Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Good Deal on "Rebel without a Cause"

This is topic Good Deal on "Rebel without a Cause" in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 07-23-2014, 12:00 AM:

Boy;Talk about being in the right place at the right time.I was in Walmart the other Day buying some Junk and I stroll by the $5.00 DVD Bin and sitting almost on the top of the heap is the 2 Disc Special Edition of "Rebel without a Cause" I couldn't grab it fast enough and thought at first it was a Documentary DVD but it was the Real McCoy. When I looked at Disk 1 which is mainly the Main Movie and a Commentary Feature I couldn't believe how pristine the Film looked. Colors,Resolution.Sharpness,etc was superb and this isn't even the Blu-Ray Edition.

I quickly put in Disk 2 to see all the Extras and one of the programs was interviews of some of the teenage Actors in 55. Frank Mazzola who played Crunch and Cory Allen who played Buzz Gunderson spoke quite a bit about Shooting Rebel. These Interviews were filmed in 2005 and I couldn't believe how much older Allen looked compared to Mazzola despite them being less than a year apart in age. After doing a little more research I saw that Cory Allen had died in June of 2010 from complications of Parkinsons Disease. When I went back and looked at his interviews on the DVD you can see him with a visible Shaking so going through the ordeal of Parkinsons probably aged him considerably faster than normal. Mazzola actually looked pretty Good for a 70 year old in 2005. Also comments from other Actors like Dennis Hopper,Jack Grinnage, and a couple of the Female Teenagers that had limited or no dialog.In fact Mazzola and Grinage are about the only 2 main stay actors left alive from this Film; everyone else has passed away.

Something I found kind of disturbing but I'm sure was common in the Movie Industry back then and before; was Dennis Hopper who was 18 at the time was having an affair with Natalie Wood who was 16 at the start of Filming in March 1955.No big deal there but Director NICHOLAS RAY who was 44 yrs old was also having an affair with the 16yr old Wood. In Fact Hopper walked in on them supposedly Bumping Uglys(Sweet Dreams) and made Hopper so mad he was ready to kick Ray's A$$. One of the reasons you see Hopper have few lines because Ray wanted to fire him but he was under Contract to WB's and no way was he going to be fired from that Movie.

I suggest if you liked this Great old Classic that you buy this Special 2 Disc Edition and watch all the Extras on the 2nd disc which I have yet to do.Something Ironic that James Dean never got to see either a completed REBEL or GIANT as both were still in post production editing in Sept 30,1955 when Dean was killed. It's pretty amazing that an Actor who had made only 3 major motion pictures still has the Cult Following he has today...

BTW:Rebel had from the Beginning meant to be shot in B&W and had several days of Shooting already completed. Someone from CINEMASCOPE told them to read the fine print; which at that time said any feature being filmed in Cinemascope had to be shot in Color....Film was shot in Ansco Color!