James Dean: Forever Young (2005)

Disapointment

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Impressive documentary of 1950's Hollywood icon James Dean in both rare photos film and video clips seen for the first time since they were shown on TV and the movies almost 60 years ago. Dean who started his acting career doing Pepsi Cola commercials ended up becoming one of the top stars in Hollywood five years later only to get himself killed in a traffic accident on a lonely stretch of a California highway at dusk, at approximately 5:45 PM, on that fateful Friday afternoon of September 30, 1955.At the time of Dean's death the public were exposed to only one film that he stared in "East of Edan" with his next film "Rebel Without a Cause" slated to be released, in mid-October, just two weeks after he was killed. But as we see in this fascinating documentary Dean had already made a name for himself on both stage and TV with some three dozen roles that he cut his teeth and perfected his acting craft in. Holding his own against seasoned actors like John Carradine Rod Steiger Hume Cronyn and Robert Middleton Dean by the beginning of 1954 was ready to make the big time as well as big bucks in Hollywood. That's in famed Hollywood & Broadway director Elia Kazan casting him in the title role of the moody and ill tempered Cal Trusk in film version of John Steinbeck's best selling novel "East of Edan".It was in "East of Eden" that the movie going public finally got to see what an electrifying and talented actor James Dean really was. What the public didn't know was that one of the reasons that Dean was able to convey such explosive tension and almost maniacal intensity in his roles was that he was extremely near-sighted, his vision was 20/400, and had to squint, in him not being able to see as close as ten inches in front of his nose, to see or make out the actors and actresses that were in the scenes with him.After the success of "East of Edan" Dean was well on his way to movie immortality but his premature death at age 24 cut all that short; Or did it! In fact James Dean had become bigger in death then he ever was in life which is one of the many ironies and contradictions about him. And it's that his tragic death what makes Dean the legend that he is even more then any of the parts, on stage TV and in the movies, he played!One of the many ironies in Dean's life was that fellow actor Paul Newman tested for the part, which we see in a never before shown film clip, of Dean's brother and rival for his father affection Aron in his beak-out film "East of Edan" and lost out to Richaed Davalos for the role. As fate would have it the very next role that Dean was to play before his untimely death the part of boxer Rocky Graziano in "Somebody up There Likes Me" eventually went to Paul Newman! That like in James Dean's part as Cal Trusk in "East of Edan" became Newman's beak-out movie role. That eventually made him the major film star,in Newman taking the part which by then Dean was not available for, which James Dean was very probably descant to become!P.S Another ironic fact about James Dean is that on the day September 30, 1955 that he died he was exactly,in him being born on February 8, 1931, 9,000 days old!

If you're a James Dean fan and only really know him from the three films that brought him fame, you'll be interested in seeing how he kept busy before that big break in EAST OF EDEN ('55).As interesting as these early TV clips are, none of them are set up in a way that helps us follow what is going on. Seen out of context it's difficult to assess just how well Dean is doing in his various roles, but it does appear that he had already adopted all of the quirky mannerisms he displayed in his major films. His method acting is on full display in all of the '50s TV work he did, including episodes with Ronald Reagan and Geraldine Page. It would have been interesting to know why Louis Jourdan had little to do with him during their Broadway appearance in "The Immoralist." It's a fact that is quickly mentioned and then dropped by narrator Martin Sheen.His test with Paul Newman for EAST OF EDEN to see whether they could play brothers in the John Steinbeck drama is one of the more interesting highlights. And ironically, his willingness to appear with Gig Young in a short about driver safety shortly before Dean's death in an auto accident leaves an indelible impression.For fans of the actor, an interesting glimpse of his personality before and during the height of stardom, but not an incisive full-bodied portrait of the actor at work.

I love James Dean, so it's disappointing that I've yet to find a truly great documentary about the man. On the plus side, this documentary has lots of rare footage, especially of his lesser known film and television appearances. I saw a lot of stuff I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, this is a very basic documentary, the kind of thing you'd expect to get free, tacked on somewhere as a DVD extra. In fact, I'd initially heard this was to be included with the recent James Dean DVD box that came out. It probably would have played better there, but on its own it seems weak. First off, it actually opens with a montage set to Rod Stewart's song "Forever Young". Not only does the song seem terribly out of place, but it also seems like the kind of thing Dean himself would have disliked. We're also subjected to Jim Croce's "I Got A Name" as Jimmy drives to his death. You know the one, where he sings "movin' me down the highway" repeatedly in overly earnest seventies singer songwriter style. And why do we hear Paul McCartney's "Mull Of Kintyre" over the closing credits? All this, plus no interviews, just Martin Sheen narrating in a "then Jimmy acted in this" mode. As a collection of rare clips, this is intriguing for Dean fans. Other than that, it offers little insight into a fascinating life.

I saw this film at it's American premiere at the James Dean festival in Marion, Indiana. I feel in love immediately and somehow all over again with James Dean. I think that my favorite aspect of the film was how it revealed the "real" Dean, the artist, not James Dean the rebel, because there's so much more to him than that stereotype. The film chronicles a fearless boy ready to tackle the world, not afraid to take chances and step on some toes, but not in a maniacal fashion, which is what I loved. I appreciated how I was able to watch much of the television work of Dean, as well as some of his screen tests, most notably for "East of Eden" in which he tests with a young Paul Newman. This is one of the most wonderful documentaries I've ever seen, and it's because it's made out of love for Dean, and love of art and film-making, not for the almighty dollar, and that alone makes it something very special.