InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Bessie Smyth
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Michael_Elliott
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.
mgconlan-1
"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.
Neil Doyle
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.
rhinestone_cowgirl
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.
