Gojira (1954)

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.

Gojira is a 1954 Japanese science fiction kaiju film featuring Godzilla, produced and distributed by Toho. It is the first film in the Godzilla franchise and the first film in the Showa series. The film is directed by Ishirō Honda, with a screenplay by Honda, Takeo Murata, and Shigeru Kayama and stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka as the performers for Godzilla. Nakajima would go on to portray the character until his retirement in 1972.

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk. At first, the authorities think its either underwater mines or underwater volcanic activity. The authorities soon head to Odo Island, close to where several of the ships were sunk. One night, something comes onshore and destroys several houses and kills several people. A later expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyôhei Yamane, his daughter Emiko, and young navy frogman Hideto Ogata (who also happens to be Emiko's lover, even though she is betrothed to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa) soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 164-foot-tall (50-meter-tall) monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now, the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan but the rest of the world as well. Can the monster be destroyed before it is too late, and what role will the mysterious Serizawa play in the battle?

The original, Japanese version of "Gojira" is the best giant monster film I've ever seen. Some fans get carried away and call it one of the best movies ever made; I wouldn't go quite that far, but it's damn good. This film is quite different from the 20+ sequels that followed. Here, Godzilla is not so much a creature as he is a walking incarnation of the atomic bomb. His death ray, which became a rather amusing cartoon laser blast in later films, is here depicted as a sort of radioactive mist that sets its victims on fire. These "radioactive horror" images still resonate today - and imagine the impact they must've had on Japanese audiences fifty years ago.

The music by Akira Ifukube is memorable. From his stirring main title music, to Godzilla's destructive, ponderous theme music, to the poignant ending. Again, Ifukube's work for this film sets the standard for his work in the fantasy film genre.

The love triangle between the character leads blends in very well with the monster plot. Godzilla, making his first attack on Tokyo, created haunting scenes of death and destruction and poignant moments of dismalness in the aftermath of his wake. A compelling story by Shigeru Kayama, marvelous screenplay by Takeo Murata and superb special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Actors Takeshi Shimura, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi and Akihiko Hirata gave outstanding performances. And, Haruo Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka and Ryosaku Takasugi did a terrific and realistic job on portraying Godzilla.

Just to make sure I clarify.  This is in reference to the original Japanese movie...not the edited version that was released in America with Raymond Burr. There's no comparison to the Japanese version. Plus I can't look at Raymond Burr and not think of the stories that he liked to lay under a glass table while his dates would shit on it.  Yeah you read that correctly. 

Director of special effects for this movie Eiji Tsuburaya, (he was the first of his kind in Japan) once commented in an interview that ever since he saw King Kong, he wanted to make a movie just like it. He got his chance in this movie made 20 years later. Tsuburaya commented on the hardship he encountered when he tried to make the first Godzilla suit when right kinds of foam and rubber materials were not yet abundantly available in Japan at the time. He mentioned that he even used concrete to make part of the suit. Eiji Tsuburaya is also the inventor of the blue screen technique which later evolved into today's green screen technique. Modern movie owes Tsuburaya a lot for his pioneering works. Many people mistakenly credit Inoshiro Honda for the fantastic action scenes in this movie but it was Tsuburaya who did the work. Tsuburaya later went on to invent other characters such as "Rodan" and the original "Ultraman" series which is still popular today

"Gojira" is no doubt Toho's greatest film and one of Honda's greatest masterpieces. With this film, the ultimate franchise was born, with three series, 28 films, and lasted 50 years. And hopefully with many more films to come.

Hi

Trivia:

During Godzilla's rampage through downtown Tokyo, one of the buildings he destroys is the Toho Theater. In fact, some fans who were watching the film in that theater actually thought the theater was being attacked and tried to run out of the theater.

The sound department tried numerous animal roars for Godzilla but felt they were unsuitable for an animal of such immense size. Akira Ifukube came up with Godzilla's roars by rubbing a coarse, resin-coated leather glove up and down the strings of a contrabass (double bass), and reverberated the recorded sound. Also, Godzilla's thunderous footsteps were made by beating a kettle drum with a knotted rope.

