There are few figures in American film history whose careers were as brief and yet as notable as James Dean’s. After starring in only three films — Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1995) and Giant (1956) — one of Hollywood’s freshest and most lusted-after faces died tragically in a car accident. Though already beloved, his unexpected death immediately cemented his legacy in American culture. When his life and career are thought about through the depiction of Robert Altman and George W. George’s 1957 documentary The James Dean Story, the account of his death becomes all the more tragic. At the same time, it reveals a strikingly nuanced and personal image of the icon, one similar to the characters he so aspired to portray.
The documentary uses photographs, archive footage and interviews of those close to him to piece together the life, career and mindset of Dean, who died just a few months before his 25th birthday in September 1955. Beginning at a train station in the small town of Fairmount, Indiana, the narrator — Martin Gabel, whose voice-over is a near constant throughout the film—directly interacts with figures from his life at this time. His aunt and uncle, grandparents and teachers are featured, and each took him under their watchful eyes after his mother passed from uterine cancer when he was nine. He lived in the area, working on the family farm, participating in high school sports and discovering his painting abilities before heading to Los Angeles with a desire to carve a career for himself and really make something out of his life.
Though Dean began acting right after high school, his three credited film roles all happened within the span of two years. Though two years can feel long as each day passes, in reality, that’s less time than it often takes for filmmakers to create the technology of some recent films. Despite his brief stardom, Dean is one of the most well-known figures in film history. Today, the majority of people today came into consciousness or were born after Dean’s death, making his stature and role in the history of American cinema feel somewhat like an enigma. You certainly know his boy next door face and name even if you’ve never seen his films. You know his coifed hair and his handsome smile. You could describe someone as having “a James Dean vibe,” and people will know what you mean. Decades after his death, his name continues to pop up in 21st-century songs like Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Jeans” and Taylor Swift’s “Style.” In Lou Reed’s song “Walk on the Wild Side,” Dean’s car accident is likened to that of Princess Diana in 1997 — perhaps the two most prominent car accidents in the 20th century.
But The James Dean Story does more than talk about how he became so beloved in such a short period of time. It looks to those who knew him best to ask who Dean really was. What fed his desire to act and interpret others? Who was he offscreen? Did he leave a partner heartbroken like he did his millions of fans across the world?
With all the photos, people, media and previously unseen clips they could get ahold of, Altman and George set out to reveal the true character of Dean. The film was written by Stewart Stern, the screenwriter of Rebel Without a Cause, and his involvement plays heavily into the tone and depiction of Dean. Since so few people in Hollywood got to work with him, it feels fitting to have someone familiar with his work ethic and style pen the first major analytic look at his life.
Altman was just 30 years old himself when Dean passed away. In Altman’s second directed film following The Delinquents (also released in 1957), it’s clear that he wanted to preserve the legacy of a figure he likely saw himself blossoming alongside. In one of the initial projects of his esteemed career, he and George attempt to pay tribute to his figure by handling Dean’s story intimately and with clarity. Though Dean comes off as fidgety and self-sabotaging, he also comes off as keenly observant and sensitive. It feels as though Altman was reminded of his own mortality when Dean passed and sought to preserve him like he hoped himself to be.
The James Dean Story portrays the actor as a restless young man, one with a proclivity for making brash decisions that dramatically affected his life. That trait can be seen in his desire to race cars at high speed, in his time at UCLA as well as during his short stints at both the Actors Studio and on Broadway. After moving to Los Angeles for college, he attempted to join the fraternity Sigma Nu but was never initiated. He went to study pre-law but soon discovered a burning passion and talent for drama, yet before he hardly began the major, he dropped out and pursued acting full-time. He was then admitted to the prestigious Actors Studio to learn method acting and moved to New York City, becoming the youngest person enrolled. Despite showing potential, within a matter of weeks, he stopped attending. The same happened on Broadway; after being cast as an Arab boy in the 1954 play The Immortalist, he quit opening night. Nevertheless, with every endeavor, he threw himself in completely—cutting his hair, learning to dance, moving across the country—and did so with passion and with genuine talent. Still, nothing could satiate him, and the documentary keeps trying to understand why.
The documentary relies heavily on exploring this idea of his restlessness. It acknowledges that, though he loved acting, he really wanted to go into directing. Maybe writing as well. Later he was more interested in business. But also, maybe his true passion was for cars. Whatever the answer was, why couldn’t Dean find happiness in his accomplishments and stick with the things that others noticed he had such potential for? With such a short life and career, it leaves little room for total understanding.
Instead, the film concludes that what can be understood is what he represented to people. When Giant was released nearly a year after his death, he received third billing behind stars Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, but all the attention was on Dean. In just those few months between the release of Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, Dean became a figure that everyone could latch on to. While filming Giant, the documentary notes that it seemed Dean was finally beginning to accept that he was deserving of recognition and acclaim. That it was time for him to bask in it instead of sabotaging himself over and over. But perhaps that is only felt since it came out when his death was still a recent memory. Nevertheless, his on-screen presence in the film allowed viewers to express things like rage and rebellion in ways they couldn’t do individually. And as the opening narration succinctly analyzes, his beauty and mysterious personal life allowed young women to feel like he belonged to each of them, while his tragic end and restlessness reminded young men of their own mortality.
Dean’s stardom came and went in a time before social media — before paparazzi and tabloids worked to exploit those on the silver screen. Altman and George’s film, released less than two years after his death, digs through whatever memories could be found of Dean to piece together what his life was like, to show how he saw both the world and the people he portrayed. In the end, it succeeds in adding layers to the legacy of an actor whose life seems to be, in many ways, as mysterious as it does timelessly iconic.
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