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 bought this movie because I have enjoyed the few films that Casper Van Dien has made. He does a credible job of portraying James Dean. Details of his Hollywood life came out that I had not known at the time of Dean's life (i.e. his relationships with Pier Angeli and Ursula Andress). What proved most discouraging were the "terrible" Italian accents (particularly from an accomplished actress like Diane Ladd) and from the Mitchum girl. I also found the background music uneven and sometimes so loud the dialog was muted. What might have been a good film came off as pretty amateurish.

Try as he may Casper Van Dien could not overcome the bad casting as James Dean in James Dean: Race With Destiny. I'm not sure anyone could have played the part and not be criticized as Dean has become such an iconic figure for America's young.

He does his best, but the guy who played such an All American hero as John Rico in Starship Troopers and made a terrifically hunky screen Tarzan is just too white bread for the part of James Dean. Van Dien just does not suggest a rebel persona that would be so essential to playing Dean. Maybe the late River Phoenix or Leonardo DiCaprio might have done justice to the role, but they themselves have some rather fixed images.

The story line is about roughly the last year of Dean's 24 year time on earth. We meet him first making East of Eden and driving folks like Jack Warner and director Elia Kazan crazy with his driving. When not successful in wooing Pier Angeli, Dean courts other women like an up and coming Ursula Andress and spends his time racing his motorcycle or his automobile.

If we're to believe this, all might have gone well for Dean and Angeli had they been able to settle down and marry. Sad to say though Dean could not overcome the handicap of not being Italian. Pier Angeli and her sister Marisa Pavan were dominated by their mother in the same way as Jean Harlow was, as Natalie Wood was. Diane Ladd plays the domineering mother and she's got a husband picked out for Pier in the person of singer Vic Damone. Jimmy's willing to become the best Catholic ever, but can't change his ancestry.

Of course one big flaw in this film is that it completely ignores James Dean's other sexual side. It's been reported in any number of places that Dean had a gay side to him. That might have been more of a problem than not being Italian.

Casper Van Dien's wife at the time, Carrie Mitchum plays Pier Angeli. She is the granddaughter of that other screen icon Robert Mitchum and the Van Diens got Mitchum to play a couple of scenes as director George Stevens of Giant. In a few months Mitchum would be no longer with us and it's horrifying to see the ravages of lung cancer in him.

Though I think Casper Van Dien was miscast as James Dean, I'm not sure even the alternatives I mentioned could have stood up to the criticism leveled at this film. James Dean still looms large in our collective conscious, maybe too large.

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.

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