Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a re-watch.
The Classic: Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause lands on just about every list of the Greatest Movies Of All Time. The story of three outcast teenagers finding love and friendship they all so desperately crave still tugs at the heartstrings 66 years after release, and also enjoys iconic status thanks to the presence of actor James Dean. That said, we have to wonder: does a general audience realize just how gay the movie is?
The plot follows three juvenile delinquents: Jim (Dean), Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo), as they bond over their problems at home and inability to cope with the pressures of young adulthood. Judy’s boyfriend Buzz, suspicious of Jim, challenges him to an auto race. When the race turns deadly, Jim, Judy and Plato set off on the run together, fearful of the consequences.
The film, of course, features two drop-dead handsome leads in the form of Dean and Mineo, both of whom were queer in real life. The movie also drops more than a few clues that Mineo’s character Plato–the slightly-effeminate, love-starved nerd–is gay as well, and that his connection with Dean’s Jim goes much deeper than the platonic (excuse the pun). Screenwriter Stewart Stern in later interviews confirmed Plato’s sexuality and expressed one regret: he wished that he would have made it even more obvious that Plato was an outcast because he was gay.
As the mother of all delinquent teenager movies, Rebel Without a Cause has had a lasting influence on style, American culture, and the movies from Easy Rider to Do The Right Thing to Kids. The movie also carries with it an unfortunate onus, as Dean, Wood and Mineo all died young, the latter in an anti-gay hate crime. This weekend, we recommend watching it in tribute to its three leads, as a window into movie history, and as an example of Hollywood’s early treatment of LGBTQ characters. We’ve always been here and queer, if you knew where to look.
Streams on HBO Max, YouTube, iTunes & VUDU.
PoetDaddy
You state that Sal Mineo was the victim of an anti-gay hate crime. It is my understanding that there is no evidence that he was murdered for being gay but that he was the victim of a random robbery gone bad in the driveway of his home. Is there some new evidence? Or are you saying that the police have been covering something up all these decades?
TMBisAOK
Queerty is pathetic! How can they say he was murdered for being gay and then link to their own story that confirms HE WASN’T KILLED IN AN ANTI-GAY CRIME!? WTF!?
GeorgeTSLC
BAD fact-checker! Baaad!
BoomerMyles
Most people and lazy website writers confuse the murder of Sal Mineo with Ramon Navarro who was killed by a couple of rentboys looking for money.
They tortured and beat the 69 year old gay actor to death.
doristhom
Invitation to a sex club – xmeet.fun
wiredpup
Stop with posthumously labeling dead gay and bisexual men as “queer”, it’s pathetic and disgusting.
Erik
Agreed. Particularly because so many gay and bisexual men are dead because someone labeled them ‘queer’.
GeorgeTSLC
If the site regularly uses the word to cover all us LGBTQ+ types, I don’t object. It’s a valid choice to avoid having to argue whether Dean was “really bi”, etc.
Kangol2
The site is called Queerty. Did you miss that? Did you also miss that “queer” has a different, positive, more encompassing meaning in 2021 than it did in the 1950s or 1960s? I mean, did you sleep through the entire past 50 years?
Hdtex
Don’t like “QUEER”?
Write your own damn blog!
WE’RE HERE. WE’RE QUEER. GET USED TO IT.
James26
The film, of course, features two drop-dead handsome leads in the form of Dean and Mineo, both of whom were queer in real life.”
Dean was bisexual and Mineo was gay. Neither was “queer.”
Kangol2
Queer encompasses bisexual and gay. This is not news. You’re reading and commenting on a website called Queerty, not “Bi-ty” or “Gayty,” for heaven’s sake!
James26
@Kangol “Queer encompasses bisexual and gay.”
No, it perverts and denigrates bisexual and gay. But even if it were true that it “encompassed” bi and gay, it would still be inaccurate and offensive to use it in this context, as it would also “encompass” other concepts which do not apply to Dean or Mineo and because neither man ever called himself “queer.”
Troyfight
@James26 totally agree with you.
jniceny
“Queer” and “bisexual”, as well as “queer” and “gay” are not mutually exclusive.
BoomerMyles
Bisexual chic was a thing, enen in James Dean”s day.
Josh447
Queer” is an atrocious derogatory and heinous word foisted on the gay community by some over zealous Queer Nation gays who thought they could make the word digestible. That’s never going to happen and throws a very bleak light on all gay and bisexual people. It really doesn’t matter how much perfume you spray on feces, it’s still going to smell life feces.