One of the most famous legends regarding the production of this film has Ishirô Hondaand Eiji Tsuburaya on the observation deck of what was then one of Tokyo's skyscrapers. They were planning Godzilla's path of destruction. Other visitors on the deck became concerned when portions of their conversation were overheard. The pair was stopped by authorities and questioned.

The electrical towers that Godzilla melts with his radioactive breath were actually made of wax. The special effects crew melted them by blowing hot air on them, as well as shining hot studio lights on them for the white-hot effect.

The Oxygen Destroyer

Because of the complexity of the production, the entire film was storyboarded. This is believed to be the very first time this was done for a Japanese film.

Was the most expensive Japanese movie ever made at the time of its release.

Stop motion animation in the style of King Kong (1933) was rejected because of the time it would take and the subsequent cost. Also, according to special effects director, Eiji Tsuburaya, there was simply no one in Japan who was skilled and experienced in doing that kind of stop motion animation.

SERIES TRADEMARK: In the Japanese version, right after Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) makes his first appearance (at the conference for the Oto Island survivors), he is embarrassed to notice that his tie was loose, and tucks it back into his jacket. This scene, perhaps one of the film's only bits of comedy relief, has become a pop-culture reference to Godzilla fans in Japan. The film Godzilla 2000 (1999), pays tribute to this predicament when the character Shiro Miyasaka (played by Shirô Sano) straightens his loose tie back into his jacket at a military briefing.

The film received a Japanese Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, but lost to Seven Samurai (1954). However, the film did win the award for Best Visual Effects. It is the only Godzilla movie to receive a nomination for Best Picture.

Originally when Gojira (Godzilla) makes his first appearance, there was supposed to be a bloody cow in his mouth. After reviewing the test shots, Masao Tamai, the cinematographer, felt it was far too graphic and convinced director Ishirô Honda to re-film the sequence without the cow.

There was a common misconception that the name "Godzilla" was Americanized by its US distributors from Gojira. The name Godzilla was actually the idea of Tôhô and its international sales division. "Godzilla" or "Go-dzi-la" is the proper pronunciation of "Gojira" in its native Japanese and Godzilla (1954) was described by Tôhô as "Godzilla" in their 1955 English language sales catalogue, a full year before finding an American distributor. The film even played briefly in Japanese-American owned theaters in Los Angeles and New York that year under the title of "Godzilla", before being picked up by Transworld and released in an Americanized version featuring Raymond Burr that following year as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956). Tôhô has since been the sole owners of the name Godzilla.

The name Gojira is a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira). The monster was so named because his original design was that of a gorilla-whale monster, which is recounted by people who worked on the film. 'Shigeru Kayama' (who was hired by Tomoyuki Tanaka to write the original story) recounted in a book of memoirs he published in Japan, that Tanaka told him the creature would be a sea monster that was "a cross between a whale and a gorilla". After producer Tanaka saw the American monster film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), he got the idea to turn Godzilla into a dinosaur monster. Despite the physical change the name of the monster was kept. There has always been a legend that Godzilla was named after a hulking man nicknamed Gorilla-Whale who worked at Tôhô, but this is untrue. Not only is there no evidence of this man even existing, but the various stories about him kept changing through the years (he worked as a stagehand, he worked as a PR man, etc.). According to Kimi Honda, wife of Ishirô Honda, the Gorilla-Whale man was just an inside joke between her husband and various others on the Tôhô lot - specifically producer Tanaka.

Since no film like this had ever been made in Japan, they had never attempted a suit like the one needed for Godzilla. Much of the attention on the first version was on visual design. They had neglected to consider the requirements of the performer inside. Some of the poured latex was very inflexible. This factor in the 6 1/2- foot tall and over 200-pound suit made it almost impossible to move. A new suit had to be constructed that would be somewhat lighter and more flexible at the appropriate points.

When you're a star you get all the best pussy

It was not uncommon for a cup of Haruo Nakajima's sweat to be drained from the Gojira suit.

One of the original Godzilla designs was a monster with a head shaped like a mushroom, intended to recall images of mushroom clouds. A sketch of this design can be seen on the special edition "Gojira: The Original Japanese Masterpiece" DVD, and on the 2009 Godzilla (1954) Blu-Ray release.

Originally there was a flashback scene filmed showing Emiko and Serizawa as teenagers that was to explain their relationship. However, it was deleted because it was felt that it slowed down the film.

