James Dean: Forever Young

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.

"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.

During the mid-50s, everybody was fascinated with James Dean, including, obviously, Paul Newman. I have never seen such blatant flirting between two men on the screen.

Paul wanted this role as Dean's brother in "East of Eden," and it showed. The "test" was nothing more than Dean and Newman standing side by side taking direction from an off-screen voice. "Now, turn and look at one another," the director orders. Dean, whom we know was gay, was smitten with the ultra-handsome Paul. When their eyes met, Newman could certainly sense Dean's "interest" in him. Isn't it always IN THE EYES? Newman boldly flirted back (oh, those blue eyes!) But then, Dean was equally as handsome. I tell you - those eyes were COMMUNICATING!!!

At one point, while staring into one another's eyes, Dean says to Newman, "kiss me." Newman smiles and whispers, "can't here." They both laugh. Several homo-erotic moves and comments follow, something about "I can't let this guy (Newman) get behind me!".

When I showed this to a female friend, she was floored. "I can't BELIEVE they did that," she quipped. Now, I saw Paul Newman in person coming out of Sardi's in New York one evening. You just wouldn't believe how handsome he was and how mesmerizing his blue eyes were. And, going back to 1953, he was at his zenith in good looks. I suppose Jimmy had good taste. Wait 'till you see this screen test! Paul didn't get the part, but did show up the next year in "The Silver Chalice," his first film, co-starring with the gorgeous, Virginia Mayo, who was top-billed. Newman was "introduced."

I saw this film at it's American premiere at the James Dean festival in Marion, Indiana. I feel in love immediately and somehow all over again with James Dean. I think that my favorite aspect of the film was how it revealed the "real" Dean, the artist, not James Dean the rebel, because there's so much more to him than that stereotype. The film chronicles a fearless boy ready to tackle the world, not afraid to take chances and step on some toes, but not in a maniacal fashion, which is what I loved. I appreciated how I was able to watch much of the television work of Dean, as well as some of his screen tests, most notably for "East of Eden" in which he tests with a young Paul Newman. This is one of the most wonderful documentaries I've ever seen, and it's because it's made out of love for Dean, and love of art and film-making, not for the almighty dollar, and that alone makes it something very special.

James Dean: Forever Young (2005)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely impressive documentary about the final five years in the life of James Dean. The documentary, narrated by Martin Sheen, is certainly unlike any other you're going to see. For starters, there are countless documentaries, magazine articles and countless other tributes to Dean. I mean, after all there is a reason he's still so highly recognized all these years after his death. If you want to learn about his childhood then there's plenty of information out there. If you want to hear about his public life then that too is out there. This documentary doesn't just focus on his life, career or death but instead it tries to show you a little bit of everything that he was doing. Using film clips, TV episodes, home made movies and countless other items, this documentary starts at the beginning of Dean's career and travels down to his final three movies. I really enjoyed how the documentary tried to cover every aspect of Dean's professional life. We get to see countless clips that would take you hours to track down via the web or other sources and to have all of it within an 88-minutes film is just terrific for fans. We see the work that he did on TV. We get behind the scenes stuff from the set of GIANT. We get to see the places that Dean hung out at before he became famous. We even get to see some rare photos of him hanging out with friends and other celebrities. Best of all are some outtakes from EAST OF EDEN and the early screen tests including one with Paul Newman. We even get the now legendary public service spot that Dean shot just days before his death. If you're a fan of Dean then this here is going to be a dream come true simply because of how much footage we get to see. The early television stuff was especially exciting to see as were some of the lesser known shows that he did early in his career.