As I previously revealed on Shuker In MovieLand via my biographical article of his life and career (click here to access it), I've always been a huge James Dean fan, I was a longstanding member of WRDI (We Remember Dean International, now sadly defunct), and I own a mini-library of over 60 books devoted to him, all three of his major movies on DVD and video, plus all of his TV appearances on video, video/DVD documentaries about him, an array of JD memorabilia, soundtrack albums of his movies, etc etc – you get the picture.
Surprisingly, however, I'd never seen an actual movie based upon Jimmy's life, with another actor playing him – until 15 January 2021, that is, when I finally watched one such movie. Namely, James Dean: Race With Destiny (aka James Dean: Live Fast, Die Young).
Produced and directed by Mardi Rustam, released in 1997, and starring Casper Van Dien as Jimmy, James Dean: Race With Destiny focuses upon the most significant (yet all too brief) section of his life, spanning his three movies – East of Eden (1955 – Jimmy's only movie that he lived to see released), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and Giant (1956 – directed by George Stevens, played here by Robert Mitchum in what proved to be his final acting role).
This particular period of Jimmy's life was also notable for his doomed love affair with Italian-born actress Pier Angeli (played by Robert's granddaughter Carrie Mitchum, alongside Diane Ladd as Pier's disapproving mother, and Louis D'Alto as ballad singer Vic Damone whom Pier was deftly coerced by her mother into marrying instead of Jimmy), and culminated in that fateful day, 30 September 1955, when while driving his Porsche Spyder racing car to a race meeting in Salinas, California, after having completed filming on Giant just a fortnight earlier, Jimmy was tragically killed in a horrific car crash. He was just 24 years old, but was granted immortality by virtue of his genius and the cruel cutting short of his life, transforming him into an everlasting legend.
Casper captures Jimmy's idiosyncratic mannerisms, mercurial nature, and passionate vitality very effectively, and looks a great deal like him too (perhaps a little too much chin, but otherwise possessing persuasive verisimilitude). Moreover, it was fascinating for me to watch the key episodes of Jimmy's life – which I've read so much about, and with which I was therefore already so familiar – materialize before my very eyes on screen, whereas until now they had only done so in my mind.
Happily, these episodes are presented in a generally faithful manner, restricting to a minimum the potentially misleading and in my opinion entirely unnecessary 'factional' elements (i.e. invented scenes and fictitious characters) that all-too-frequently nowadays extensively pervade supposedly factual biopics – to the point, in fact, where they seem veritable prerequisites for any movie in this particular genre.
Also highly deserving of mention is this movie's distinctive music score, which includes no fewer than 14 memorable songs written especially for it by Gordon Waller and Jim Blazer (plus one by its director, Mardi Rustam), and which embrace the embryonic rock'n'roll style characterising the time period being portrayed here.
James Dean: Race With Destiny is an engaging biopic of an enigmatic and truly iconic star – who knows to what even greater heights of fame and success Jimmy may have ascended, had he lived? An extremely sad, unique loss to moviedom and beyond, but at least we can be very thankful that Jimmy's films and TV shows remain, to remind us forever of what he was and to tantalise us for all time with what he may have become.
If you'd like to catch a sneak preview of this fascinating film, please click here to watch an official trailer for it on YouTube. And if you'd like to view the entire movie, it is presently available to watch for free here on YouTube.
And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
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