Forever James Dean

This documentary on James Dean has the advantage of archival footage, as opposed to re-enactments, to convey the life and career of this unique screen personality.

Dean's life is charted from birth, including the untimely loss of his mother at an early age, the estrangement from his father, his junior and senior high school activities, and on to his acting studies and early career experiences in New York and Hollywood.

Short commentaries by Dean's teachers, close friends and associates paint revealing pictures of both the actor and person. Film clips are used to help flesh out the degree to which Dean brought his own life's experience into his roles, taking great risks in improvisation with the printed script.

It was indeed fortunate that Dean had such remarkably sensitive directors to work with. Elia Kazan waited to get Dean's signal to begin a shoot, rather than the other way around. Nicholas Ray allowed Dean to structure and direct the scenario the way he saw it, rather than the way Ray may have chosen. And George Stevens accommodated Dean every step of the way, providing for maximum comfort level for Dean to prepare and execute a scene.

In a way, Dean's bonanza of directors was not unlike that of Audrey Hepburn, who also inherited a string of great directors. The only way to accurately sum up Dean's brief and mecurial career is "phenomenal." This documentary provides interesting footage for the film researcher and the Dean devotee.

This appears to be a very ordinary documentary, written, produced and directed by Ara Chekmayan, for the video market. However, it promises to be, "A stunning NEW look at a legendary star." What's new will depend upon what you already know. I found this account of James Dean's life interesting, and learned some things which would probably not surprise many others. Most interesting to learn of Mr. Dean's train ride with his mother's coffin, a girlfriend suddenly marrying another man (Vic Damone), and the fact that there was another passenger (Rolf the mechanic) in the car crash which killed Dean.

Julie Harris, William Bast, and some other "friends, co-stars, and teachers" (it says here, on the box) share their "insightful" interviews. Ms. Harris speaks sweetly about working with Dean on "East of Eden". Mr. Bast shares a very sweet story about when his mother came to visit himself and Dean in their apartment. Kenneth Kendall talks about creating a beautiful head sculpture of Dean, which was stolen from his grave, unfortunately. There are generous clips from Dean's three feature films, but only a couple of clips which could, arguably, be called "never before seen." Charges Dean was "homosexual" are vociferously denied. Chris Busone does a very '80s sounding tribute song called "American Rebel".

"Forever James Dean" is far more insightful about marketing than it is about Dean.

*** Forever James Dean (1988) Ara Chekmayan ~ James Dean, Julie Harris, William Bast