Customer Reviews

James Dean: The First American Teenager

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Ray conolly who made this profile of Dean, explained the legend with the observation 'He had great hair'
The film it self is not in that great condition considering it was put together in 1974.It remains however
one of the better Dean bios.

This 1975 production features interviews with many of those who knew James Dean best, such as Bill Bixby, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dennis Hopper. He'd only been dead 20 years when this was made, but he'd been a cult figure for years before. You get the sense that Dean was far more interesting in person than he comes across in the three movies he made or the very lame TV roles he did. This early documentary is interspersed with several jarring contemporary rock songs by the likes of Elton John. There's a lot of footage from his movies, which seem very dated today. Dozens, if not hundreds, of films have been made about James Dean who only has three film roles to his name: "East of Eden," "Rebel Without A Cause" and "Giant." He always seemed to look much older than the "teenager" he played. Still, the various still photos of Dean are what made him the cult figure he is today, not his acting, in my opinion. This dated film is probably not among the best if you are curious about James Dean.