Review of Rebel Without a Cause

I thought it was awful when I first saw it almost 60 years ago, and I just saw it again yesterday and it is as awful now as it was then. It is a preposterous and psychotic look at teenagers, and it's also a teen exploitation film of the 50's. I think THE BLOB had more meaning. Jim Backus in that kitchen apron was a hoot. He was the Father Knows Best about nothing character, totally hapless. It was the beginning of the destruction of the male/father image in TV and film in America. We had Archie Bunker and Al Bundy and many other impotent and stupid fathers to follow. The film is a bust; the acting is so bad. Sal Mineo is almost salivating over James Dean, and James Dean is really the psycho here. In today's world, he'd be locked up in a mental institution for what he says and does and how he acts. And by the way, he has just got to turn himself into the police. What a dolt. The leader of the pack says to Jimbo before they race, "I like you." Oh, Please!!! Poor Natalie Wood. I don't think she knew what to do or who to be. No direction. These characters are just so dumb, that you have to think if it was the screen writer who was dumb, or did he make the kids out to be so dumb on purpose. Lastly, I loved the address book. That whole plot line was so flawed. so there.