Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

James Dean is iconic as the troubled teen who finds himself feeling like an outcast in suburban Los Angeles. At high school, he struggles with bullies but makes a friend in the unstable young Plato (Sal Mineo) and the rather shallow but equally troubled Judy (Natalie Wood). 

It’s a classic, obviously, but it’s not entirely successful. Dean’s presence is undeniable. But the scenes with his conservative parents – who of course don’t understand him or his generation – seem overwrought. There’s an oddly ponderous and stilted quality to the film in places, but then there are exciting scenes such as the daredevil leap-out-of-the-car-before-the-cliff-edge competition (which ends badly). Natalie Wood's character is also poorly developed and her problems aren’t really explored. 

The melodrama of macho fighting (of which there’s plenty) has a certain racy thrill, but the film seems genuinely muddled about what it’s trying to say and who it’s saying it to. If it was made for teenagers, you wonder whether that audience felt cheated by the ending and its affirmation of family values.