James Dean: Forever Young

"James Dean: Forever Young" is a look at the actor, focusing a lot on the pre-Hollywood television years. There is lots of rare footage, plus the famous Newman-Dean screen test for "East of Eden", which I had seen on the A&E bio of Paul Newman.

I know James Dean's story very well, but you wouldn't think I knew it at all from my reaction. When narrator Martin Sheen says, "In 1953..." and introduced another television show, I thought, "Gee, it's 1953. He died in 1955. When is he going to Hollywood?" The entire time, I kept thinking, he died before his 25th birthday? As if I didn't know that. Somehow, seeing this gifted, beautiful, vital man in action, it was harder to comprehend. Even harder to comprehend than that is that he was a contemporary of Martin Landau's. Think of Dean today, at 79. What might have been? I didn't really like Martin Sheen's narration. I found it intrusive and (this isn't his fault) it was like a resume. There wasn't footage on ALL of the TV shows, yet he talked about every one of them. Believe me, they could have skipped some. The narration also made the same stupid mistake that we hear over and over again: "He only made three films." Why does that drive me so crazy? He only STARRED in three films. He MADE more than three.

The Hollywood part was fascinating. And the photos. Boy did the camera worship this man. He was born for the movies. This is well worth seeing for the photo shoots and footage of Dean off the set. There are no interviews with friends and coworkers, which is okay too. He speaks for himself.

I read some complaints about the music. I had no problem with it. It wasn't '50s music but it fit the subject matter.

As this was coproduced by Dean's nephew Marcus Winslow, the documentary emphasizes his interest in women. Like all classic stars, there are lots of rumors about his sexuality. Also, he was supposedly obsessed with Marlon Brando and emulated him in every way possible - this also wasn't covered.

What is covered is that James Dean was an unusual person, possibly not as eccentric as he portrayed himself, but nevertheless a passionate and talented person, extremely magnetic and sexy. A true icon.

Dean's love for fast cars and racing - at that age, I'm sure he felt immortal. And guess what, in a way, he was.

Don't miss this one despite a few flaws.

"James Dean: Forever Young" is a good but not great documentary about one of the most enigmatic stars in Hollywood history. It's free of the usual talking heads (one British film about him in the early 1970's was promoted as the last one made when both Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo were still alive and available for interviews) and it focuses mostly on Dean himself via his surviving work on live TV shows and screen tests. It presents a sanitized version of his life, ignoring his sexuality almost completely (the real Dean was almost certainly Bisexual and his relationships with older men were probably quite a bit more than the innocent "mentoring" ones they're presented as here) and also leaving out his interest in horror films (as a teenager he played the Frankenstein monster in an amateur play, he hung out with Maila "Vampira" Nurmi of "Plan Nine from Outer Space" infamy, and the film in which he planned to make his debut as director, as well as starring, was an adaptation of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" he had asked his friend, screenwriter Bill Bast — a name unmentioned in this movie even though Bast published the first book ever written about Dean — to write for him). What was really most frustrating about this film was that it showed off the sheer extent of Dean's legacy — a LOT more of his acting survives than the three starring films we've known for over half a century — and at the same time offered it only in tantalizing clips. It's about time that whatever rights holders are involved got together for a COMPLETE (or nearly so) presentation of Dean's surviving TV work on DVD so Dean's fans can have a complete picture of his work and can see the performances that have been left to rot in vaults all these many years. James Dean did a lot more than just three big movies, and the tragedy of his early death only underscores the need for a complete and respectful presentation of ALL the work he actually DID leave behind.

(*James Dean quote*) - "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

"Forever Young" is something of a "mixed-bag" celebrity-documentary, in that it is either gonna please you to pieces or else piss you right off - Depending, of course, on your overall opinion of late actor, James Dean.

This 90-minute presentation (of both colour and b&w images) completely glosses over Dean's decidedly quirky, emotionally-explosive character. In order to divert and compensate for this omission - It pays full attention to James' brief professional acting career in both the medium of television and in Hollywood feature films.

Through 100s of vintage stills and archival footage (some images rarely seen before) - "Forever Young" pays respectful tribute to James Dean who (at the age of 24) died in a brutal car crash

If you're a James Dean fan and only really know him from the three films that brought him fame, you'll be interested in seeing how he kept busy before that big break in EAST OF EDEN ('55).

As interesting as these early TV clips are, none of them are set up in a way that helps us follow what is going on. Seen out of context it's difficult to assess just how well Dean is doing in his various roles, but it does appear that he had already adopted all of the quirky mannerisms he displayed in his major films. His method acting is on full display in all of the '50s TV work he did, including episodes with Ronald Reagan and Geraldine Page. It would have been interesting to know why Louis Jourdan had little to do with him during their Broadway appearance in "The Immoralist." It's a fact that is quickly mentioned and then dropped by narrator Martin Sheen.

His test with Paul Newman for EAST OF EDEN to see whether they could play brothers in the John Steinbeck drama is one of the more interesting highlights. And ironically, his willingness to appear with Gig Young in a short about driver safety shortly before Dean's death in an auto accident leaves an indelible impression.

For fans of the actor, an interesting glimpse of his personality before and during the height of stardom, but not an incisive full-bodied portrait of the actor at work.

I love James Dean, so it's disappointing that I've yet to find a truly great documentary about the man. On the plus side, this documentary has lots of rare footage, especially of his lesser known film and television appearances. I saw a lot of stuff I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, this is a very basic documentary, the kind of thing you'd expect to get free, tacked on somewhere as a DVD extra. In fact, I'd initially heard this was to be included with the recent James Dean DVD box that came out. It probably would have played better there, but on its own it seems weak. First off, it actually opens with a montage set to Rod Stewart's song "Forever Young". Not only does the song seem terribly out of place, but it also seems like the kind of thing Dean himself would have disliked. We're also subjected to Jim Croce's "I Got A Name" as Jimmy drives to his death. You know the one, where he sings "movin' me down the highway" repeatedly in overly earnest seventies singer songwriter style. And why do we hear Paul McCartney's "Mull Of Kintyre" over the closing credits? All this, plus no interviews, just Martin Sheen narrating in a "then Jimmy acted in this" mode. As a collection of rare clips, this is intriguing for Dean fans. Other than that, it offers little insight into a fascinating life.