James Dean Story, The

Director:  Robert Altman and George W. George
Year Released:  1957
Rating:  1.5

Good intentioned - and more than a bit fanatical - 'documentary' of Dean's life and tragic death and an attempt to explain the myth of the actor and why he appealed to so many moviegoers. Since it was made shortly after his death - and in the 50's - it never really gets to the heart of the matter (that would be tackled by biographies that would come out later) and whitewashes Dean's (well-known) demons (it never mentions his relationship with Pier Angeli, his bi-sexuality or things like that; likewise, it also neglects to mention Nicholas Ray at all). For Dean fans like myself, little is revealing, but those with a taste for bad poetry will relish the voice-over, which includes a few choice bits, my favorites being: "He looked at the ocean … and he was jealous of its power," "People were his food … and he ate them up hungrily" and "Success was nothing more than the concealing leaf which covered the tree of his loneliness." Take that, Pinsky.

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