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Rebel Without a Cause is a movie that can be enjoyed on many levels. It features characters that not only teenagers can identify with, but that adults can identify with as well. That is one of the main reasons the film has remained popular for over forty years since its release in 1955. The cast that writer-director Nicholas Ray assembled for Rebel Without a Cause was so believable that is enhanced the audience’s ability to identify with the characters. Since it is such a powerful film, it can deeply affect somebody. It can make one think about his or her own life, specifically the teenage years. I was one of those people the movie deeply affected, mostly because I found that two of the lead characters closely resembled me.

The character that seemed closest to me was the character of John Crawford (Sal Mineo), who was more commonly known by the nickname ‘Plato.’ From an early scene in the movie, in which he is asked why he killed some puppies, Plato struck me as familiar. In high school, I knew a student named Tim who did not have many friends at the school, and tried to gain friends by boasting about unusual acts he had performed. One of these acts he boasted about was the shooting of a hamster. These acts ultimately proved fairly futile, as he did not seem to impress anybody with his tales. The character of Plato really made me think of Tim. In the movie, Plato’s killing of the puppies were no doubt a cry for attention. He wanted to get accepted by his fellow classmates, and he thought that by performing acts such as these would gain him acceptance. As with Tim, Plato’s plans didn’t work.

An old classmate of mine wasn’t the only person Plato reminded me of. Plato also reminded me of myself. No, I didn’t kill pets or anything like that, but often during high school, I felt like I had no friends. Of course, every teenager feels that at one point, but during my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I really did not have any friends. The difference between Plato and myself is that I had a good home life, which is something Plato indeed did not have. Plato’s father had left him, and his mother was gone almost all the time, leaving him with only a nanny (Marietta Canty) to take care of him. She is a very loving and caring nanny, but, still, she is only a nanny, and cannot replace a mother or a father. My family was (and still is) intact at home, and in fact it was probably my nice home life that kept me from going over the edge like Plato did. Another difference between myself and Plato is that, while we both yearned for the attention of our fellow classmates, my schemes and cries for attention (though nothing as extreme as killing pets) worked, as I developed friendships, albeit mostly shallow ones, with a lot of my classmates.

Plato is not the only character in Rebel Without a Cause that audience members can identify with. The main character of the film, Jim Stark (James Dean), is perhaps the average teenager’s dream of how he or she would like to be. From the opening scene of the movie, which features a drunk Jim lying in a street, it is obvious that this is not the type of teenager one is used to seeing at the movies. These opening scenes help to give the audience a good idea of what Jim is like. His rather laissez-faire attitude towards authority (namely the police) is established. However, a gentler side of him is also shown, in the scene where Jim offers his jacket to Plato, who, at this point in the film, Jim doesn’t know at all. All he sees about Plato is that he seems cold, and could use Jim’s jacket. Plato refuses, but Jim’s compassion for people is established.

Also in this opening police sequence the audience meets Jim’s parents for the first time. This is crucial in the film, as it is Jim’s relationship with his parents that helps the audience to understand why Jim is as he is. Right away, it is established that Jim’s father (Jim Backus) does not command Jim’s respect, and doesn’t even have the respect of his own wife (Ann Doran). This has to be very tough for Jim, and indeed I felt very sorry for him. At one point, every child learns that his or her father is not perfect, and has some flaws. However, for a father to have as many inner flaws and to garner such little respect as Jim’s father does, it is sad. It isn’t that Jim doesn’t want to respect his father. Several times in the film, he looks to his father for advice, only to find that his father is so indecisive (and, perhaps, afraid of his wife), as he cannot advise Jim on anything. At one point in the movie, Jim sees his father cleaning up a mess he made. Jim wants his father to leave the mess on the floor, and to stand up to his wife if she yells at him about it, but his father won’t, and instead cleans up the mess. It is at this moment that Jim realizes that, perhaps, he is more of a man than his father is. This has to be very difficult for Jim, and it is during these scenes with his father that I feel the most sympathy for Jim.

