Rebel without a cause first hit cinemas in 1955. This was the only film to credit James Dean as the lead actor and was released less than a month after his death in a car crash.

This film almost set the standard for teenage angst movies. James Dean as lead character Jim Stark is seen in the opening titles being arrested for “plain Drunkenness” and while at the police station he first meets Natalie Wood’s character Judy and Sal Mineo as Plato. 

The film then follows these characters as Jim and Judy develop a closer and closer relationship while Plato spirals further into a breakdown.

A lot of the scenes in Rebel without a cause take place in and around the Griffith observatory in Los Angeles which for myself was very handy as the day before my visit I had spent 8 hours in LA traffic visiting locations from Back to the future and E.T. so it was nice to be out of the driving seat for the day.

The only location away from the observatory that I was able to visit was the police station from the start of the film. This is on the Warner brothers studio back lot and is also the police station from The Dukes of Hazard.

You may notice that the pictures and video for this project are in a slightly strange aspect ratio. Because the film was shot in Cinemascope it was a challenge to match the scenes as closely as I would have liked but I hope they are close enough for you to enjoy the comparison.

I hope you enjoy the videos and picture sets below and if you have any connection to the film please get in touch and let me know.