James Dean

This is Probably the best James Dean BIO since it was written and produced by his real life best friend William Bast. While actor Stephen Mchattie (who plays James Dean) doesn't look that much like him you still get the feeling its him especially around the time of Giant. This was the first to show Dean's flirting with homosexuality which was remarkable for 1976. William Bast has since written a new book called "Surviving James Dean" which go much farther in detail then any movie has gone. You can hear an interview with William Bast at http://writingshow.com/podcasts/Bill_Bast.mp3

I've seen this movie many times and you can probably get it on DVD at Walgreens for $1.00 since I saw it their last week.

for an early TV movie, this one was ahead of its time...it featured James telling his friend to be more sexually adventurous, leading him to go cruising in a gay bar...

I got it at the dollar store , so my print was typically muddy, being that the flick fell into the public domain and all...still if you like JD you will get a kick out of this flick...well then there now!!!!

It also shows Katherine Helmond. Amy Irving and a beautiful Brooke Adams...I liked it enough to recommend it if you buy it cheap like I did!!!

If you want a really good JD movie, try Robert Altman's documentary it is archaic but fascinating!!!

Not the life story of James Dean, but the story of Mr. Dean and writer William Bast. This is, in fact, their (partially veiled) love story. Mr. Bast was Dean's "best friend", "roommate", and/or "confidant" for the last five years of his life. James Dean and William Bast. Were they "just good friends" for five years? Not exactly. Bast wrote, and co-produced; and Robert Butler directed. The production is surprisingly high quality, considering the fact that this was a 1976 "TV movie". Frank Stanley's photography excels. It could have been a feature film. Perhaps, Bast preferred the guaranteed television audience, as a feature hinting at his sexual relationship with Dean would have been poorly received in most movie houses.

Michael Brandon (as Bast) and Stephen McHattie (as Dean) are very convincing, as the young friends. It's sometimes a little difficult to determine if the "The Little Prince and The Fox" knew what they were playing with fire; however, it seems obvious that director Butler had figured out Bast's direction. At first, it seems as if the duo's numerous lovely girlfriends are all Pier Angelis (red herrings); actually, they are realistic, and help explain the complicated Dean/Bast relationship.

The female supporting cast is pretty (and) numerous; Candy Clark (as Christine White) is one stand-out, believability-wise; note, the real-life Ms. White appears in a small role. Watch out for a very tender "barroom" scene with Leland Palmer (as Arlene), a disabled woman Dean takes for a ride.

Reality sets you free.

"James Dean" should have been nominated for several "Emmy" awards, especially considering the Brandon and McHattie lead performances, and the TV movie's relative production values. The film could be criticized for "holding back"; but, it could also be praised for being able to make its points without being explicit. Emotionally, at least, "James Dean" is clear; discerning what's left out isn't too difficult.

********* James Dean (2/19/76) William Bast ~ Michael Brandon, Stephen McHattie, Candy Clark, Leland Palmer

There is a segment in this obscure made for TV bio-pic that ascends to another plane of artistry, and provides a spellbinding glimpse into what made this legendary actor so extraordinary. Dean, played by the gifted Stephen McHattie, has returned home to find his sensitive roommate sulking in the dark over the sudden realization that the mercurial Dean is broadening his horizons and slipping away from him. By no means unmoved, Dean's response is to read aloud a particularly meaningful passage from his favorite book "The Little Prince". And as he reads consolingly, dramatically; you can see the joy he takes in forming the words, the pleasure he derives from sharing them with an audience, the immense respect he has for the piece itself. The scene plays out as a sort of communion, with Dean seeming to re-absorb the passage as a way of purifying himself. His roommate is mesmerized at this level of devotion to craft and only then begins to appreciate what his friend is becoming, has become.

Told from the refreshingly limited viewpoint of his off and on roommate William Bast (who went on to be a reasonably successful TV and Film writer) the movie touches on the pivotal events of Dean's life and career like a stone skipping across water. The focus is very much on Bast's up close witnessing of Dean's improbable, mind-blowing emergence from awkward hayseed wanna-be into the most emblematic actor of his generation.

Considering that he doesn't look incredibly like Dean (McHattie's face is flinty and pentagonal whereas Dean's was chiseled and rectangular) McHattie does a remarkable job duplicating the body language and facial expressions - the slouched shoulders, sudden movements, furtive looks and exaggerated boyishness. The director frames and lights him in clever ways and there are times when, spookily, you really do feel like you're looking in on Dean's life. McHattie also captures that alien, kaleidoscopic, wildly unpredictable quality - no easy task. He gives you a sense of the development of the persona, the fine-tuning of the image he was trying to project to the world. His Dean almost seems like a mad scientist working on his most diabolical Frankenstein creation - himself.

Makes a nice companion to "9/30/55", another poignant meditation on the actor.

Written from the perspective of Dean's long term friend Bast (well portrayed by Robert Brandon), this film as some good quirks and sub- texts to it.

Actor Stephen McHattie does have the affect and appearance of Dean in some instances, he portrays the early start of James Dean as a somewhat transient and alienated life. Living in NYC and finally getting accepted to the prestigious Actors Studio, but living with a big name actor, who is just someone he owes a debt to, and to "pay the piper" as he tells his friend.

The section regarding Dean's earlier family life could have been better explicated, but the audience does see his Hollywood relationships, including some decent cameos by Brooke Adams and Meg Foster (as Liz "Dizzy" Sheridan, who appeared in "Rebel Without a Cause"), and now plays Seinfeld's mother (credited as Liz Sheridan).

Overall worth seeing , but better to rent a DVD or purchase it, for the true researcher into Dean's checkered history. This film shown on MAVTV channel in US is terribly edited, and MAVTV is not a good viewing experience, at all. 8/10.