Brando (the younger) vs. Dean (not martin)

[dean_martin]

Saturday night a week ago I saw A Streetcar Named Desire as part of a local theater's summer film series. This past Sat. night I saw Rebel Without A Cause. I thought this was a unique oppurtunity to compare and contrast the young Brando and James Dean on the big screen. It's my understanding that Dean readily admitted his admiration for Brando and that he studied Brando. Unless I'm leaving someone out, which is entirely possible, I believe Dean came right after Brando as the next great young actor. In other words, there may have been several years between Brando's work in Streetcar and On the Waterfront and Dean's emergence, but there wasn't anyone in between to carry the mantle as the next great young actor.

I'll start by saying that both films were enjoyable, but I preferred Streetcar over Rebel. I think the superior writing and direction of Streetcar was evident, though the cinematic scope of Rebel was larger (many more settings). Don't get me wrong, there are some great scenes in Rebel like Natalie Wood starting the Chickie race on the cliff and the story wasn't bad, it just wasn't as timeless as it could have been. The scenes at the mansion with Wood, Dean and Mineo presented an interesting idea as Dean and Wood took on the roles of parents to Mineo, even escaping to be by themselves once he was asleep.

The first thing I had to get over to enjoy Rebel is that Dean looked too old for the role of a high school kid. There are some closeups that really reveal his age. I didn't remember this being a problem when I saw it on tv. Dean was 22 or 23 when he made this film. I believe it came out a month after his death. From the closeups early in the movie you can tell he lived a hard and fast life. But he slowly pulled me in making me believe that he was a vulnerable, awkard, uncertain teenager with the way he delivered his lines and his physical mannerisms. Once I got into the movie I simply didn't notice the lines in his face or that five o'clock shadow trying to come through. The thing about Dean in this film and in East of Eden is that he took chances by wearing his characters' emotions on his shirt sleeve where everyone could see them. My guess is that most actors would come across as over-the-top. In both Rebel and Eden Dean looks spontaneous in acting out his emotions. I believe that his physical acting to convey emotion was spontaneous and over 90% of the time he guesses right. There were a couple of times in both movies where I would say he "over-reacted."

This area, conveying emotion in a big way, or in a more subtle way, is probably where Brando and Dean differed the most. As Kam pointed out when we were discussing Streetcar, Brando had a way of showing that his nervousness, frustration or anger was boiling just under the surface. I'm not saying that he wasn't capable of convincing emotional outbursts because he certainly was. (Even in Streetcar, he acted out emotionally.) But, the 2 characters played by Dean in Rebel and Eden were more vulnerable and I believe more susceptible to emotional displays than Brando's character Stanley in Streetcar. (I haven't seen Giant in years so I can't comment on Dean's character and performance in that film.)

Both actors certainly had the screen presence to carry a film. The thing about Streetcar for me was that Brando was so impressive in the early half of the film, when the story began to concentrate more on Blanche, I was left wanting to see more of Brando (which ultimately happens at the end in the scene between Blanche and Stanley.)

[Kam]

Saturday night a week ago I saw A Streetcar Named Desire as part of a local theater's summer film series. This past Sat. night I saw Rebel Without A Cause. I thought this was a unique oppurtunity to compare and contrast the young Brando and James Dean on the big screen. It's my understanding that Dean readily admitted his admiration for Brando and that he studied Brando. Unless I'm leaving someone out, which is entirely possible, I believe Dean came right after Brando as the next great young actor. In other words, there may have been several years between Brando's work in Streetcar and On the Waterfront and Dean's emergence, but there wasn't anyone in between to carry the mantle as the next great young actor.

I'll start by saying that both films were enjoyable, but I preferred Streetcar over Rebel. I think the superior writing and direction of Streetcar was evident, though the cinematic scope of Rebel was larger (many more settings). Don't get me wrong, there are some great scenes in Rebel like Natalie Wood starting the Chickie race on the cliff and the story wasn't bad, it just wasn't as timeless as it could have been. The scenes at the mansion with Wood, Dean and Mineo presented an interesting idea as Dean and Wood took on the roles of parents to Mineo, even escaping to be by themselves once he was asleep.

