On J List of Movie Reviews

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James Dean (2001)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 1/25

JamDean
1/25: Anybody who has seen three major films of James Dean's career should check out the made-for-TV biopic: James Dean.

Having been aware of his life's history, I think it covers a lot of ground fairly well and like the behind-the-scenes stuff for the famous movies. More, more of the latter...please. Largely, the focus is on the frustrated relationship with his father which explains some of James Dean's weird moody behavior. The only part I didn't know was his romance with Christine White when I thought she was a made-up person in substitution of Liz Sheridan who later played Jerry Seinfeld's mother.

Of course, there are disappointments. For one, James Dean's childhood is mostly skipped over. There's also the sexual abuse at the hands of Reverend James DeWeerd. At least, there's a subtle hint of James Dean sleeping around with important people in order to advance his career. Regardless, a lot of homosexual stuff have been taken out. There's no mention of his TV work and bit movie parts prior to hitting big in East of Eden.

James Franco gives a strong performance by going Method. Historically, it's almost impossible to emulate a real-life person who's been filmed before, but I'm impressed with his portrayal of James Dean. If I had to pick who could play him the best, it's Brad Pitt; they almost look alike. In fact, he was being considered for the role in the early 90's, but the script stayed in development hell for a decade until 2000.

I didn't realize the actor who played Jack Warner was Mark Rydell, the director of this biopic as well as The Reivers and On Golden Pond, since I wasn't aware of what he looked like. At any rate, Mark Rydell knew the real James Dean and studied with him at the Actors Studio, so if that's how his behavior was, then so be it.

Nicolas Ray wore an eye patch during the making of Rebel Without a Cause? Yeah, right. He lost his eye in early 1970 and started to cover it afterwards. Not many people know this, but there were at least four famous movie directors who sported an eye patch back then: Raoul Walsh, André De Toth, John Ford, and Fritz Lang.

All in all, I just wish James Dean was longer.