Not that society doesn't have a part in Jim's emotional downward spiral. Now, on to the actual film- it's the story of Jim Stark, who is disaffected and with a sort of glow about him (if glow is the word, maybe just, um, malaise), and its more of a reflection on his parents (Jim Backus, who is actually quite good here, and Ann Doran as his mother) than on society as a whole. From a historical perspective, however, and for the significance of James Dean, it is worth a viewing, at least once, if you want to know at least what the industry leaned towards in the 50s. It's not a sort of seminal, staggeringly entertaining and artistically satisfying work about being an outsider in the 50s like On the Waterfront or even one most people wouldn't think of like Ikiru. It's the kind of picture I end up recommending, but not exactly under the terminology of how I would find it to be essential or not, because I don't really. For me though, 'essential' is a very subjective term, and one person's essential being this film is another one's essential being Bigger Than Life or In a Lonely Place, films that get some notice in the film circles but not enough when placed against a film like the one here. The general consensus- on which one might dub a film like Rebel Without a Cause overrated- is that this film is THE film on teenage angst and dislocation from the adults of the period, and that it's essential because of James Dean, or that it might be considered director Nicholas Ray's best film. I put quotations around the words 'essential' in that one line because, really, I'm not totally sure what essential means really when it comes to seeing films from that decade.

Rebel without a pause acappella