Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause

Wow! And what a view! If you are a Rebel Without a Cause fan, this book is for you! The first book that deals in depth with all the people behind the making of the movie, their weaknesses, strengths, motives, ideals, faulty patterns, games, it all comes out. Well written & tactfully done, you gotta smile when you read this one. It rounds out all the gray areas of Rebel & the now famous people that were a part of it. Lengthy, detailed, prudent & tactful, still an exciting read that I found very hard to put down. Gives some of the personal motivation behind decisions & fleshes out the actors that were so dynamic & bold for their time. No rock is left unturned and you feel "full" after ingesting it. For those of you who are new to Dean & those of us who are still yearning to learn about him, this book is an indispensable gem & a classic, already. 5 stars for a real dynamic beauty of a book.

This is a superb treatment of the making of an iconic film. Published at a time when many books were coming out to commemorate the 50th anniversary of both James Dean's death and the release of Rebel, Live Fast, Die Young faced stiff competition, at least on the subject of Dean himself. But this story is the ultimate examination of the evolution and production of one of the most important films in the history of cinema, not just Dean's contribution to it. As far as direct competition, the earlier more academic study, by Douglas Rathgeb, unfortunately does not quite hold up next to this mountainous, jam-packed look at the movie which made the legendary careers of James Dean and Nick Ray.Rathgeb's book was certainly adequate and very thorough as to the use of extensive Warner Brothers memoranda and archives. However, the end result of his approach is dry and lacking in narrative. Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel took the Rebel ball and ran with it, bigtime! The cover painting grabbed me right away, as did that seductive and lurid title, also used to great effect, in part, by John Gilmore for his '97 book on his experiences with James Dean. From beginning to end, the authors dished out exactly the type of balanced but fast moving stories and anecdotes I was hoping they had uncovered. I'd had a feeling there was more, much more to the making of that haunting film than what anyone else had written, dating all the way back to Dalton's The Mutant King and beyond.There's no shortage of steamy gossip or interpersonal intrigue here; there is much I didn't know about Nick Ray's life, as well as Natalie Wood and writer Stewart Stern. I picked up the book mainly because I'm a dedicated fan of James Dean. Although I like the film and have alwayes been intrigued by that indefinable aura of transient youth and tragedy that clings to it, I was instantly drawn in by the authors' impressive sources, fresh anecdotes, and a consistent knack for leaving no stone unturned. There are other older sources on the life and work of Nicholas Ray, but I have not read them, so the intimate details of his background, as well as that of his work on Rebel, was mostly fresh to me. It is unbelievable what Stern and Ray went through with the stiff sensorship of the era, as well as with the top brass of Warner Brothers, while trying to get the film made their own way. It was a different world in the fifties, full of oppresseive political pressures, racism and sexism. Ray, Dean and cohorts successfully rose above the fray and survived to create a cinematic masterwork that laid the ground work for practically all that we've come to know as youth culture. I love the way the chapters are broken down to evenly introduce the major and minor players, as well as keep the overall story of the making of the film moving along rapidly. Anybody who is heavily into the film and/or Dean, or any of the impressive cast, should not overlook this fantastic read! Great selection of photos included. Paul

This excellent book is sheer heaven for those addicted to the romantic myth of this movie and its galaxy of stars. Even if you're a little bit addicted, you'll be hooked fast after just a few pages, as these authors make it easy to love James Dean, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, the script writer Stewart Stern, the composer Leonard Rosenman, Corey Allen, and the minor players who composed the "gang." Nicholas Ray is also at the core of this work, an exploitative megalomaniac insecure and wounded to the quick probably from the opening bell of his life. In fact, everyone and every thing related to Rebel is examined in fascinating detail, before Rebel, during the making of Rebel, and after Rebel. One really feels the great significance of this movie to not only everyone involved in it, but to a whole generation, and generations after it. Of course, I've run out and gotten all three Dean movies, but my appreciation and understanding of Rebel has gone up a thousandfold after reading this book. If you remember the fifties gang warfare or vaguely remember when Dean died (I was eight years old), and you've seen Rebel just once, read this book. You won't be the same. You'll fully appreciate how this movie and its cast have influenced our culture (today's right-wing philistines would say for the worse, as we move back to a 1950s repression). You'll also understand the genius that was Dean. Who knows what he would have done and where he would have taken us in our collective consciousness, but his tragic loss ironically is part of his ever-present influence.

As a huge Natalie Wood fan, I'm always happy to get my hands on anything that mentions her, and there hasn't been much until recently. This is another great contribution to the facts of her life, as well as the lives of everyone else involved in the making of "Rebel." The authors did a wonderful job of uncovering the story behind the film, and their writing style moved things along quickly, throwing fact after fact at their readers. I loved it, and I look forward to the authors' next collaboration.

I gave a copy of the book to my daughter, some stories never get old, this was a fresh new spin, on James Dean, it is a well written, and tho a "bleak" look at his life, it was told very heart warming and honest. You can't put it down.