Directed by Nicholas Ray. Written by Stewart Stern.

Jim Stark

• I never thought I'd live to see eighteen. Isn't that dumb? Every day I look in the mirror and say "What? You still here?"

John "Plato" Crawford

• [to Jim] Hey, you want to come home with me? I mean, there's nobody home at my house, and heck, I'm not tired. Are you? See, I don't have too many people I can talk to... If you want to come, we could talk, and in the morning we could have breakfast like my dad used to. Gee, if only you could have been my dad.

Frank Stark

• Watch out about choosing your pals. You know what I mean? Don't let 'em choose you.

Dialogue

Frank: Don't I buy everything you want? A bicycle — you get a bicycle. A car.

Jim: You buy me many things.

Frank: Well, not just buy. We give you love and affection, don't we? Well, then, what is it? Was it because we went to that party? Well, you know what kind of drunken brawls those kind of parties turn into. It's not a place for kids.

Carol: [to Frank] A minute ago you said you didn't care if he drinks.

Mrs. Stark: He said a little drink.

Jim: You're tearing me apart!

Carol: What?

Jim: You say one thing, he says another, and everybody changes back again!

Carol: That's a fine way to behave!

Mrs. Stark: Well, you know who he takes after.

Jim: Aww!

Ray: Things pretty rough for you at home?

Jim: What a zoo!

Ray: What?

Jim: It's a zoo. He always wants to be my pal, you know? But how can I give him anything? If he's — well, I mean, I love him and all that type of stuff, and I-I mean, I don't want to hurt him. But then, I don't, I don't — well, I don't know what to do any more, except maybe die... If he had guts to knock Mom cold once, then maybe she'd be happy and then she'd stop pickin' on him, because they make mush out of him, just mush! I'll tell you one thing. I don't ever want to be like him. How can a guy grow up in a circus like that?... Boy, if, if I had one day when, when I didn't have to be all confused, and didn't have to feel that I was ashamed of everything... if I felt that I belonged someplace, you know?

Jim: How did you get here?

Plato: I hitched.

Jim: I'll bet you'd go to a hanging, wouldn't you?

Plato: I guess it's just my morbid personality.

Plato: Well, what do you think of my castle?

Jim and Judy: Wow. Shoo. Gee. Wow.

Jim: Well, now. There, then. Uh, I think we'll take it for the summer.

Plato: Right this way.

Jim: [to Judy] Oh. Uh-huh. Would you like to rent it, or are you more in the mood to buy, dear?

Judy: You decide, darling.

Jim: Oh, yes. Yes.

Judy: Remember our budget.

Plato: Oh, don't give it a thought. It's, uh, only three million dollars a month.

Jim: What?

Judy: Oh, we can manage that. I'll scrimp and I'll save and I'll work my fingers to the bone.

Jim: You see, we're newlyweds.

Judy: Yes. Oh, there's just one thing. What about...

Plato: Children? Right this way.

Judy: Yes.

Plato: See, we really don't encourage them. They're so noisy and troublesome. Don't you agree?

Jim: Ugh. Drown 'em like puppies. Ugh.

Plato: [leading them to an empty swimming pool] This is a wonderful arrangement. They can carry on and you'll never even notice.

Jim: Oh, a sunken nursery.

Plato: In fact, if you lock them in, you'll never have to see them again, much less talk to them.

Judy: Talk to them — heavens!

Jim: Nobody talks to children.

Judy: No, they just tell them.

Plato: I used to lie in my crib at night and I'd listen to them fight.

Jim: Can you remember back that far? I can't remember what happened yesterday. [laughs] I can't. How do you do it?

Plato: Oh, I had to go to a headshrinker. Boy, he made me remember.

Jim: Did he?

Plato: Then my mother said it cost too much, so she went to Hawaii instead.

Jim: Well, what's your problem?

Plato: Oh, I don't know. But, but I'm happy now, here. Oh, I wish we could stay here.

Judy: Plato, where's your father now?

Plato: Oh, he's dead. He was a hero in the China Sea.

Jim: You told me he was a big wheel in New York.

Plato: I did? Aw, what's the difference? He might as well be dead anyway.

Judy: It's all right.

Plato: Jim, do you think the end of the world will come at nighttime?

Jim: Uh-uh. At dawn.

Taglines

• Teenage terror torn from today's headlines

• ...and they both come from good families!

• To Belong...and be loved.

• Jim Stark... a kid from a good family - what makes him tick... like a bomb?

• The bad boy from a good family.

Cast

• James Dean - Jim Stark
• Natalie Wood - Judy
• Sal Mineo - John 'Plato' Crawford
• Jim Backus - Frank Stark
• Ann Doran - Mrs. Carol Stark
• Corey Allen - Buzz Gunderson
• William Hopper - Judy's Father
• Rochelle Hudson - Judy's Mother
• Dennis Hopper - Goon