Los Angeles Theatre Vs. Rebel Without A Cause

Last Remaining Seats: http://laconservancy.org/remaining/index.php4
Rebel Without A Cause: http://imdb.com/title/tt0048545/

Last Wednesday (July 5), I went to the final night of the LA Conservancy’s annual film program, Last Remaining Seats. Nicholas Ray’s “Rebel Without A Cause” played at the Los Angeles Theatre (615 South Broadway) in the Downtown LA Theatre District. The theater is stunning but is also in the process of being renovated. The theater was uncomfortably warm prior to the showing of the film. The program began with some LA Conservancy acknowledgement of all members who helped organize and run the program then dovetailed into a Q&A session between Leonard Maltin and three members of the original cast of the movie, most notably Corey Allen who played Buzz. This, while informative, dragged on too long. I haven’t seen “RWAC” for years, but I remember loving it. This go round, I certainly enjoyed it but couldn’t suspend reality enough to get over how overacted the film is, even by two of my favorites – Natalie Wood and James Dean. The star of the movie for me really is Los Angeles, in particular Griffith Park Observatory.