The first thing I had to get over to enjoy Rebel is that Dean looked too old for the role of a high school kid. There are some closeups that really reveal his age. I didn't remember this being a problem when I saw it on tv. Dean was 22 or 23 when he made this film. I believe it came out a month after his death. From the closeups early in the movie you can tell he lived a hard and fast life. But he slowly pulled me in making me believe that he was a vulnerable, awkard, uncertain teenager with the way he delivered his lines and his physical mannerisms. Once I got into the movie I simply didn't notice the lines in his face or that five o'clock shadow trying to come through. The thing about Dean in this film and in East of Eden is that he took chances by wearing his characters' emotions on his shirt sleeve where everyone could see them. My guess is that most actors would come across as over-the-top. In both Rebel and Eden Dean looks spontaneous in acting out his emotions. I believe that his physical acting to convey emotion was spontaneous and over 90% of the time he guesses right. There were a couple of times in both movies where I would say he "over-reacted."

This area, conveying emotion in a big way, or in a more subtle way, is probably where Brando and Dean differed the most. As Kam pointed out when we were discussing Streetcar, Brando had a way of showing that his nervousness, frustration or anger was boiling just under the surface. I'm not saying that he wasn't capable of convincing emotional outbursts because he certainly was. (Even in Streetcar, he acted out emotionally.) But, the 2 characters played by Dean in Rebel and Eden were more vulnerable and I believe more susceptible to emotional displays than Brando's character Stanley in Streetcar. (I haven't seen Giant in years so I can't comment on Dean's character and performance in that film.)

Both actors certainly had the screen presence to carry a film. The thing about Streetcar for me was that Brando was so impressive in the early half of the film, when the story began to concentrate more on Blanche, I was left wanting to see more of Brando (which ultimately happens at the end in the scene between Blanche and Stanley.)

I have East of Eden on my must-see list that forever grows longer. But that one would be the best comparison between the two. First major role for both of them, and both directed by Kazan. Kazan wrote about working with Dean and Brando in his book "A Life" (another great read if you can pick it up, can get it on ebay for a few bucks). He was fairly critical of Dean than he ever was (if at all) of Brando, but then he helped develop Brando into "Brando." Plus he only worked with dean once (unfortunately also because of his death) but worked with brando on 3 movies (also worked with kirk douglas, warren beaty, nicholson, deniro, other actors out of brando's shadow - but then again, everyone today is still under his shadow).

i don't think they really differed that much. am going on vague memories now, so i'll update when i see eden and rebel w/o a cause again, but dean based his acting on brando (hell he based his LIFE on brando's life!) and that brooding vulnerability comes from the exact same place that brando's did. dean's vulnerability was there exactly as you called it, he exposed his emotions and wore them for all to see, whatever they were. brando's vulnerability was shown in a 'real' person who sweats, is dirty, filthy, cries, screams, yells, blows up, boils, seethes with very real, very raw emotions. have you seen any of that out of gable or grant? (not taking anything away from them as cary grant is still one of my fav actors)

When Kazan was directing Brando on stage, he found that Brando was so incredibly magnetic, that the audiences would watch him and not the other actors, their eyes were literally drawn to him (and so away from anyone else on stage who wasnt' standing next to him!) so he would have to place Brando in the scene closer to the other actors so the attention would be drawn to what was going on. And back to Streetcar for a second (cause i just cant stop talking about it haha) the same thing you said about relating to his 'everday' joe type of character was the problem kazan initially had. the play was written to be sympathetic towards blanche. but brando was so powerful in his role, that the audiences (no matter how crass or 'bad' brando was) were still drawn to him over blanche (in the broadway version). kazan talked to tennessee williams about it and found that williams agreed, and was ok with it being that way for the movie version (which also resulted in the switched casting of jessica tandy out of the Blanche role to make Blanche as sympathetic as possible so not TOO overshadowed by Brando). it changed the dynamic of his original intention of the play, but made it more interesting. that the 'badguy' was more sympathetic to the audience then the shrilly 'goodgirl.'

ah... they sure don't make 'em like they used to. am hoping for a nice revolution in film and a return to some simple, great storytelling.