One of the potential names for Godzilla was Anguirus. The name was discarded but used in the second Godzilla film, Godzilla Raids Again (1955) as the name of the monster that Godzilla fights.

In one of the early script drafts, Doctor Yemane was written as a very dark and sinister character. In fact, one of the original ideas was to have Yemane sneak into the control room that controlled the electrical towers and sabotage the attempt to electrocute Gojira (Godzilla).

The building whose clock tower Godzilla tears off is the Wako department store. It was completed in 1932 in the Ginza district and still stands today, clock tower intact.

The scenes of Godzilla underwater were filmed "dry for wet" with an aquarium (complete with fish) placed between the camera and the monster-suited Haruo Nakajima. Actual underwater footage of divers was combined with additional "dry for wet" footage of Ogata and Serizawa.

Godzilla hates when his train is late

Special Effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya originally wanted Godzilla to be a giant octopus. He would later get his wish of having one though in the movies King Kong vs. Godzilla(1962), a deleted scene in Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965), and The War of the Gargantuas (1966), where the octopus would meet his end. It was even given the name Oodako. The octopus also made an appearance in the TV series Urutora Q (1965), and was up for consideration to be Godzilla's opponent in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).

Some of the designs for the Godzilla suit were similar save for the texture of the monster's skin. One Godzilla's skin was very warty, while another was more like that of an alligator. The final design, giving Godzilla his familiar rocky hide, was meant to suggest that the nuclear bomb blasts which awakened him had burned him.

Haruo Nakajima could walk about thirty feet in the original costume, which weighed over 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Later costumes were a little lighter but all of the costumes were very heavy. It was also very hot inside the costume. All of the costumes after the first one were easy to work with, as they were made to fit Nakajima, whereas the one that had been built for Godzilla had not been made for his body size.

The scenes of the troops going to the coast to face Gojira were actual Japanese Defense Force troops. They were on maneuvers when Honda shot the footage of them.

There were three cables coming out of the back of the costume. Two were for the operation of the eyes, and one was for the operation of the mouth. Kaimai Eizo was responsible for the movement of the eyes and the mouth. Batteries were installed in the Godzilla costume that was made for Godzilla Raids Again (1955). They were for the operation of the eyes and the mouth. The batteries made the costume even heavier than the one that had been constructed for the first Godzilla (1954) film.

Excuse me

There were supposed to be more scenes filmed on Odo Island. One was to have Dr. Yemane, Emiko and Ogata visit the graves of those that died during the typhoon when Gojira (Godzilla) came ashore. That scene was to have helped to establish the previous relationship between the Yemani's and Shinkichi's family. Another scene was to have been filmed on the beach and in that one Emiko and Ogata become frightened when the get their first glimpse of Gojira (Godzilla) as they see his tail splashing in the water.

Akira Takarada was originally cast as Dr. Serizawa and Akihiko Hirata was to play Ogata. It was reportedly director Ishirô Honda who felt that Hirata was more suited for the darker tragic hero of Serizawa. Honda had the actors switch roles.

In the Japanese language version of the original Gojira, when the characters refer to the oxygen destroyer, the Japanese actors say the English words "oxygen destroyer."

Godzilla's general design was partially based on the work of Czech painter Zdenek Burian, specifically his outdated, early 20th century reconstruction of the dinosaur Iguanodon. Godzilla's posture, the way he holds his hands and to a degree his skin texture were taken directly from Burian's artwork. Interestingly, the dinosaurs in Burian's pieces also have folds in their skin, much like Godzilla due to him being a rubber suit.

Although some earlier Japanese movies (most notably Rashomon (1950)) have made it to a few foreign markets and were met with positive reception, Godzilla was actually the first Japanese film to receive widespread notoriety practically all across the world. It gained a huge pop-cultural status and opened the gates for later Japanese media products to spread over the globe. This success can partially be attributed to the movie's American recut, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), which was its most widely distributed version.

There was another ending considered for the film: a scene with Emiko and Ogata (presumably after they had gotten married) flying over Tokyo Bay in a helicopter and throwing a floral wreath in the water in memoriam of Serizawa. However, that ending was scrapped because Honda felt that they had already paid tribute to Serizawa after he sacrificed himself to destroy Godzilla.

