
Rebel Without a Cause: 70th Anniversary!
Midnite weekend screenings happen on Friday & Saturday nights,. so please be sure to arrive on Friday and/or Saturday night by 11:45pm for seating and the screening will start after midnight.
Director: Nicholas Ray Run Time: 111 min. Format: 4K DCP Release Year: 1955
Starring: Ann Doran, James Dean, Jim Backus, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
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.
No one has defined the concept of a Heartthrob on screen more than one James Byron Dean. In his three screen appearances, he managed to embody a generation of male movie stardom, and yet to this day remains a wholly singular screen presence. Perhaps the only way to start this series, is with his most iconic film- celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE was a film of modest ambition. Nicholas Ray sought out to make a black and white domestic drama about juvenile delinquency with a fresh faced young star. During the shoot that young star’s screen debut EAST OF EDEN (1955) was released and became an overnight sensation. Warner Bros. immediately pulled the plug on the black and white in favour of glorious Cinemascope™️, Dean traded his black leather jacket for a red nylon windbreaker, and the rest as they say is history. The themes REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, have perhaps aged even better than the film’s lasting iconography. An aching portrait of youth in revolt and generational divide, so movingly embodied by Dean and co-stars Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. All three actors met tragic ends at a young age, which adds another layer of profound sadness to the film’s conclusion trapped inside that glorious Cinemascope™️. For all his handsomeness and offbeat charisma, it was his sensitivity and endless pathos that he brought to every that resonated with audiences and made him the ultimate Heartthrob. -LUCY WALKER
Doors Open 30 Minutes Before Doors.