Sorry, this movie sucks

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A pleasant enough flick, but too much time was spent on the Pier Angeli love story - not so much on James's life and career that was teased by the title. The drama about his racing conflicting with his acting career could have been played up even more... that was a "classic American tragedy".However, the BEST performance was a great appearance by Connie Stevens as his agent. She has aged gracefully and is still as vivacious and beautiful as when she was my teen heartthrob Cricket Blake on HAWAIIAN EYE.Also good was the too brief appearance by Robert Mitchum as GIANT director George Stevens. This was Mitchum's last movie and his aging appearance was only made bearable when his wonderful laugh and hug at the end of the movie wrap scene gave a glimpse of the powerful personality of old.

I'd like to say first that the makers of this film and Casper Van Dien have no idea who James Dean is. All they know is that he was an actor that was madly in love with Pier Angeli and drove fast. This movie is pathetic. The direction is terrible, the writing is horrible, the music is annoying, and the acting is horrendous. This movie is not about James Dean, so don't be fooled. It's about some idiot that dresses like and calls himself James Dean. Instead of getting James Dean you get a guy that sounds like a whiny little kid and who constantly gets speeding tickets. Seriously, Casper Van Dien cannot act for his life. If someone had a gun to his head and said act like James Dean, he'd be dead as soon as he opened his mouth. If I were Casper I'd be too ashamed to even look at myself in the mirror. That guy is really pathetic and should be ashamed of himself. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make this movie or to even get Casper Van Dien to play James Dean, is a moron. Everyone who made this movie should be shot. I don't even know if you'd call it a movie. It's like the whole thing is one big practical joke. The whole time I was watching this movie I was shocked at how bad it was. It would be a joke to even compare this movie to the James Franco movie about James Dean. All I'm going to say is see the Franco movie. See that great movie and see James Dean's movies. But avoid this trash. This movie is just so pathetic it's not even funny.

I saw this on TV after I heard Robert Mitchum was in it. He looks very sick and frail and it was sad to see him like that. His grandaughter was just AWFUL as Dean's girlfriend. Van Dien was Ok I guess, this is a very amateur production. Why it was released on DVD beats me! Stay away!

This is probably interesting for people who know absolutely nothing about James Dean's life, those who may even be shocked by the sad ending. However, it has nothing to offer in the way of a script, and many scenes are embarrassingly implausible.Worst of all is the way the movie deals with James Dean's rumoured homosexuality. The only reference is when Sal Mineo asks Dean out on a date, and Dean replies with obvious disgust at the idea of dating a man. So there you go. Obviously James Dean was heterosexual through and through. The rest of his life is treated with just as much subtlety.