The movie's scenes of destruction and human panic effectively replicate the appearance and feel of real life news-film scenes of war time devastation that would have been painfully familiar to audiences in the 1950s and 1960s, providing these scenes with a resonance and verisimilitude that modern viewers will not experience. The best way to experience that replication is to watch actual news-reel films of World War II devastation in Europe and Japan before watching the film.

To audiences who could still remember World War II's toll on civilians and soldiers, Godzilla's movements would have been recognizable as eerily similar to the movements of a burnt and traumatized soldier or civilian undergoing a severe episode of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, wandering in a confused daze rather than consciously causing devastation. This casts a tragic, sympathetic, even victimized light on Godzilla that sets him apart from the majority of cinema giant monsters or kaiju eiga

Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead (2014)

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Under The Skin (2013)

A mysterious woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. Events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.

Under the Skin is a 2013 science fiction film directed and co-written by Jonathan Glazer loosely based on Michel Faber's 2000 novel of the same name. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly woman who preys on men in Scotland.

This is a weird fucking film.  

Firstly, there is no obvious narrative in this film, because it does not have a big significance or importance here. On the most basic level it is a story of an alien imposing a woman and seducing men from all over Scotland in order to drain their flesh. This is the most simple summary of the movie. On deeper layers it is a serious study of our society. The film's main focus is on the inside and outside of things, the philosophy of form and material. Johansson's character is struggling in this society. She is always portrayed as going against the stream, she is lost in the sea of rushing people who do not want to get deeper into things, because they know they could be hurt. This is represented in a very subtle visual way. For instance, roses look nice in the film, but they have spikes which make rose seller's hands bleed. A piece of cake seems delicious, but the taste of it is disgusting. It is always the fight between the surface and depth in this film, the first impression and further investigation. I believe it is a very important theme for our society where people are afraid of making commitments or engagements, where they seek for quick pleasures, even though they need true and honest love. The film is very strong visually and stylistically. In order for the reader to get a glimpse of what it is, I will say that it is sort of a combination of Kubrick, Lynch and von Trier.

What's Under The Skin

Scarlett Johansson doesn't have a lot to do in this film; basically make small talk and get naked, all the while with a plain face.  You have never seen a movie even remotely like this.  

"Under The Skin" is unique among films in content and scope. The cinematography is out-of-this-world, breathtaking, and the musical score is sublime. Jonathan Glazer's "Under The Skin" is art in the highest sense, like Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", or Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night". The film requires you to watch in a different way than you normally watch films. It requires you to experience strange and beautiful images without feeling guilty that there is no complex plot or detailed characterization. Don't get me wrong, plots and characters are good, but they're not the be-all and end-all of everything. There are different KINDS of film, and to enjoy 'Under The Sin' you must tune your brain to a different wavelength.

Why should you see this movie? Because it's really beautiful, shows you visuals you've never seen before, tells a tragic mystery without burying you in exposition, and holds an absolutely unselfconscious confidence. It shows beauty and ugliness as a matter of fact, without constantly checking to make sure we grasp which is which. It uses special effects to quietly augment reality and paint the fantastic into the corners of ordinary scenes. It may leave you weirded out and uncomfortable.

A truly unique film. A truly weird as fuck unique film.

Hi Sean.

Trivia:

The men lured into the van by Scarlett Johansson's character were not actors. Jonathan Glazer had hidden cameras installed in the van and only informed the men afterwards that they were in a movie.

Adam Pearson, who plays the disfigured man who is lured into the vehicle, broke his leg when he was struck by a cab on his way to audition for his role. Director Jonathan Glazer auditioned him the next day at the hospital and gave him the job.

Scarlett Johansson did the nude scenes herself without the use of a body double. Which should really be of interest to Sean.

Close to the end one of the motorcycle riders overlooks a valley shrouded in fog. The composition of the image and the pose of the rider mimics Caspar David Friedrichs 1818 oil painting Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.

The film took nearly 10 years to be made, and one of the early drafts of the scripts included a Scottish married couple, who were revealed to be aliens in disguise. Brad Pitt was, at the time, cast as one half of the couple.

