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Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

87

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 54,264

My Rating

Movie Info

This landmark juvenile-delinquent drama scrupulously follows the classic theatrical disciplines, telling all within a 24-hour period. Teenager Jimmy Stark (James Dean) can't help but get into trouble, a problem that has forced his appearance-conscious parents (Jim Backus and Ann Doran) to move from one town to another. The film's tormented central characters are all introduced during a single night-court session, presided over by well-meaning social worker Ray (Edward Platt). Jimmy, arrested on

Unrated, 1 hr. 51 min.

Drama, Classics

Jan 22, 2002

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (2) | DVD (21)

An unmissable film, made with a delirious compassion.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Here is a fairly exciting, suspenseful and provocative, if also occasionally far-fetched, melodrama of unhappy youth on another delinquency kick.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Like its hero, Rebel Without a Cause desperately wants to say something and doesn't know what it is. If it did know, it would lose its fascination.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There are some excruciating flashes of accuracy and truth in this film.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An indelible vision of a pretty 1950s America with a searing crack in it.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

1950s James Dean teen-rage landmark still resonates.

June 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

This full-color, widescreen masterpiece gives us remarkable images.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Fine generational drama-tragedy which helped give James Dean movie immortality.

February 22, 2008 Comment
Video-Reviewmaster.com

The drama and hepcat dialogue feel clunky now, but the movie's plea for dads to talk to their children -- what we now call emotional literacy -- is valid enough.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment (1)
Guardian [UK]

For all its faults this is still the teen angst melodrama to end them all, and Dean's performance established him as an icon, a legend and a myth.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

In this powerful study of juvenile violence, Dean is riveting as a teenager groping for love from a society he finds alien and oppressive.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

If ever a film was haunted, it's "Rebel Without a Cause," which burns as a bright memorial for stars James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.

June 17, 2007 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Arizona Daily Star

Under Ray's dissecting eye, the suburban home itself becomes a battleground where parent and child must scream over each other to be heard

August 6, 2006 Full Review Source: Reverse Shot | Comment
Reverse Shot

Directed with visual flair by Nicolas Ray, the 1955 feature offers little more than a basic melodrama, but Dean is in such command of his ability to communicate his character's inner turmoil that you are riveted by his presence

July 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie City News | Comment
Movie City News

A fine script, dynamic direction, doomed romantic idealism and telling performances make this the most timeless of Ray's gripping, socially aware dramas.

April 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Dean's finest film, hardly surprisingly in that Ray was one of the great '50s directors.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Rebel shifts with the times

January 9, 2006 Full Review Source: JWR | Comment

People like to say that Dean was nothing but a Marlon Brando imitation, but Marlon never looked this young, this perfect.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

When first released, neither studio nor critics knew what to make of it, failing to realize that it would become the most influential work in American film history

July 19, 2005 Comment (1)

"I got the bullets!"

May 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Rebel Without a Cause

A bit melodramatic at times, but overall an effective and visually sharp glimpse at the post war American mindset.

September 6, 2011
axadntpron
Reid Volk

Super Reviewer

It's the right movie for it's time, far more worried about being dramatic than anything else. Dean's performance is clearly the high note of the film, the rest is not very memorable.

November 24, 2009
DragonEyeMorrison
Tsubaki Sanjuro

Super Reviewer

    1. Jim's father: Watch out about choosing your pals. You know what I mean? Don't let 'em choose you.
    – Submitted by Alejandro O (58 days ago)
    1. Jim Stark: You're tearing me apart!
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • ? denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun (DE)
  • Rebel Without a Cause (1955) (CA)
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