Rebel Without a Cause

My rooomate just got home from seeing this, and she says it was "horrible, horrible, horrible."

I wanted to see if anybody's seen it, and wanted to know what ya'll thought.

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I'd be curious to hear what you think when you do!

My roommate says the writing is atrocious. :-/

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The original screenplay was nothing to write home about -- mostly clunky melodramatic angst. James Dean somehow managed to elevate the material to something memorable, accompanied by a winsome Natalie Wood and a very oddly over-the-top, very gay Sal Mineo -- he and Dean were the real love story in the film (Mineo's moony-eyed stares at Dean are classic). The film sort of works as a camp curiosity that takes on a bit of urgency occasionally because of Dean's intenstity. I can't imagine it ever working on stage -- the writing is so weak that without the benefit of close-ups and editing even Dean would have looked foolish doing it live.

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