[dean_martin]

I have East of Eden on my must-see list that forever grows longer. But that one would be the best comparison between the two. First major role for both of them, and both directed by Kazan. Kazan wrote about working with Dean and Brando in his book "A Life" (another great read if you can pick it up, can get it on ebay for a few bucks). He was fairly critical of Dean than he ever was (if at all) of Brando, but then he helped develop Brando into "Brando." Plus he only worked with dean once (unfortunately also because of his death) but worked with brando on 3 movies (also worked with kirk douglas, warren beaty, nicholson, deniro, other actors out of brando's shadow - but then again, everyone today is still under his shadow).



I never confirmed this for myself (other than by watching the film), but I heard that there was a lot of tension on the East of Eden set because Dean and Raymond Massey who played Dean's character's father rubbed each other the wrong way. I think the way I heard it was that Dean intentionally irritated Massey with his improvisations to heighten the tension between them on screen. Dean's character is not supposed to be able to do anything to please his father. They aren't supposed to be able to relate to each other at all. One of the ways Dean magnified these elements was by improvising. This was totally against Massey's old school method of acting. Massey would get pissed as hell, but being the professional he was he pressed on.

That's the way I heard it from a friend who's kind of an amateur film scholar and I believe he referenced Kazan's "A Life" for this info. Interestingly, my copy of East of Eden is from an AMC or TCM widescreen presentation. For a period of 10 or so years this film was not available on video (unless you could find an older vhs rental copy). The guy who introduced the film for AMC or TCM did talk about the hostilities between Massey and Dean that seep into the film. Interesting stuff for sure. BTW, East of Eden is now available on dvd in a James Dean box set that includes Rebel and Giant or you can get it individually. Why no one has put together a Kazan box set is a mystery to me.

[Kam]

I never confirmed this for myself (other than by watching the film), but I heard that there was a lot of tension on the East of Eden set because Dean and Raymond Massey who played Dean's character's father rubbed each other the wrong way. I think the way I heard it was that Dean intentionally irritated Massey with his improvisations to heighten the tension between them on screen. Dean's character is not supposed to be able to do anything to please his father. They aren't supposed to be able to relate to each other at all. One of the ways Dean magnified these elements was by improvising. This was totally against Massey's old school method of acting. Massey would get pissed as hell, but being the professional he was he pressed on.

That's the way I heard it from a friend who's kind of an amateur film scholar and I believe he referenced Kazan's "A Life" for this info. Interestingly, my copy of East of Eden is from an AMC or TCM widescreen presentation. For a period of 10 or so years this film was not available on video (unless you could find an older vhs rental copy). The guy who introduced the film for AMC or TCM did talk about the hostilities between Massey and Dean that seep into the film. Interesting stuff for sure. BTW, East of Eden is now available on dvd in a James Dean box set that includes Rebel and Giant or you can get it individually. Why no one has put together a Kazan box set is a mystery to me.

i just looked up some more info on East of Eden (on my ebay watch list right now! will be mine soon! victory is mine!) and Kazan not only knew about Dean antagonizing massey, but did nothing to stop it, knowing it would help the onscreen performance. the sweetest thing that did NOT happen, was that paul newman tested with james dean to play the part of his brother Aaron. now that woulda been something else. kazan also kept steinbeck up to date with everything going on during filming, and dean received steinbeck's support in the role as well. kazan thought of casting brando as cal and montgomery cliff as aaron but they were too old to play teenagers (from imdb). or at least they looked too old, since dean wasn't a teenager either.

i always thought the jerry lewis movie, the delicate delinquent had some rebel homages/spoofs to it.

and... of course... in the forever retreading of prior material, East of Eden is now being made again. Supposedly Ron Howard's next project after The DaVinci Code wraps. why???? when will something original get greenlighted!? ugh.why do they remake classics? award winning, fan favorite classics that can't possibly live up to the expectations? why not remake a flawed movie instead, remake something that was a great premise, but just fell short somehow. there are TONS of movies like that. unfortunately... when an mba makes a decision, its gotta be a sound biz choice, not an artistic and risky one.