James Dean: Live Fast, Die Young

James Dean: Race With Destiny (a.k.a James Dean: Live Fast, Die Young) is a terrible movie that disgraces a screen legend. The production values are painfully low, and coupled with the shoddy acting, the resulting feel is that you're watching a soap opera. And a bad one, at that.

Why anyone though Casper Van Dien could play James Dean evades me. He was fine in "Sleepy Hollow," and other films, but this is clearly not a role for him. To make matters worse, his performance is terrible. The film portrays Dean as a rude buffoon. Although I have seen "Rebel Without A Cause," I don't know much about Dean himself, but I've often heard he was actually quite shy. If this is in fact the case, the film severely misrepresents him.

The script is also poor, complete with ridiculous stereotypes such as Pier Angeli's mother saying "bonjourno," and "gratzi" every 25 seconds, as though the viewer needs to be reassured that she's Italian. There are also visual blunders. In the opening sequence, Dean is in the middle of a race, and happens to be sporting a modern racing helmet, instead of a 1950s one. Things like that might have been excusable if the overall production was better, but it isn't.

Instead of suffering through this terrible affair, check out "James Dean," starring James Franco. That film is great in its own right, but it's downright genius compared to this waste of time.

I really love James Dean, but I really truly hated this movie. It was a terrible portrayal on his behalf. James Dean was really really shy in real life, and the only way we saw that was when we saw him talk about racing when he was filming his shoot on the cowboy movie. Overall I thought this was a terrible portrayal on Dean himself and a disgrace to him. If you want to do a realistic story, do it right please.

I just saw James Dean: Live fast Die young, and somewhat (if not very) dissapointed of the film. I'm not an actor but I watch movies, especially classic movies, religiously. Putting Casper Van Dien as Jimmy Dean in this picture is a sin, he did a very dissapointing job portraying Dean. My most dissapointment goes for the team that made this film. Back in those days smoking was COOL! And Van Dien couldn't even drag a cigarette. The Lighting is biased, did they try to make look like an old movie, or what? The same goes to the motorcycle- riding scene. But it is good to see that somebody finally decide to make a movie about America's Legend. But I am sorry that I bought this DVD instead of renting it... =) Peace to all of you

I'd like to say first that the makers of this film and Casper Van Dien have no idea who James Dean is. All they know is that he was an actor that was madly in love with Pier Angeli and drove fast. This movie is pathetic. The direction is terrible, the writing is horrible, the music is annoying, and the acting is horrendous. This movie is not about James Dean, so don't be fooled. It's about some idiot that dresses like and calls himself James Dean. Instead of getting James Dean you get a guy that sounds like a whiny little kid and who constantly gets speeding tickets. Seriously, Casper Van Dien cannot act for his life. If someone had a gun to his head and said act like James Dean, he'd be dead as soon as he opened his mouth. If I were Casper I'd be too ashamed to even look at myself in the mirror. That guy is really pathetic and should be ashamed of himself. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make this movie or to even get Casper Van Dien to play James Dean, is a moron. Everyone who made this movie should be shot. I don't even know if you'd call it a movie. It's like the whole thing is one big practical joke. The whole time I was watching this movie I was shocked at how bad it was. It would be a joke to even compare this movie to the James Franco movie about James Dean. All I'm going to say is see the Franco movie. See that great movie and see James Dean's movies. But avoid this trash. This movie is just so pathetic it's not even funny.

Being a fan of James Dean and his films I jumped at the chance to see this film. I was aware going in that it had a low budget and mostly unknown cast. But I thought the allure of Dean and the era of film making would be interesting enough to not require expensive sets or name actors. Long story short, I was wrong. Sometimes the most important part missing is a lack of capable direction.

Casper Van Dien does what he can with a badly written script. No set pieces are explored anything further than a two shot exchange. The scene where Van Dien playing 'Dean' meets with the leader of a local gang is an example. What could have been an interesting look at Dean's preparation for his role in Rebel Without A Cause becomes a clumsy exchange between the two actors. The dialogue feels awkward and unrehearsed.

All supporting actors bring nothing to their roles. Diane Ladd uses every Italian cliché she can think of. Carrie Mitchum as Pier Angeli is tolerable but forgettable. And sadly this is Robert Mitchum's final role playing Giant director George Stevens.

One thing that really annoyed me was the lack of accuracy regarding the clothing. Aside from looking at a distance like the 50's, up close it didn't hold up to closer viewing. Van Dien could have been playing any L.A. 20 something in dressed down clothes. His attire was just cheap, generic clothing cobbled together to look simple. Only "Rebel's" red windbreaker was replicated for the movie.

On a positive note Casper Van Dien did an excellent job replicating a now infamous Dean clip warning drivers about the dangers of speeding. It's possibly the best scene in the film. It was the first time I was able to literally sit up take notice of Van Dien's acting. I wonder what preparation he did for the role. And secondly the final scene is very well shot. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where a lot of the planning and budget went. It was well directed, acted and shot.

All in all though this film still only gets a 3.3/10. You're better off watching "James Dean" with James Franco. A far better telling of Dean's life and legacy.