Search - Real James Dean: From Indiana Farmboy To Hollywood Legend Documentary on DVD

Good Documentary on Legendary James Dean

"Tee" | LA | 02/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"THE REAL JAMES DEAN is a 51-minute documentary about the life and legend of Jimmy Dean. It was apparently filmed in the 1990's (a couple of interviews seem to be filmed even earlier) but appears not to have been released until 2006. The film is very much like a BIOGRAPHY television episode, a mixture of still photographs, film clips, and interview snippets with those who knew him. There are memories from the cousin who he was raised with, friends back home in Indiana, costars like some of the gang from REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, contemporaries like Rod Steiger, and celebrity fans like Graham Nash.



I was frankly happy to find it is indeed a new documentary, fearing it might be yet another issue of the apparently public domain THE JAMES DEAN STORY. Some of the interviews are insightful, others are a little pretentious. Curiously missing is former girlfriend actress Dizzy Sheridan although she is referred to in a comment. The bonus material is no more than another hour's worth of additional comments from the same people and a few whose did not make the final cut of the documentary like Carroll Baker and Steve Allen. There's a bit of footage of latterday Fairmount (still very much a small town) and Dean's grave (covered with flowers, no doubt as always) and some very rare snapshots of Dean's mother who passed away when he was nine. There's some wonderfully rare wardrobe and screen test footage from EAST OF EDEN and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (including Joanne Woodward's screen test for the former with Dean), home movie footage taken by locals on the set of GIANT, and an intriguing snippet of Dean's own home movie of stop action animation recreating a bullfight. One certainly wishes more complete footage from these rare takes had been included in the bonus features. There's a couple of snips from early television work as well including from his first acting gig, a Pepsi commercial.



This is all pretty much familiar territory, especially to James Dean fans, but given the low price and some of the rare footage and the sincerity of the project, I would say it's worth seeking out for fans of this enduring star."

A typical biography

jaesah sixx | Midwest, USA | 06/06/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am a lifelong, diehard fan and admirer of James Dean. So anything I can find on James Dean, I consider good. But, withstanding the fact that when I recived this dvd, I realized I had already seen it before, It is a good biography on Jimmy. It tells the story of James Dean, that has been most-widely circulated. That he was heterosexual and Pier Angeli was the love of his life. That the accident that claimed his life was fate and so on. It does not go into details and basically gives a brief summary of his life. For instance, it's not even mentioned that he went to Santa Monica City College before attending UCLA. All that aside, it has many stil photos,home movies by Jimmy himself as well as others, lovely interviews with co-workers/friends. It would be nice for someone who has just discovered James Dean or another wonderful piece to add to the collection of all James Dean fans."