The year a star was made and a legend was born.
"Keep it up," director Elia Kazan privately told James Dean after co-star Raymond Massey complained about the newcomer's acting style. The kid knew how to bring heat to a scene, how to get under people's skin.
That story and others shape this sharply focused American Masters look at the meteoric, star-making last year of Dean's life. One year. Three films. Unending impact. Via film clips, behind the scenes footage, archival photos and on-camera interviews with colleagues who shared that year with him, James Dean: Sense Memories reveals the man, the movies and his timeless mystique. After 50 years, the kid who is the archetypal rebel for every generation still brings the heat.