An Exercise In Nonsense

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

James Dean & Me (1995) *** (out of 4)Rod Steiger, Dennis Hopper, Leonard Maltin, Sheila Benson, Martin Landau, Liz Sheridan, Eartha Kitt, Steve Allen and Dick Van Pattern are just some of the people interviewed for this 51-minute documentary that takes a look at the young life of James Dean.At such a short running time there's no question that this isn't the most detailed documentary that you're going to see but what makes this one worth watching is the fact that we're given interviews with people who actually knew him and worked with him. Hopper shares some great stories of working with him as does Landau who was close friends with Dean. We also have interviews with a couple former girlfriends who share their thoughts on his fast life and sudden death.There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here and it was all paced together on an obvious low-budget. It has a somewhat cheap feel and look to it but at the same time if you're a fan of the actor then you're going to enjoy hearing these stories.