Just cruising looking for Sean

A paparazzi still of Scarlett Johansson, in character, falling down became a wildly popular Internet meme in which users would Photoshop Johansson into various situations. As the scene was shot with hidden cameras, it was not until the movie's release that it was revealed the fall was intentional.

Championship motorcycle road racer Jeremy McWilliams was cast as the motorcyclist to handle the treacherous driving conditions of the Scottish Highlands.

The nightclub that Scarlett Johansson gets pulled into is Club Earth in Livingston, West Lothian. Although the exterior shots & many of the interior shots are of the actual club, her escape route & scene in the toilet corridor seem to have been filmed elsewhere.

The first proper line of dialogue happens 13 minutes into the film.

One of the locations where Under the Skin was filmed was in the Robert Street area of Port Glasgow. (Where the second victim is lured). Filming had to be delayed for a number of days as there was a real life murder in the next street prior to filming and the Police had cordoned the area off.

Novelist and screenwriter Alexander Stuart ("The War Zone") wrote the first three drafts of the script.

The scene where Scarlett enters the stone hut for shelter was filmed on the eastern shores of Loch Lomond. It was filmed over two days. The cast and crew had to be taken by boat from Tarbet to the set as there is no road access. The only access is a footpath known as the West Highland Way.

In August 2014, Mr. Skin placed Scarlett Johansson's nude scenes from the movie at #1 on their list of "The Top 150 Greatest Celebrity Nude Scenes of All Time".

There is only one character in the entire film that has an actual first name being "Andrew". Every other character is just a broad description like "The Female" or "The Bad Man".

Like The Terminator (1984) films, The Female arrives on Earth bare naked and takes and wears another woman's clothes.

Scarlett and my cousin Brian. No makeup on him,.

One theory suggests that The Female is actually a Selkie instead of an alien. Selkies are mythological creatures found in Scottish, Irish, and Icelandic folk lore. Selkies are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land. Selkies are described as being very beautiful in their human form and therefore having great seductive powers.

Adam Pearson (The disfigured man) was interviewed on the Australian morning talk show "Studio 10" about the film and had stated the scene where he runs naked through a field in Scotland was filmed at 3 in the morning and that it was so cold.

After finishing work on the film. Scarlett Johansson would start work on two other science fiction films: Lucy (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers filmed in CinemaScope. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. The film stars James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood.

Jim Stark (James Dean) is a lonely desperate teenager, who supposedly hasn't a friend in the world when we first see him lying drunk in an L.A gutter... But his personality is such that within a twenty-four-hour period he makes friends with Plato (Sal Mineo) and Judy (Natalie Wood), two misunderstood teenagers completely different from each other and himself...

Chilling like a villian

This movie is just as powerful as it was 50 years ago. Inside the cheesy braggadocio of an angry gangster is a confused kid. I can't think of a single person that did not feel alienated as a teenager. James Dean represents what every teenager would want to be. Individualistic: has a set of values and sticks to them Brave: engages in activities most of us would never consider (esp. chicky run) Kind: caring to Plato and Judy.

What's particularly satisfying about the film is its cohesiveness, binding together its many disparate events and characters with highly parallel themes and motifs. All of its central characters seem caught in psychosexual conflicts rife with familial gender conflict. Jim (James Dean) is caught between a weakling, effeminated father and a domineering but inneffectual mother. Judy (Natalie Wood) and her father are seperated by his uncomfortable relation to her sexuality. Plato (Sal Mineo), worst of all, is a practical orphan, who suffers all the more for his just under the surface homosexuality. (It's interesting to note here that Plato may be Hollywood's first sympathetic of a gay character.) All of them are driven by internal demons springing from these conflicts.

The supporting cast include Jim Backus as James Dean's well-to-do yet wimpish and henpecked father as well as a young Dennis Hopper as a member of a greaser gang. Jim Backus of course was Mr. Howell on the TV show Gilligan's Island. His ass has appeared in several films I've watched recently. 

Mr. Howell secretly dresses as Lovey

It wasn't only James Dean's tragic death that made him a legend. He was getting acclaim for his performance in East of Eden when he was killed on September 30, 1955. His stunning impact came after his death as fans were mesmerized by the promise of things to come in Rebel Without A Cause which came out about four weeks later and with Giant which Dean had just wrapped shooting on. This dead actor had film fans talking everywhere right up to the Oscars of 1957 ceremony where he was nominated for 1956's Giant. If ever a player left the scene with fans begging for more it was James Dean.