Also, the way that he deals with his parents is probably one of the things that people admire most about Jim. I know it’s probably the main thing I admired him for. He tells his parents things that I could not ever muster up the courage to say to them. Jim’s parents bicker a lot. They do not appear to be very happily married. Early in the film, in the police station, Jim interrupts an argument between his parents by exclaiming his now-famous line, "You’re tearing me apart! You say one thing, he says another, and everybody changes back again." This line releases some of what had apparently been bottled-up frustration with his bickering parents. The line also catches his parents off-guard, as they feel they have been nothing but loving toward their son. They seemingly do not understand that being a parent means more than just loving a child; it means support and commitment, among other things. I understand this, and Jim does as well. The difference is that Jim has the courage to tell his parents this. I (and I suspect many other people as well) do not. After Buzz Gunderson (Corey Allen)is killed, there is a memorable scene with Jim and his parents. There are many great lines in this scene, not the least of which comes after Jim’s mother proclaims that they will move again. Jim tells her: "You are not going to use me as an excuse again. …Every time you can’t face yourself you blame it on me. …Mom, I, just once, I want to do something right, and I don’t want you to run away from me again." Again, Jim says the things I want to, but that I just don’t have the guts to. It is in these confrontational scenes with his parents that I envy Jim the most. I want to be able to stand up to my parents and tell them that their fighting is tearing me apart. It’s just not the kind of guy I am, though.

Another aspect of Jim that I can identify with is his relationship with juvenile-offenders officer Ray (Get Smart’s Edward Platt). Actually, I think anybody could identify with this relationship. Jim cannot talk with his parents, so he goes to an outside source, one that is patient and understanding, to talk to. In fact, it is clear that Ray is the only adult in his life that Jim truly respects. During their first meeting, Ray questions Jim about the location of his boots. Jim objects to this comment and charges at Ray, at which point Ray takes Jim and flips him. This gains Ray respect in Jim’s eyes. All his life, Jim wanted to see his father stand up for himself. Now finally there is an adult in Jim’s life that he can respect. Again, I find myself identifying with Jim, although, this time, I don’t identify with him totally. I respect both my parents immensely, but, like Jim, I find I could use an adult to talk to, preferably one that is detached somewhat from the family. My uncle is to me what Ray is to Jim. While my uncle isn’t exactly detached from the family, he has a remarkable outlook on the state of things that makes it seem he is detached from the family. His advice seems really non-biased and sensible, just as Ray’s does.

Of course, Rebel Without a Cause affected me in other ways as well. The movie is filled with tension. The fight scene outside the planetarium, when both Jim and Buzz are tossing around the switchblades, was the first scene in the movie that really made me move to the edge of the seat. Then, when Jim and Buzz have a "chickie run," I was very tense indeed. I remember when Judy (Natalie Wood) raised up her arms to signal to Jim and Buzz that they should start their cars, my heart was beating very quickly, as it was such a tense moment. Speaking of Judy, while there is much chemistry between her and Jim throughout the movie, for me there is no scene filled with as much sexual tension as there is in the scene that takes place just after Buzz dies. Judy is staring over the edge of the cliff in disbelief that Buzz is really gone. The other hoodlums have left, and only Jim and Plato have remained. Jim, also shocked, reaches out his hand to Judy. Judy also reaches out her hand, and the two hands touch. That is one of the most sexually intense, yet not sexually explicit, scenes I have seen in a movie.

One of the ways Rebel Without a Cause affects me the most is in the way its set. The film is set in the present, which would be 1955, as that’s when the movie was made. A lot of people’s vision of what the 1950s were like comes from watching repeats of 1950s television series such as Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and shows like that. On these shows, a rather idyllic view of life was presented. There were almost never any major problems, and when there were they could be solved with relative ease. Life was good. Even later shows, such as the 1970s series Happy Days, presented the 1950s as a great era to live in. Therefore, it was somewhat unusual, for me anyway, to see a movie about the 1950s (much less a movie from the 1950s) that presented the decade in such a negative light. Yet, Rebel Without a Cause is probably one of the most accurate movies about the 1950s that were ever made. Nicholas Ray painted a realistic picture, a picture that still holds true to this day. Through Rebel Without a Cause, he taught us that bad things do happen, even in good decades.