Milka Väinämö James Dean, a 2001 television movie directed by Mark Rydell introduces us to James Dean's life and relationships, especially to the relationship with his father. As 9 year old boy, James Dean was sent from California to Indiana to live with his aunt and uncle after the death of her mother. The artistic young boy, who became to be one of the biggest Hollywood movie icons, spent his youth in a farm before going back to California and eventually to New York. At New York this aspiring young adult got roles and eventually a contract with a movie studio, moving back to California.Everyone knows James Dean. He was handsome, mysterious and talented. And his career and life ended way too early. Like the tag line of the movie says "Too fast to live. Too young to die." James Franco isn't just acting James Franco. He becomes James Franco in this movie. He looks like James Franco, he moves like James Franco and he talks like James Franco. I think he even thinks like James Franco. It is magnificent to see an actor so talented as James Franco playing an actor so talented as James Dean was.This movie is an interesting look into James Dean's life. The relationship James has with his father is the one that it is closely followed in this movie. It is a relationship that probably shaped James Dean most as a person; he felt like everyone else loves and wants to be with him, except the one person he really wanted to be with; his father. Michael Moriarty does great job as James's dad, a man who does not know how to show his feelings and tell his son that he is respected.After watching this and 127 hours I have seen a completely new side of James Franco. I have always known that he is talented and extremely intelligent. But seeing him getting into these two very different roles; the role of James Dean, a Hollywood actor and a role of Aron Ralson, an ordinary man who became famous due to his amazing survival. James Franco's work shows what a good actor is like; devoted and able to mold into different roles. He is charismatic, extremely handsome and oh so talented. If some actor needs more hype in Hollywood, it must be James Franco.

aznsong50 James Franco was phenomenal as James Dean. He got his quirkiness and idiosyncrasies down to a TEE! Plus, there are moments throughout the film when you would swear he was the real deal--They look THAT much alike! That being said, this film put forth a very determined effort to reconstruct James Dean as Cal Trask from East of Eden. And I don't make this comment lightly--I've done a lot of research on James Dean, read several books, and even written a few academic papers on him. The aspects of his life that actually did happen in the film were exaggerated or otherwise just presented in such a way as to parallel James Dean to Cal Trask. The entire relationship with his father is construed this way: Dean's constant accomplishing of new things to buy his father's love, the confrontation scene with his father, etc. It's true that Elia Kazan's assistant did say, "He IS Cal Trask," but anyone who's read a decent biography of Dean knows that his relationship with his father wasn't nearly as antagonistic as they portrayed it in the film. He didn't go to Indiana for the funeral because he was broke, and the whole "I'm not your father" thing is completely unsubstantiated by any sources I have come across! Additionally, the film totally plays into the modern belief that James Dean was well-respected as a gifted Method actor in his time, but it's very widely-known that critics in Dean's time thought he was a knock-off version of Marlon Brando who lacked any real technique. And the film's presentation of Elia Kazan as James Dean's biggest fan is completely false! In his biography, Kazan very explicitly states that he didn't believe Dean had anywhere near the amount of talent as Marlon Brando, and that if he had lived his lack of technique and real ability would have led to a very quick downfall. What I found really strange was that the film completely left out a lot of the MOST controversial things that it's Proved Dean actually did, but, then again, this was a made-for-TV movie, so maybe they couldn't...So, in short, watch the film for some great performances and a fabulous presentation of the myth of James Dean, but don't take it as 100% historically accurate.

thirteenthfloorelevator James Dean led a phenomenal life. Having achieved so much in only 24 years, it is an extremely hard task to document the most significant events of his life in just 90 minutes, but this film doesn't even try. It plays like a cheap soap opera, and portrays Dean as the lonely protagonist who just wants his fathers love and respect. Some aspects of this film seem pointless, if not insulting, like the character James Dean providing the narration for this film. The three films he appeared in are only skimmed over, and this film goes to great lengths to portray what a troubled soul Dean actually was, how he was haunted by demons of his own past, rather than the good things he actually did for the world of cinema. This is not to say that the film fails completely, not by any means. The actor playing Dean is well cast and gives an exceptional performance, and the production design is faultless. If you just want a cursory insight into James Dean then this film is the way to go. If you yearn to find out the real James Dean story then look elsewhere.

mikegregory68 I saw James Franco in CITY BY THE SEA with Robert Deniro for the first time......,and said man that guy could play James Dean!!! not realizing that he did a year earlier.So I went out and rented it. He was amazing in it. it didn't matter what you thought of the movie because his performance made up for it. I was blown away. I repeat.............. I saw James Franco in CITY BY THE SEA with Robert Deniro for the first time......,and said man that guy could play James Dean!!! not realizing that he did a year earlier.So I went out and rented it. He was amazing in it. it didn't matter what you thought of the movie because his performance made up for it. I was blown away.sorry to repeat myself but the 10 line rule really sucks!...if you can say it in less.