Rebel Without a Cause

No other director knows how to give his characters so clearly the air of having a common genealogy. They are marked with the seal of the same fate, the same moral or physical disease that is not quite taint or decay.

To audiences who don't immediately connect with the rebellion and delinquency, the film becomes little more than an annoyingly blatant message about teenage defiance.

Possum's evocation of wrongness, that unbalancing feeling that something is off -- if only you could put your finger on it -- lingers long.

It contains some extraordinarily good acting by the late James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. The direction by Nicholas Ray is outstanding... This is a superficial treatment of a vital problem that has been staged brilliantly.

With his slicked-up quiff, turned-up jeans and revved-up attitude, Dean instantly achieved icon status.