Anyhow.... The basic story is of a rebel boy and his triumphs in assimilating into a new school environment. He obviously has some social issues with this kind of thing as his parents have moved several times before to avoid the bad situations he seems to get into.

And this time is no different. He accepts a challenge with the local school peer leader, where the two of them participate in a "Chicken Run" to see who jumps out of their cars first to avoid going over a cliff.

James Dean (Jim Stark) wins of course but only because the other guy couldn’t open his door.

The rest of the movie attacks social issues with the revenge of the boy’s death and the new relationship that seems to bloom between James Dean and the dead boy’s girlfriend.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
This 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer is quite exceptional given the age of the film. At basically 50 years old you couldn’t ask for a better transfer.

Shadow detail is good, and while there is grain present it’s not enough to really bother you.

Ailiasing was present in problematic scenes but not a great problem. I viewed the film in 16x9 mode, but I did find that the ailiasing was much worse in 4:3.

I did not find any MPEG artefacts, and film artefacts were few and far between. I was expecting this to be a big problem but generally it was very good.

The colours are somewhat muted and tonally incorrect but once again this could be attributed to the age of the film. Remember that this was made when colour film was a new novelty to the world.

AUDIO

The remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 track is actually a lot better than expected. The base channel is really only used once and the surrounds are limited to some rare sound effects and input into the musical score.

The majority of the film is based on the centre channel. Dialogue was clear most of the time but seems to have lost a little clarity over the years.

The musical score from Leonard Rosenman is very befitting of the film and it’s era. With some nice warm inclusions in the score and then some good suspense moody music when needed.

Overall I was impressed with the audio quality; it certainly was a lot better than I expected.

EXTRAS
Theatrical Trailer

Documentary: Rediscovering a Rebel. This is quite short but still provides a lot of interesting information on the film including alternate start and ends to the movie that were never used.

Interviews: Natalie Wood, Jim Backus and James Dean. Here are some corny promotional interviews if ever I saw them. Look out for a good laugh in the James Dean interview.

OVERALL
This will of course always be a cult classic film. It’s not high on my list though.
But if you have a thing for the golden oldies you’ll love this one and it’s quality.