History Film / RebelWithoutACause

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Jim is portrayed as a violent and menacing, if not downright villainous, figure in the promotional posters, no doubt to capitalize on this trope. However, in the film, he's actually a sensitive, kindhearted boy; Judy becomes attracted to him because he's kind to her. Her previous boyfriend was the gang leader Buzz.]

->''"You're tearing me ''apart!''"''

* AllThereInTheManual: According to the script, Judy's little brother [[SatelliteCharacter who's only in scenes involving the family]], is named Beau.

* AllThereInTheManual: According to the script, Judy's little brother [[SatelitteCharacter who's only in scenes involving the family]], is named Beau.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Jim is portrayed as a violent and menacing, if not downright villainous, figure in the promotional posters, no doubt to capitalize on this trope. However, in the film, he's actually a sensitive, kindhearted boy; Judy becomes attracted to him because he's kind to her. Her previous boyfriend was the gang leader Buzz.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Jim is portrayed as a violent and menacing, if not downright villainous, figure in the promotional posters, no doubt to capitalize on this trope. However, in the film, he's actually a sensitive, kindhearted boy; Judy becomes attracted to him because he's kind to her. Her previous boyfriend was the gang leader Crunch.

* PoliceAreUseless: Played with. Detective Ray Fremick appears to be the OnlySaneMan at the start, and treats the delinquent teens with respect. Jim even goes to [[spoiler:try and report Buzz's death]] to him for this reason, but he is out on a call, and the policemen who are at the station don't know where he is or when he'll back. The police who show up at the house later in the film, however, make things worse [[spoiler:by stunning Plato, causing him to run out. Not knowing that his gun is unloaded, they shoot at him]].

** Creator/JamesDean played Cal [[SignificantAnagram Trask]] in ''Film/EastOfEden''.

* AdultsAreUseless: In some scenes.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Jim, Judy, and Plato are all hauled in by the cops at the same time, with their interviews revealing their problems at home.

* PoliceAreUseless: Played with. Detective Ray Fremerick appears to be the OnlySaneMan at the start, and treats the delinquent teens with respect. Jim even goes to [[spoiler:try and report Buzz's death]] to him for this reason. The police who show up at the house later in the film, however, make things worse [[spoiler:by stunning Plato, causing him to run out. Not knowing that his gun is unloaded, they shoot at him]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: Ray's follow-up film, ''Film/BiggerThanLife'' is set in StepfordSuburbia but unlike ''Rebel'' deals with the parents, specifically the protagonist is a school teacher (whereas here the protagonists are school students).
* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:Plato.]]

* StepfordSuburbia: The story is set in an idyllic American Dream suburbia filled with dysfunction and neuroses -- and it was made ''during'' the Fifties.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Ray's follow-up film, ''Film/BiggerThanLife'' is also set in StepfordSuburbia but unlike ''Rebel'' deals with the parents, specifically the protagonist is a school teacher (whereas here the protagonists are school students).

>'''Jim Stark:''' [[DaylightHorror No, at dawn]].

* AmbiguouslyGay: Famously with Plato towards Jim, whose interest looks like a PrecociousCrush. WordOfGod is that Nicholas Ray told Sal Mineo to look at James Dean "the same way Natalie does" - and there was even a kiss between them scripted.

-->'''Plato''': Tell me Jim, will the end of the world come at night time?
-->'''Jim Stark''': [[DaylightHorror No, at dawn]].

-->'''Jim Stark''': If only I had one day in my life where I didn't feel confused, where I felt like I belonged.

* UnbuiltTrope: This film was critical of the TeensAreMonsters trope right as it took form in TheFifties. It's also a good deal more serious than the teenage movies that followed, dealing with repressed homosexuality, gun violence, the sense of growing up with the realization that earth is a meaningless speck in the universe, [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-rebel-without-a-cause-1955 and for its tackling of existentialist themes]].
--> '''Creator/RogerEbert''': Like Hamlet's disgust at his mother's betrayal of his father, Jim's feelings mask a deeper malaise, a feeling that life is a pointless choice between being and not being. In France at the time, that was called [[UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}} existentialism]], but in Jim's Los Angeles, rebels were not so articulate. The first time Jim talks with Judy (Natalie Wood), the girl next door, she's ready for him. "You live here, don't you?" he says. "Who lives?" she says.

-->'''Buzz''': I like you.
-->'''Jim''': Then [[LampshadeHanging why are we doing this?]]
-->'''Buzz''': You've got to do ''[[ForTheLulz some]]''[[ForTheLulz thing]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rebel.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:358:[-Misfit [[TrueCompanions best buddies]], '50s style!-] ]]

* YouMustBeCold: Jim offers his jacket to Plato, who isn't female.

* PrettyInMink: Jim's mother and grandmother wear mink wraps.

* RebelRelaxation: TropeNamer.

* BringMeMyRedJacket: Jim wears the iconic red jacket for most of the film, [[spoiler:but lends it to Plato shortly before the latter is killed. When Jim's father arrives on the scene, he recognizes the jacket and thinks it's his son who's been shot]].

* CoolCar: Jim drives a 1949 Mercury. This movie *made* the '49 Merc a CoolCar rather than the rapidly depreciating, out-of-style old barge it had been before, much as *Manga/InitialD* did for the mid-80s Toyota Corolla coupes.

* CoolCar: Jim drives a 1949 Mercury Coupe.