MovieChat Forums > Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Discussion > Shallow movie

Shallow movie

posted 13 years ago by kugelis
8 replies | jump to latest

Yesterday I watched one after another: first Badlands and then Rebel Without a Cause.

Badlands was astonishing.

Rebel Without a Cause was a shallow movie. Yeah, all that teenage gang stuff, we all had it in our school. And it is stupid. I know that if you make a movie about that kind of stuff, you will get lots of people going to movie theaters. So it is a good way to make money.

But I try to learn something every time I am watching a movie. And what had I learn from this one? Don't really know, just another impersonation of our sick society.

And I would never make a hero of the main character. If you do that, then it will act as a role model for young generations. Do we need mode ego driven gangs and gang leaders?

It was very delusional. The relationship of Jim and Judie can go nowhere. They are not humans. They are pretending to be someone else - heroes and bitches. Yeah, the top rated hero gets the top rated bitch. But then what? These characters a missing such a big part of the life. And it is sad too watch.

[–] novastar_6 13 years ago

We obviously saw two very different movies.

Impersonation of our sick society? No, the first look at the plague of juvenile delinquency, of the generation gap between post-war parents and teenaged children who were starting to question their parents and the reasons why for everything.

And nobody says Jim Stark is a hero, he's just the main character, he is a confused teenager who needs his father to help him and his father will not because he cannot because he doesn't know what it takes to be a man so he can't teach his son what does.

Also, Jim is not in a gang, and he's not a gang leader, Buzz was the gang leader and Buzz died in the chicken run.

Teenagers aren't human? Well after the Exorcist yeah we can kind of see that one, and what part of life are they missing?

[–] jim_irs_reports 13 years ago

If you had seen it like I did when it came out, it would left you breathless. Teens didn't talk and act around adults like Dean did in that film. That's what made him a cult hero. We couldn't get enough of it. He was the first "rock" star although he didn't live long enough to see the start of the rock era. And it's Judy, not Judie.

[–] athomed 13 years ago

This post from the OP is borderline trolling. You sure sound quite jaded about the movie and your reasoning, of course, isn't about some plot hole, but your subjective gripes.

Jim and Judy are alienated youths, but both of them at least attempt to do the right things as they see them.

_______
Stripping under the name Malcolm Sex, I pleased the ladies by any means necessary.

[–] heyuactor 8 years ago

I don't think kugelis saw and read your remarks, because you replied to another poster, not the OP. I'll reply to the OP next, and hope he sees your remarks...

Hot stuff:http://tinyurl.com/h7txlz7

[–] mdonln 8 years ago

athomed says > This post from the OP is borderline trolling. You sure sound quite jaded about the movie and your reasoning, of course, isn't about some plot hole, but your subjective gripes.

I didn't get the impression the OP was trolling but maybe that's because I kind of agree with what was said. I have heard about this movie for a long time but only recently got the opportunity to watch it.

I know the movie is called Rebel without a cause but I didn't realize it so well described the movie. I couldn't figure out what these teens were rebelling against. It's probably because I'm watching in the context of today when teens have a whole lot more and bigger problems than the teens of the fifties and especially those depicted in the movie.

What I saw was Jim lashing out at his parents because they moved too often. They do it to try to keep him out of trouble but much of the turmoil travels with them since it's in his own home. I didn't get it.

In Judy's case, I could see why her father might be standoffish towards her. A lot of men become uncomfortable with their daughters when they start to become women. It is a reaction that makes sense. I'm not saying he handled it in the best way but she didn't either. Her mother or step-mother should have stepped in to talk to them about it individually and try to mediate the issue.

The only one with understandable problems was Plato. He had been abandoned by his parents and was friendless. That kid had a lot of problems but his 'friend's' who should have been able to relate didn't seem to pay any more attention to him than his missing family.

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie but I suspect not nearly as much as most people who are fans of the movie. Had I been around when it was made and saw it at the time I might have had a different appreciation for it. Then again, I watch a lot of older movies and love them. I usually find plenty of things to which I can relate but unfortunately not so much in this movie.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

[–] liscarkat (18373) 3 years ago

"Trolling"

Meaning "has a different opinion than me".

[–] heyuactor 8 years ago

It is very delusional.

Nope. They are not perfect but they are struggling to find themselves, and hoping this is true: https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/12805665_10153974938794450_3654078367703363131_n.png?oh=262e7a09962eea37542aa87cb910fc68&oe=57DEC493
Maybe you should watch it again.

[–] PrometheusTree64 8 years ago

It's dated, obviously, and not just because the cars and the clothes are out of fashion.

But REBEL is one of those period piece pictures which attempted, however affected that attempt, at dealing with teen angst and juvenile dilenquency as it had become a problem by the American Decade of the 1950s. It was an era where the teenaged demographic which had been previously ignored was just coming into its own as a separate grouping -- not quite children and not quite adults, and all expected to start grown-up life very quickly without always knowing what to do, with The Bomb (a big issue then) hanging over their collective heads. And that Cold War doom (which is palpable throughout the movie) stood in marked contrast to the postwar, economic optimism which was afoot at the time.

Which is why the night scenes from REBEL have the same kind of feel as those from the original THE BLOB: a little haunted, a little creepy, and for some reason terribly sad.

Does the movie make itself into kind of a preachy, posing sudser? Yeah, sorta, but the '50s would have had a hard time doing the subject matter any differently.

However successful its contrivances may or may not have been, when you understand the huge impact this movie had in the mid-'50s, that tells you as much about the zeitgeist as it does the picture itself.

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