I can well understand why Dean became a legend, and I think he had tremendous potential, but there isn't one of his 3 motion pictures that is anything close to great. "Rebel" might have been the most accessible, and it has been many years since I saw it, but even at the time it made me squirm uncomfortably, as it liberally sprinkled the pseudo-psychological jargon on its 1950's style schmaltz -- Dean pleading with Mr. Howell...I mean, his dad...to take off the apron and start acting like a man; Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo pretending to be a "family", Dean's tortured and inarticulate attempts to find acceptance from his peers, Dean weepingly imploring Raymond Massey to acknowledge his efforts to raise money (sorry, that was the "East Of Eden" movie)-- I was only a naive teen myself when I saw "Rebel", but the main element of it that impressed itself upon me even then was how mawkish and obvious it all seemed. I mean, "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" handled teenaged pathos and angst more competently than "Rebel" did, in my opinion. In time, Dean might have become the equal of Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Unfortunately, tragically, he died before he was ever able to live up to his potential. Of course, it's not really his fault. He didn't write his movies, or direct them, or produce them. In all 3 of his films, there are flashes of brilliance, of genuine emotion and dramatic insight, but these elements are ultimately overwhelmed by pervasive Cold-War era melodrama and sophistry. It's a shame. Brando and Clift were such consummate artists that they were invariably able to overcome the trite, pedestrian scripts they occasionally had to work with. Dean hadn't yet matured enough as a performer to accomplish that same thing. Still, watching "Rebel" and Dean, one can't escape from a sobering recognition of the artistic magnificence that might have been.