The James Dean Collection
2005 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of movie icon James Dean, who remains the poster child for the Beautiful and the Damned. Warner Bros. is celebrating the forever 24-year-old with the undimmed appeal in a spectacular new DVD boxed set, The Complete James Dean Collection, that will hit the streets next Tuesday, May 31. Ironically, 'Complete' in the title means just three films, East of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause, and Giant, so quickly did Dean come onto the scene and go ( though, to be honest, he has never really left, his career in death having sustained much longer than those of many flesh-and-blood stars ) . All three films in the set include an extra disc of fascinating extra materials, making this a must-have for fans of the queer-friendly actor. This also marks the DVD premiere of Eden, Dean's first film, and the one that contains his best performance.
Dean, along with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, helped usher in the new, 'realistic' school of Method acting to the movies during the 1950s. These three actors also brought something else that was distinctly new and fresh: their complicated, emotional sexuality. It was their deeply sexual natures ( and hunky physiques ) that truly set them apart from an earlier generation of male stars. Before them, the men were either handsome and rugged ( Clark Gable and Joel McCrea ) , handsome and debonair ( Cary Grant and Tyrone Power ) or somewhere in-between ( Gary Cooper and Errol Flynn ) . They did not really register as sexual fantasy figures but it oozes out of the young Brando, Clift and Dean in their prime. These three set the example for movie stars as objects of physical worship first, foremost and always. Marilyn Monroe and, to a lesser degree, Elizabeth Taylor achieved the same thing for women. Brando/Clift/Dean were also the first to subconsciously ( and at times overtly ) acknowledge their appeal to gay audiences and revel in them.
With succeeding generations, the physical has often trumped ability to the point where the current crop of stars includes a sexy roster that doesn't bother much with acting ( Vin Diesel, Brad Pitt and Demi Moore in her day come to mind ) along with those that keep nattering on about their 'craft' and persisting in 'acting challenges' until flat box office returns warn them to scurry back to films where audiences can once again freely fantasize about their bodies. Ironically, ex-real life couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are supreme examples of this. We are in the age of the movie star next store and unlike their screen forebears, there are relatively few movie stars now that one can't imagine seeing in a nightclub or restaurant and perhaps, with luck, taking home for the night.
While Brando and Clift set this physical identification in motion ( both define early '50s homoeroticism ) , James Dean's mercurial, disaffected persona is the one that sealed it. Brando and Clift were tantalizing, dangerous and unobtainable while Dean's contrasting rage and gentleness was very familiar and his body was the same as the guy on the basketball team. Brando made 40-some films, Clift, 16, Dean, just the three. He didn't have the time to turn in on himself and become the subject of public derision like the other two did. He is forever young, forever the misunderstood outsider that speaks directly to gay audiences. And he's got a perfect resume like no other actor in the history of movies ( no Island of Dr. Moreau or Freud among his credits ) .
Three movies, three classic roles that bypassed his rather limited range and lack of technique and instead brilliantly utilized his raw, deep emotionalism. Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without A Cause, the hallmark of juvenile dissatisfaction, with Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo as the malcontents, is the film most responsible for the late actor's iconic status. I admit a prejudice towards movies that focus on disaffected characters ( especially teenagers ) and I wish Rebel had given more screen time to the rich but neglected gay boy Plato played by Mineo. I much prefer East of Eden, Steinbeck's retelling of the Cain and Abel story and the large-scaled Giant, based on Edna Ferber's novel of a Texas dynasty ( years before Dallas ) . Elia Kazan and George Stevens, respectively, expertly directed Dean. In the latter, Dean shared screen time with Rock Hudson—though the two did not get along ( maybe because Hudson was so deeply closeted? ) .
So where would Dean have gone after his auspicious beginning? To self-indulgent projects like Brando's Mutiny on the Bounty or One-Eyed Jacks? To pity roles like those Elizabeth Taylor lined up for Clift, her unrequited love, in Raintree County and Suddenly Last Summer? His cool persona might have worked beautifully in many of Sinatra's hipster '60s screen parts, he would have made a superb Clyde Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde and there are glimpses in the second half of Giant of what would have been a fascinating Don Corleone in The Godfather. And I imagine he would have been riveting as Bob Pigeon, the homeless king of the Lost Boys character in My Own Private Idaho.
It's fun to speculate on all the unanswered questions and the What Might Have Been with regard to Dean, newly raised for me after immersing myself in Warner's new DVD collection. Like their two previous Dean releases, East of Eden has been beautifully restored and the second disc contains a great deal of rediscovered materials. Screen tests and alternate takes where Dean is seen trying out different approaches are fascinating.
All the movies include new 'making of' documentaries and I loved the vintage docs on the actor—especially a 1970s TV special hosted by Peter Lawford that features interviews with Sammy Davis, Jr., Natalie Wood and film composer Leonard Rosenman. Rosenman, who wrote the transcendent scores for East of Eden ( it's also a classic ) and Rebel, was a close friend of the actor's and most surprisingly for 1974, doesn't skirt the issue of Dean's sexuality. What of Dean's homosexuality Lawford asks? Rosenman refers to the actor's own admission that he wasn't about to have one hand tied behind his back where sexuality was concerned.
Would that Dean had lived long enough to explore that openness further in his private life—and, for the rest of us, onscreen.
