Search - James Dean: Live Fast, Die Young on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 3/14/2022...

Took a bit for this movie to get going but then it told a story about James Dean that you probably did not know and could appreciate.

Adam M. (redbaronredsoxfan) from BURLINGTON, VT
Reviewed on 3/1/2013...

this movie was done really well, better than the James Franco version. George Barris custumized the Porsche Spyder 550 for the movie, who also did James Dean's in 1955.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Suprisingly Good

Thomas Yan Ong | Azusa, CA | 09/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After all the negative reviews I've read on this, I was suprised that I actually enjoyed this film. It's not as deep as the James Franco version, but it was still a good film. It shows the more crazier side of Dean, which I think is completely true, because I have read about Dean and seen bios on him and a lot of people do say that he is a wierd guy and a bit crazy. Him being a genius actor, I'm not so suprised that he is a bit crazy. Anyway, the film did heavily go over the Pier Angeli love affair. Though I doubt James Dean actually loved her as much as the film emphasizes, I do believe that she really loved him. This movie didn't touch on the homosexual side of Dean, though not an appealing fact about his life, it's still part of his history. The Franco version didn't really go over this either, but it still touched upon this part of Dean's life in a classy way. This movie is perhaps half accurate and half not, but I still enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to any James Dean fan like myself."

Pretty bad movie

LF | USA | 01/02/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know anything about James Dean. I'm not a fan of his. The only reason I saw this film is because my wife picked it up for a dollar.



The film makes James Dean look like a jerk. I'll give you an example. He is in love with an Italian girl, and in front of her mother he insults Italians by referring to one as a pasta head.



He is a self centered and annoying jerk throughout much of the movie. Reading other reviews on this site, it seems that he wasn't that way in real life.



Also, I remember reading somewhere that he had a terrible relationship with his foster parents, and that he received a lot of beatings. In this film, his dad is just peachy with him. If they can't even get that right, I have to wonder who this film is about.



There is an ultra phony scene where James Dean makes a tough guy basically quack like a duck. He tells the tough guy to admit that he is a yellow chicken, and the guy does, all because James Dean is holding a finger against the guy's eye. What a stupid scene. The guy should have grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his eye, and then socked him. How stupid was this? You can't just stand there holding your finger to someone's eye. It simply doesn't work. Either you poke the man's eye or you get your hand pulled away, one or the other. It is not difficult to pull someone's hand away from your damn eye and move your head back.



The whole movie was intent on portraying James Dean as some tough guy with an attitude, rebel without a cause. It was just stupid. That was the name of a movie. That wasn't the biography of a three dimensional man.



The love of his life, Pier Angeli, came off as an idiot, even moreso than Dean. She loved Dean but she married Vic Damone because her mother told her to. What? What century were these people living in? That was ridiculous. If I am to believe these characters as presented, I can feel no sympathy for that moronic girl, but only scorn, and wish her the worst. Too bad she didn't get killed in a car wreck. Moron.



All in all, a frustrating and stupid movie. I was rooting against the characters because they were so damn annoying and stupid. I was wishing them the worst. A nice happy ending would have been for them all to fall in quicksand and sink."

Same Garbage with a New Package - DON'T BUY

track100 | 02/08/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is the same low budget, completely historically inaccurate film that was originally released straight to VHS as James Dean: Live Fast, Die Young. This is bad, bad, bad. Don't let it taint your memory of fine actors like Robert Mitchum and Diane Ladd. They were probably duped into doing this by an Ed Wood type shyster. The guy playing Dennis Hopper looks and acts nothing like him, that's this movie's worst sin.



If you have to see a James Dean biography and not let his work speak for itself, see the one with James Franco - THIS IS NOT THAT FILM."