Nicholas Ray directs this picture in an almost surreal way. Bright, sunny scenes outside are contrasted with cold, dark interior shots. The camera mirrors the story and the spirit of the film in quite a unique way. When we see Jim, drunk out of his mind, lying on the cold street, the camera stares unflinchingly, never looking away. When Jim argues with his parents in a particularity dynamic scene, the camera seems distorted, out of place. Even when our three main characters escape to their ultimate fantasy, alone with each other outside of everyone and everything else, they are shrouded in darkness.

Seen today over 50 years later Rebel Without A Cause still remains the ultimate film in teen angst. I think it's destined to be so for generations to come.

If you pull a knife it better have some ketchup on it because you're going to eat it.

Trivia:

The part where Jim and Judy find Plato wearing one blue sock and one red sock was not scripted. Sal Mineo actually put them on that way by mistake.

T-shirt sales soared after James Dean wore one in this film.

James Dean died on September 30, 1955, nearly a month before this film was released on October 27, 1955.

The opening scene in the movie with Jim Stark and the toy monkey was improvised by James Dean after the production had been shooting for nearly 24 hours straight. He asked Nicholas Ray to roll the camera, that he wanted to do something. Ray obliged and the improvisation went on to become the famous opening scene.

The whole film takes place over 24 hours. The opening scene in the police station take place around 3am. The ending scene takes place around 3am the next day.

All three lead actors, James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood, died prematurely under tragic circumstances; Dean died in an automobile accident in September 1955, Mineo was stabbed to death on February 12, 1976, and Wood drowned in the late autumn of 1981. In addition, Edward Platt committed suicide in 1974 and Dennis Hopper suddenly fell terminally ill in the fall of 2009 and died five months later.

James Dean was free to star in the film because Elizabeth Taylor got pregnant, which delayed production of Giant (1956).

Natalie Wood was first considered too naive and wholesome for the role of Judy. She began changing her looks and eventually attracted the notice of director Nicholas Ray, who began an affair with her but still would not guarantee her the part, though he eventually relented. Both Ray and Wood later claimed that he changed his mind after she was in a car accident with Dennis Hopper and someone in the hospital called her a "goddamn juvenile delinquent". Wood soon yelled to Ray, "Did you hear what he called me, Nick?! He called me a goddamn juvenile delinquent! Now do I get the part?!"

The empty pool in which the characters sit and discuss their lives first appeared in Sunset Boulevard (1950). The pool had been built specially for the earlier film, as a condition of renting the site from its owner, Mrs J. Paul Getty.

Jim Backus who played James Dean's father and was the voice of Mr. Magoo, taught Dean how to do the Mr. Magoo voice which Dean then used to deliver the line, "Drown them like puppies."

Originally in the beginning of the movie, there was a gang beating up a father, who drops a toy on the sidewalk. The studio thought it was too violent, so it was cut. Jim Stark can be seen playing with the toy after he finds it on the ground during the opening credits

The film was originally going to contain a kiss between James Dean and Sal Mineo.

The movie's line "You're tearing me apart" was voted as the #97 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere magazine.

James Dean badly bruised his hand during the police station scene where he physically vents his rage on a precinct desk and had to wear an elastic bandage for a week.

Although playing a teenager, James Dean was actually 24 when the movie was filmed. Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, however, were of the right age.

Director Nicholas Ray researched L.A. gangs by riding around with them for several nights.

The movie was originally to be shot in black and white, and some scenes had already been filmed that way, when the studio decided to switch to color. The official explanation at the time was that Twentieth Century-Fox, which owned the wide-screen CinemaScope process, had ordered that all films shot in the process had to be in color, but some also believe that Warners ordered the switch to head off comparisons with Blackboard Jungle (1955) and because James Dean's increasing popularity gave the film more prestige.

Frank Mazzola, who plays "Crunch" in the film, was an actual street gang member when he was a student at Hollywood High School. He was a member of a gang called "The Athenians." As such, he served as a technical advisor to Director Nicholas Ray and coached other actors in regard to street gang attitudes and mannerisms.

