Released just one month after James Dean’s death, Rebel Without a Cause captured the magnetic on-screen presence of the young actor and the feverish anxiety of an entire generation. Coming together at a police station, conflicted teenage outcasts Jim Stark (Dean), Judy (Natalie Wood), and Plato (Sal Mineo) face down their nagging parents and live up to the challenge of the local hotshots by playing chicken at a seaside cliff. Ray’s memorable look at nonconformity remains the standard for youth angst on film: a biting critique of middle-class institutions highlighted by great performances, Ernest Haller’s low-key lighting, and Leonard Rosenman’s groundbreaking score.