Then there is the argument that trans is not a sexual orientation. With these two labels encroaching on LGBs, many bi and gay people are ditching the lgbtq label and dissociating from labels altogether.
Truly an unfortunate PR faux pas
cs1900
Yeah, but–it already has happened. A lot of millennials and later generations embrace the term “queer.” Openly and explicitly. I mean, for heaven’s sake, there’s a very popular show called “Queer Eye.” Your transphobic and exclusionary version of queer identity is passé.
Josh447
Queer” is an atrocious derogatory and heinous word foisted on the gay community by some over zealous Queer Nation gays who thought they could make the word digestible. That’s never going to happen and throws a very bleak light on all gay and bisexual people. It really doesn’t matter how much perfume you spray on feces, it’s still going to smell life feces.
Then there is the argument that trans is not a sexual orientation.
With these two labels encroaching on LGBs, many bi and gay people are ditching the lgbtq label and dissociating from labels altogether.
Truly an unfortunate PR faux pas
CurtisIsTheOne
Stop posting your drivel TWICE. Once was enough for me to realize you have nothing to say worth reading.
Josh447
Queer” is an atrocious derogatory and heinous word foisted on the gay community by some over zealous Queer Nation gays who thought they could make the word digestible. That’s never going to happen and throws a very bleak light on all gay and bisexual people. It really doesn’t matter how much perfume you spray on feces, it’s still going to smell life feces.
Then there is the argument that trans is not a sexual orientation.
With these two labels QT encroaching on LGBs, many bi and gay people are ditching the lgbtq label and dissociating from labels altogether.
Truly an unfortunate PR faux pas
Josh447
Please let me explain. The repeats are not wanting to redo my post several times every 5 minutes due to getting caught up in moderation consistently. I therfore post several at once instead of taking 30 mins to repost 6 times ad nauseam hoping one goes through.
Thx in advance for understanding.
Kangol2
Just post ONCE. The posts come through. The repetition makes it look like you’re ranting.
Josh447
Kongol2,
For the record, I’M NOT. This moderation system is broken and I don’t have time to sit around and download comments over and over bc they won’t post and go to moderation. Therefore I choose this way. Maybe you should direct your complaint to Queerty concerning their broken moderation system. Others have the same problem.
Josh447
Josh447
Kongol2,
For the record, I’M NOT. This moderation system is broken and I don’t have time to sit around and download comments over and over bc they won’t post and go to moderation. Therefore I choose this way. Maybe you should direct your complaint to Queerty concerning their broken moderation system. Others have the same problem.
Josh447
Josh447
Kongol2,
For the record, I’M NOT. This moderation system is broken and I don’t have time to sit around and download comments over and over bc they won’t post and go to moderation. Therefore I choose this way. Maybe you should direct your complaint to Queerty concerning their broken moderation system. Others have the same problem.
Click to Edit –
Josh447
Oddly all three of these posts went through wo getting stuck in moderation. Usually three to five go to moderation and do not post, with the following one posting. Maybe Queerty finally fixed the problem.
glennmcbride
Post once, it will eventually appear. It is very annoying when you fill up the comments section with the same post over and over.
CurtisIsTheOne
You just demonstrated what a horse’s ARSE you are. Post once. That’s what the rest of us “queers” do,
Josh447
Please let me explain. The repeats are not wanting to redo my post several times every 5 minutes due to getting caught up in moderation consistently. I therfore post several at once instead of taking 30 mins to repost 6 times ad nauseam hoping one goes through.
Thx in advance for understanding.
Josh447
Please let me explain. The repeats are not wanting to redo my post several times every 5 minutes due to getting caught up in moderation consistently.
I therfore post several at once instead of taking 30 mins to repost 6 times ad nauseam hoping one goes through.
Thx in advance for understanding.
Josh447
Definitely going to watch this great movie again. It’s been a looong time.
Tombear
It is amazing that most straight people don’t understand or even pick up on the homosexual subtext of the relationship between the Dean and Mineo characters. The first time I saw Rebel I noticed the homosexual relationship and thought it was a gay love story for years.
Daggerman
..religions are strict and fictious beliefs. Mankind has suffered terribly by them but if we humans evolved honestly our world by acceptance would be paramount today.