Rebel Without a Cause

When Jim Stark (James Dean) arrives in a new town with his troubled past firmly in tow, he quickly falls for the girl next door (Natalie Wood) and befriends the vulnerable Plato (Sal Mineo), forming a surrogate family fueled by alienation. From a deadly game of chicken to the spectacular climax at Los Angeles's Griffith Park Observatory, director Nicholas Ray's Oscar-nominated portrait of teen angst provided a jolt to 1950s America.