JAMES DEAN – Ultimate Collector’s Edition

Coming to Blu Ray on November 5th from Warner Home Video is the three greatest (and last) films of furious pop culture icon James Dean’s brief but monumental career.

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REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955, Dir: Nicholas Ray) Along with films like The Wild One, Rebel marked the beginning of a new era of youth culture portrayed in film. James Dean plays Jim Stark, a teenager whose overprotective parents have all but ruined his life. He is a confused, wreckless kid who feels the need to lash out at the world. When he arrives in a new high school his old habits quickly get him into trouble with a group of rowdy kids. He befriends another misfit, Plato (Sal Mineo) and falls in love with Judy (Natalie Wood) the gang leader’s girl. This is the role that turned Dean into a legendary icon. It’s also one that kids of any generation can identify with.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentary by The Making of Rebel Without a Cause author Douglas L. Rathgeb • 1974 TV special documentary James Dean Remembered • Documentary Rebel Without A Cause: Defiant Innocents • Dennis Hopper interview (New) • Screen Tests • Wardrobe Tests • Deleted Scenes • “Behind The Cameras: Natalie Wood” • “Behind The Cameras: Jim Backus” • “Behind The Cameras: James Dean” • Theatrical Trailers

EAST OF EDEN (1955, Dir: Elia Kazan) – Based on the John Steinbeck novel, the story is set in the early 1900s in the coastal town of Salinas. Cal (James Dean) and his brother Aron (Richard Davalos) are complete opposites. Their stern father Adam (Raymond Massey) a farmer, favors Aron because he follows the rules and has a lovely girlfriend named Abra (Julie Harris). Meanwhile Cal is always lurking in his shadow and causing mischief. Cal discovers his estranged mother (Jo Van Fleet) who his father said was dead is an owner of a brothel in Monterey and tries to get to know her again. Dean gives an emotionally powerful performance as the black sheep who yearns for acceptance.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentary by critic Richard Schickel • “Forever James Dean” 1987 documentary • “East of Eden: Art in Search of Life” • Screen tests • Wardrobe tests with Richard Davalos, James Dean, Julie Harris, Lois Smith and Jo Van Fleet • Costumes and Production Design Wardrobe Test • Deleted Scenes • March 9, 1955 New York City premiere.

GIANT (1956, Dir: George Stevens) In this sprawling epic melodrama, Dean co-stars as Jett Rink, a kind hearted but poor worker on a spacious Texas ranch owned by wealthy Jordan “Bick” Benedict (Rock Hudson). After Bick’s sister Luz (Mercedes McCambridge) dies, she leaves Jett a small parcel of land on the massive property which he later discovers contains an oil deposit. Once he strikes the black gold he becomes even more wealthy than Bick and starts his own vast empire. Dean gives a truly remarkable performance playing Jett from young to old. Co-starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Introduction by George Stevens Jr., son of the movie’s Oscar-winning director • Commentary by George Stevens Jr., co-writer Ivan Moffat and critic Stephen Farber • “George Stevens: Filmmakers Who Knew Him”

James Dean Ultimate Collector's Edition (Blu-ray)

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