proportions of the short life of
James Dean stay fresh and current for new generations. Over 60 years after his death, 20-year old
Beyonce sang in her ballad “Rather Die Young” the lyrics “Boy you’ll be the
death of me, you’re my James Dean. You make me feel like I’m seventeen. You drive too fast, you smoke too much.”
Better
late than never, I watched two of the classic James Dean movies on a DVD
available in the Minuteman Library catalog – “Greatest Classic Films Collection
– Romantic Dramas.” Along with two of
Dean’s classics, the DVD includes Marlon Brando in “A Streetcar Named Desire"
and Paul Newman in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
If
James Dean might walk right off the screen and mingle with us today, we’d all
recognize him, and that’s pretty amazing.
His preppy sweater and blonde pompadour might look a bit old-fashioned
and out-of-sync, yet his boyish swagger and angst-ridden smirk are here to
stay. Rock on, Jimmy Dean.
