James Dean: Behind the Scenes

by Leith Adams

Rare photographs, interviews, and previously unpublished documents reveal the close correspondence between Dean's troubled, rebellious on-screen persona and his behavior behind the camera

Genres: Nonfiction

223 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not the book to get if you want a straight up biography, but if you are into the little behind the scenes tidbits about the films and rare pictures. Then this is definitely the book for you. Although it is mainly a photograph album or scrapbook, it has a lot of information as well. I've read over 100 Dean related books(research project) and this is one of my favorites.

[Mira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of black and white photos of James Dean. I enjoyed all the behind-the-scenes notes, too, such as the memos from the censors. It's fascinating to read about the specific content the studios found objectionable. The one confusing thing about this book is that they allowed the introduction written by Dennis Hopper to go to print, as it contains several factual misrepresentations. He claims that Dean received a traffic ticket for going 120mph just before his fatal crash, when in fact, it's a matter of public record that the police officer recorded his speed as 65mph in a 55mph zone! (Who hasn't done that?) Hopper also mentions that the other driver "failed to stop at a stop sign" before hitting Dean. There is no stop sign on that road. It's a highway. The driver was making a turn onto another road, but not at an intersection. There were a couple of other things, but Hopper's mistakes don't really have that great an affect on the book, imho. The photos and studio records are the main thing - and they are great. The only truly annoying aspects of this book are that some of the pages contain jumbled collages of photos that are really too small to get a good look at. Also, I wish the editors hadn't felt the need to slap words right in the middle of many of the pictures! These notes added nothing to the book, and only succeeded in obscuring the reader's view.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of James Dean photos from films.

[Kathi Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great pictures and stories, even copies of planning sheets for producers, of Dean's 3 movies.

[Debbie Desotell · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Dean has always been my idol, along with Marilyn Monroe! I really liked the book, it also had great pictures of him, and a lot of them!