James Dean’s iconic performance is the touchstone of Nicholas Ray’s portrait of teenage angst and torment in 1950's America. A classic of American cinema, that encapsulated post-war American teen culture and immortalised its young lead as the definitive symbol of rebellious youth and cool defiance.

Jim Stark (Dean) is a young delinquent who is new in town and struggling to fit in. A smothering mother coupled with a weak and ineffectual father are contributing rather than remedial factors to Jim falling into a life of crime. However when Jim is picked up for being drunk and disorderly he notices Judy (Natalie Wood) at the police station and determines to ask her on a date at school the next day, leading him into conflict with Judy's boyfriend Buzz (Corey Allen). Determined to prove himself to both her and his new found friends, Jim soon finds himself embroiled in switchblade fights and chicken games involving the hazardous combination of fast cars and seaside cliff edges.

Originally released just a month after Dean’s tragic death in 1955, this is perhaps his finest performance which along with his red Harrington jacket, white t-shirt and Levis would cement an image of cool that would be copied by numerous generations to follow, and which helped define and crystallise some of the most potent and lasting cultural shifts of the 1950s.

---