Rebel Without a Cause

"The bad boy from a good family."

1955 1h 51m EN

👍

7.5

SOLID

🔥

91%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.6

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 1,831🍅91%Rotten Tomatoes●89Metacritic★7.6IMDB · 100,836

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

“The bad boy from a good family.”

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Cast

James Dean
Jim Stark
Natalie Wood
Judy
Sal Mineo
John 'Plato' Crawford
Jim Backus
Frank Stark
Ann Doran
Carol Stark
Corey Allen
Buzz Gunderson
William Hopper
Judy's Father
Rochelle Hudson
Judy's Mother

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nicholas Ray
Writers: Nicholas Ray, Stewart Stern
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

71 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Nicholas Ray, shot by Ernest Haller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Leonard Rosenman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor William H. Ziegler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James Dean and Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The bad boy from a good family.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nicholas Ray directs. Ernest Haller behind the camera. Leonard Rosenman scores. William H. Ziegler cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 3.0× over at the box office.
371 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Nicholas Ray, shot by Ernest Haller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Leonard Rosenman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor William H. Ziegler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7James Dean and Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The bad boy from a good family.".
9IMDB entry: tt0048545 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "individual", "underground world", "street gang", "unsociability".

The technical file

Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Original score: Leonard Rosenman
Editing: William H. Ziegler
Costume design: Moss Mabry
Makeup / hair: Gordon Bau
Runtime: 111 min · 1h 51m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,500,000
Box office: $4,500,000
Return: 300% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Rotten Tomatoes: 91% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 89/100
IMDB rating: 7.6/10 · 100,836 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Nominated for 3 Oscars. 4 wins & 8 nominations total

Also by

Nicholas Ray

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2024-03-14
★ 9/10
An iconic, culturally significant film that helped immortalize James Dean. This is one of those classic films when the theme is teenage rebellion and generational clash. It is undoubtedly good, with a good story and good actors – it is the film that marked James Dean's short career – and continues to be a regular presence in classics cycles and specialty TV channels. The film explores quite well the difficult relationship between parents and their children within the wealthiest families, and the way in which this tension has a decisive influence on the latter's delinquent behavior. Living in homes where there is truly no love, but rather a well-organized routine, and where parental care is limited to material goods and the act of giving things, these young people accumulate a revolt that they need to express through pranks and mischief that parents choose to ignore or consider that they are the consequences of harmful influences. The fact that they are children of rich parents only makes their devilry more elaborate: this is the case of racing with stolen cars. How many angry teenagers with rich dads continue to do similar things? Expertly directed by Nicholas Ray, the film had a high budget that allowed for quality production values. The cinematography is excellent, the sets and costumes couldn't be better (I especially liked Dean's parents' house and the abandoned mansion where part of the final scenes take place) and the cars used are beautiful. James Dean's hair and costume were decisive in youth fashion at that time, and the soundtrack accompanies everything with distinction and discretion. However, what decisively marks this film is the excellent quality of the cast and their work, particularly the excellent performance achieved by James Dean. He is absolutely credible in the role he was given, despite being a little older than his character. The opening scene is worthy of an anthology, but also that fight with razors that takes place near the Griffith Observatory. Natalie Wood is also not far behind: she was then more or less the right age and had the necessary talent, as well as being very beautiful and charismatic. Sal Mineo plays a highly dramatic role, and his participation in this film is one of the highlights of his career. Finally, a note of praise for Jim Backus and Marietta Canty, who made good contributions to the film in slightly less valued roles. A curious note that I just noticed: the three main actors in this film have in common the fact that they died before the age of forty-five, and each had a mysterious and violent death. Everyone knows that James Dean saw his life taken as a result of an unfortunate car accident, a few months after this film was made. However, in 1976, Sal Mineo followed, stabbed to death during a robbery at his home. A few years later, in 1981, it was the turn of Natalie Wood, who drowned in more than strange circumstances, during a yacht trip off the Californian coast.
CinemaSerf2026-06-20
★ 7/10
"Jim" (James Dean) is a kid with a troubled past whose parents have relocated to give him a bit of a fresh start at his new school. Pretty swiftly, though, he falls in with the wrong crowd - the sort that have flick-knife fights - and it looks like we are in for a repeat performance. Luckily for him, he has also two more benign influences on his new life. One is "Judy" (Natalie Wood) who comes from a decent home and the other is "Plato" (Sal Mineo) whose appreciation of his new friend borders on the acolytic. At home, he isn't neglected or unloved but his mother (Ann Doran) is constantly at him to improve and grow up and so he relies on his weakly doting father (Jim Backus) to fight his corner for him. With "Buzz" (Corey Allen) and his gang continuing to put pressure on him; "Judy" determined to keep him on the straight and narrow and "Plato" causing him to question certain aspects of his own identity and personality, it's a confusing time for a young man who must now find the confidence and the maturity to navigate what is becoming a fairly conflicted scenario. Dean may take top billing - and he does begin to craft his own enduringly charismatic and troubled image well, here, but for me it is Wood who delivers more powerfully with a complex character that has depths to her beyond the slightly soporific gal-next-door that we expect. Better than her, even, is Mineo. His effort nimbly treads on the egg-shells of a character who may or may not have physical designs on his friend, but who is in any case desparate to be noticed, to be valued and to be loved. Does he really just want to be the cool and attractive "Jim" or more than that? As stories of teenage angst go, this is one of the sharpest in terms of dialogue. There's no surfeit of pointless chatter, no expletives, just a tightly knitted character study that oozes a certain toxicity that the three hold together potently.