MovieChat Forums > Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Discussion > The only major Nick Ray film snubbed in ...

The only major Nick Ray film snubbed in the 2012 Sight + Sound Poll.

posted 12 years ago by woodr9
2 replies | jump to latest

Just click on the "Director" filter box and scroll down to Nicholas Ray: http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/film

Considering its current ranking of 320 on TSPDT (third among Ray's work in acclaim), and the fact that it's still undoubtedly his most well-known outside of film circles, that came as a shock.

Unlike almost every other film on the subject of teen angst, I don't feel it has dated in the slightest (superficial story elements excepted). The subtle Freudian themes are all still relevant, and Ray's visual style still packs a wallop. Any thoughts as to why this might be falling out of critical vogue?

My Top 200: http://www.imdb.com/list/Qzv32mD7dqc/

[–] athomed 12 years ago

Rebel has slowly gone out of fashion among film scholars and those in the industry. Look at AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list. It was number 59 on the 1998 list, then fell off of it completely in the 2007 revision. I think all of this information, plus the fact that it isn't on the IMDb top 250, makes this film underrated at this point.

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[–] Ethan_Ford 12 years ago

The French critics who were the first to enthuse about Ray`s work never rated Rebel as highly as some of his quirkier films like Johnny Guitar or Bigger than life ,which Godard included in his list of the ten best American sound films, and this line is still followed by most of the critics who were balloted by Sight &Sound.