JAMES DEAN (TV)
Summary
This television film focuses on the friendship between the late James Dean and William Bast, who wrote the script based on their experiences as struggling actors in the early 1950s. The program is structured around a counseling session Bast has with his psychiatrist, in which he examines the conflicted feelings he has for the deceased pop icon. As Bast narrates, the film traces the evolution of Dean's personality and his overwhelming, and ultimately fateful, desire to live life to the fullest. The episodic story opens in Santa Monica, California, as Dean and Bast, who are attending UCLA, rent a house together. Summoned to court for a traffic ticket, Dean offers an outrageous defense which leaves Bast and his girlfriend Beverly laughing hysterically. Later, Dean slyly steals Beverly away for a quiet weekend. Bast pretends not to mind, but during an improvisational exercise in acting class, the tension between the two friends turns to physical violence. Despite Dean's apologies, Bast moves out and finds a place of his own, where he shifts his creative energies toward a career as a writer. With his heart set on a spot in the prestigious Actors Studio, Dean, who is periodically taken with spells of moodiness and hostility, packs his bags and heads east. Months later, Bast shows up at Dean's doorstep, and eventually they find an apartment together. Dean implores Bast to enhance his craft as an artist by constantly seeking new sensations and experiences. In the middle of the night, Dean awakens Bast with a series of provocive questions. Unsatisfied with the ambiguous answers Bast provides, Dean sends him to a seedy bar in Times Square. Later, accompanied by his girlfriend Dizzy and the ever-faithful Bast, Dean hitch-hikes to his home town of Fairmount, Indiana. However, their trip is cut short by a telegram from Dean's agent, informing him that he has landed a role in the Broadway production "See the Jaguar." Success comes quickly for Dean, who soon finds himself in Hollywood starring in Elia Kazan's "East of Eden." Meanwhile, Bast, who has often felt overshadowed by his friend's talent, sulks bitterly after the premiere of the film. As a celebrated young star, Dean lives on the wild side, dragging Bast to biker bars and beatnik hangouts. Dean seems puzzled by the glaring media attention, but even more intrigued by the 5,000 fan letters he receives in a week, one of which compels him to befriend a troubled high school girl. Despite the adulation accorded him, Dean continues to suffer bouts of despair and loneliness. When his sweetheart Pier Angeli marries another man, he hovers gloomily outside the church on his motorbike. On a sunny autumn day, Dean stops by for a few words with Bast, from whom he has commissioned a screenplay. He then climbs into his Porsche and roars up the highway towards Salinas, where he meets his fate in a motor collision. Back in the present, in his psychiatrist's office, Bast laments missing his opportunity to tell Dean how much he loved him. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: February 19, 1976 Thursday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:37:50
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T86:1850
- GENRE: Docudrama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Docudrama; Actors; Roommates
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 1976
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Gerald L. Isenberg … Executive Producer
- Gerald W. Abrams … Executive Producer
- John Forbes … Producer
- William Bast … Producer, Writer
- Robert Butler … Director
- Goldenberg, Billy (See also: Goldenberg, William) … Music by
- Michael Brandon … Cast, William Bast
- Stephen McHattie … Cast, James Dean
- Brooke Adams … Cast, Beverly
- Julian Burton … Cast, Ray
- Candy Clark … Cast, Chris
- Dane Clark … Cast, James Whitmore
- Meg Foster … Cast, Dizzy
- Katherine Helmond … Cast, Claire Folger
- Amy Irving … Cast, Norma Jean
- Robert Kenton … Cast, Mechanic
- Meadows, Jayne (See also: Allen, Jayne Meadows) … Cast, Reva Randall
- Heather Menzies … Cast, Jan
- Jack Murdock … Cast, Judge
- James O'Connell … Cast, Mr. Robbins
- Leland Palmer … Cast, Arlene
- Chris White … Cast, the Secretary