Dean's first starring performance was guided by the capable hands of director Elia Kazan, who had been looking for the right actor to play the role of Cal Trask in John Steinbeck's East of Eden (1955). After testing various performers (including a newcomer named Paul Newman), Kazan went with the unknown Dean, a move that immediately yielded dividends. After floundering around Hollywood and New York for several years, the 24-year-old suddenly emerged as a full-fledged movie star in a film that proved to be a major box office hit. Basically a 20th century update of the Cain and Abel saga, East of Eden finds Dean cast as the troubled kid who, despite his best efforts, never gains the approval of a father (Raymond Massey) who lavishes more attention on his more respectable son (Richard Davalos). Top-billed Julie Harris provides much of the dramatic tension as the woman who finds her affections divided between the two boys, while Jo Van Fleet earned the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work as Cal's hard-boiled mother, who years earlier had abandoned her family and ended up operating a whorehouse in the adjacent town.
Academy members handed Dean a Best Actor nomination for East of Eden over Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and he would receive another posthumous Best Actor nod for the following year's Giant. In truth, the actor's best work can be found in his non-nominated performance in Rebel, a superb study of teenage angst that still retains its power despite the number of inferior rip-offs that followed in its wake. Dean's performance is the stuff of classic drama, yet equally responsible for the movie's success (not to mention the instant iconolatry accorded the actor) was director Nicholas Ray, whose empathy for his characters allowed the film to emerge not as an overwrought melodrama wallowing in its own discontent but as a penetrating character study that spoke to an entire generation. Dean's Jim Stark feels alienated from his parents (Jim Backus and Ann Doran) and, as the new kid in town, finds himself bullied by the swaggering members of the in-crowd. But Jim ends up forming a "family" of sorts with two other lonely teens hungry for affection: pretty Judy (Natalie Wood) and eccentric Plato (Sal Mineo). Ray earned an Oscar nod for his story (though not for his vital direction), as did Wood and Mineo for their supporting turns. Yet for all its accolades, the movie is also dogged by a sense of the tragic, as all three stars met gruesome deaths at an early age (Dean at 24, Mineo at 37 and Wood at 43).
Perhaps as a nod to the lack of subtlety in its title, Giant (1956) is often acknowledged as one of the finest motion pictures to ever emerge from Hollywood. Don't you believe it. This ambitious adaptation of the Edna Ferber novel is often touched by greatness, yet it's ultimately too scattershot to satisfactorily maintain its bloated 200-minute running time. As Jett Rink, a simple cowhand who becomes a conniving oil tycoon, Dean's role is really a supporting one, though the actor's own quirks effectively fill out a rather sketchy character. The real stars are Rock Hudson (never better) and Elizabeth Taylor; he's a racist cattle baron who's the ultimate word in Texas excess and success, while she's the level-headed wife who (somewhat) tames his Southern vulgarities with her Eastern civility. Incidentally, George Stevens (who earned an Oscar for his direction) had considered John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Clark Gable for the Hudson role, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn for Taylor's part, and Robert Mitchum and William Holden for Dean's character. Truth be told, they couldn't have gone wrong with any of that mixing and matching.
Each movie is presented in a two-disc Special Edition packed with extras; among the bonuses are audio commentaries, new and vintage documentaries, screen tests, additional scenes, footage from the premieres and much more. The Rebel Without a Cause set also includes the notorious TV spot in which Dean, mere months before his fatal automobile accident on September 30, 1955, urges his fans to always drive safely.
East of Eden:
1/2
Rebel Without a Cause:
Giant:
Extras:
1/2
MATILDA (1996). Matilda is Carrie for the kindergarten set. A funny and inventive adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, this centers on Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson), a bright but lonely girl who wants only to be part of a caring family. She discovers a true friend (and surrogate mom) in the sensitive Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz), but most of her time is spent using her astronomical IQ level and telekinetic powers to outwit her neglectful, dim-witted parents (Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman) and the sadistic principal (Pam Ferris) of her elementary school. Parents who like their family films straight up might be put off by this film's outrageous antics, but the bottom line is that DeVito (who also directed) has made a vastly entertaining fable that salutes such essential childhood qualities as curiosity, imagination and self-worth. Its edgy style makes it a good bet for adults as well as kids, and it's refreshing to find a movie that goes out of its way to celebrate intelligence. Like 1984's The Neverending Story, Matilda urges children to read more books and watch less TV; wisely, though, it keeps its own medium - the motion picture - out of the debate. Matilda has been issued in a Special Edition packed with extra features, most aimed at small children: various games and quizzes, a read-along and a piece on the public library. Unfortunately, TriStar is under the impression that only kids would be interested in this film, as they've released it in a full screen format (a.k.a. pan-and-scan) that's guaranteed to piss off all of us who (rightly) expect every DVD title to be released in the widescreen format that captures the entire picture.
Movie:
Extras:
1/2
- Matt Brunson
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