The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

Rebel Without a Cause and Mean Streets
211
Rebel Without a Cause
1955
Directed by Nicholas Ray
Starring James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Dennis Hopper,
Jim Backus, Edward Platt, Corey Allen, and more
Mean Streets
1973
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy
Robinson, and more
How would you describe Rebel Without a Cause to someone who has
never seen it?
Woo: I truly love this movie. When I watched Rebel Without a Cause, I
thought I was James Dean. I always felt like there was a lot of misunderstanding
between me and my parents. We were living in a very old system. I
tried to run away. I needed love, I needed someone to care about me. It was
pretty tough to do what I really wanted to do.
Essentially, it’s about a troubled teen trying to navigate a new town and
school. When did you see it?
Woo: I was watching it by myself, in a theater in Hong Kong. I watched
that movie in a second-run theater. In Hong Kong, the first-run theater was
expensive. After a few months, it was in some kind of cheaper theater. That’s
the only place we could afford to see it.
I had a very miserable life when I was a kid. First of all, I grew up in a
slum. It was a very tough way of living in a very tough neighborhood. It was
pretty tough to survive. I used to have to deal with the gangs; I used to get
beat up by some tough guys, wise guys. They wanted me to join them, but
I refused.
That’s very close to the dynamic in film.
Woo: Yes. And my parents were pretty strict with me, and they wanted me
to go the right way, so I had to fight very hard to survive. I had to fight back.