Jim Stark was actually first intended to be more of a nerd, wearing a brown jacket and glasses. However, when Warner Bros. told director Nicholas Ray to re-shoot in color, Ray, as well as costumer Moss Mabry, wanted him to wear red.

Originally based on a non-fiction work by Dr. Robert M. Lindner, about the hypno-analysis of a young criminal. Producer Jerry Wald intended to make a film of the work and commissioned several scripts, including one by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), and Marlon Brando was set to star at one point, but the project was eventually shelved. When the studio bought Nicholas Ray's treatment "The Blind Run" it asked him to use the title of Lindner's work, but the film doesn't include anything else from the book.

The writing credits for the film are as follows: Stewart Stern (screenplay), Nicholas Ray(story) and Irving Shulman (adaptation). In an interview, published in Michigan Quarterly Review in 1999, Stern, however, claims that he had never even seen "The Blind Run", the treatment for "Rebel" supposedly written by Ray. The screenwriter says he was shocked when he learned that the director wanted to take the sole story credit as there had not been an actual story before he started writing the script. Stern admits that both Ray and Shulman had contributed to the story therefore he believes that the credit should have been divided between the three of them. Later, the film received an Oscar nomination for the story alone with only Ray being nominated for writing.

James Dean originally wanted his friend Jack Simmons, whom he was living with at the time, for the part of Plato.

Dennis Hopper and Natalie Wood had a brief relationship during filming. Wood also had an affair with Nicholas Ray, which was scandalous due to the fact that she was only 16 while he was 43 and older than her father.

In the police station scene, while the adults are talking to the cop, Jim keeps whistling Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, a classical piece known to audiences because of its memorable use in Apocalypse Now (1979). Dennis Hopper appears in both films.

Realizing the actor's power to touch youthful audiences, Nicholas Ray gave James Dean free reign to improvise his scenes. The cast often took its cues not from Ray, but from the Method-acting entranced Dean.

James Dean did not get malaria during filming, as some have reported. Nick Adams had a relapse of an old case of malaria he got while he was a merchant marine.

The 1949 Mercury Coupe James Dean drove in the movie is part of the permanent collection at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.

When the crew began night shooting at the Griffith Park Planetarium in Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles residents saw the bright production lights in the hills and flooded switchboards with reports of raging forest fires.

James Dean got angry when Nicholas Ray stopped the knife fight scene after noticing that James had been cut on the ear and was bleeding. Dean said:"Don't you ever cut a scene while I'm having a real moment."

In Gilligan's Island: Castaways Pictures Presents (1965), Thurston Howell III, cries out, "Method actors! Never again!" as he directs the castaways in film production. This may be an inside joke in reference to James Dean. Jim Backus played Frank Stark in this film and had scenes with Dean that turned physical as a result of Dean's legendary and infamous spontaneous, method acting style.

The switchblade that James Dean used in the fight scene at Griffith Observatory was offered at auction on September 30, 2015 by Profiles in History with an estimated value of US$12,000 to $15,000, with a winning bid of US$12,000.[10] Also offered at the same auction were production photographs and a final shooting script dated August 17, 1955 for a behind-the-scenes television promotional film titled Behind the Cameras: Rebel Without a Cause hosted by Gig Young and that had scripted interviews and staged footage by the cast and crew (script winning bid US$225.)

Sal Mineo once said that on the day his death scene was shot, James Dean never let Sal out of his sight during the entire day.

For the knife fight between Jim (James Dean) and Buzz (Corey Allen), the actors used real switchblades and protected themselves by wearing chainmail under their vests.

An alternative ending was shot in which Plato falls from the tower of the planetarium.

In the final scene where the camera pulls away from the observatory, director Nicholas Ray is the person walking toward the building. (possible director's trademark for it is rumored he appeared in all of his movies)

The "chickie run" was staged at a Warner Bros. property in Calabasas, California. The cars drove on flat land that led to a small bluff of only 10 -15 feet high. The cars drove over the small bluff, but the "cliff" supposedly overlooking the ocean was built on Stage 7 (now Stage 16) at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. The constructed cliff overlooked the stage's flooded water tank and the actors looked down upon the water from the edge. Even so, it became necessary to matte in shots of the Pacific Ocean in the final product.