And, despite this, it's not all that great.
This was a presentation by Kraft Theater. Kraft also sponsored the Perry Como Show, which we always watched, and Kraft always demonstrated the most nauseating recipes. Here you can send in for them.
Dean plays Joey Harris, who returns home after prison, hoping to reconcile with his wife Barbie (Naomi Riordan), and he wants to open a gas station.
Learning that his wife has left New York, he goes to a delicatessen and asks the owner (Rudolph Weiss), who knows both of them, where she has gone. Violence ensues when the owner refuses to tell him.
Joey goes to his father's house and there finds his wife. But thanks to his outburst in the deli, the police are after him.
The acting is strong, if somewhat theatrical, as most of the actors were from the stage. The script is talky, which is to be expected. One of the problems is that Dean is so powerful, when he's not in scenes, you keep waiting for him. He was obviously influenced by Marlon Brando; he uses some of his vocal intonations.
In person Dean was considered a "poseur," a young man desperate for attention, totally narcissistic, and very difficult to work with. But as Elia Kazan said, on camera he was like gold (which caused Raymond Massey to ask, after listening to Dean spouting expletives,"what price gold?")
His performance is wonderful, but is somewhat spoiled by the script, which makes us dislike him from the beginning. The character underneath is vulnerable, but he's also quick-tempered, abusive, and a liar. Yet he truly wants redemption. His monologue about nostalgia is beautiful.
In spite of not being the most riveting piece, it was exciting to see Dean. 'There's one wonderful thing about dead movie stars,' a Dean memorabilia collector once said. 'They can't disappoint you, which is about all the live ones are capable of doing.'
This was a presentation by Kraft Theater. Kraft also sponsored the Perry Como Show, which we always watched, and Kraft always demonstrated the most nauseating recipes. Here you can send in for them.
Dean plays Joey Harris, who returns home after prison, hoping to reconcile with his wife Barbie (Naomi Riordan), and he wants to open a gas station.
Learning that his wife has left New York, he goes to a delicatessen and asks the owner (Rudolph Weiss), who knows both of them, where she has gone. Violence ensues when the owner refuses to tell him.
Joey goes to his father's house and there finds his wife. But thanks to his outburst in the deli, the police are after him.
The acting is strong, if somewhat theatrical, as most of the actors were from the stage. The script is talky, which is to be expected. One of the problems is that Dean is so powerful, when he's not in scenes, you keep waiting for him. He was obviously influenced by Marlon Brando; he uses some of his vocal intonations.
In person Dean was considered a "poseur," a young man desperate for attention, totally narcissistic, and very difficult to work with. But as Elia Kazan said, on camera he was like gold (which caused Raymond Massey to ask, after listening to Dean spouting expletives,"what price gold?")
His performance is wonderful, but is somewhat spoiled by the script, which makes us dislike him from the beginning. The character underneath is vulnerable, but he's also quick-tempered, abusive, and a liar. Yet he truly wants redemption. His monologue about nostalgia is beautiful.
In spite of not being the most riveting piece, it was exciting to see Dean. 'There's one wonderful thing about dead movie stars,' a Dean memorabilia collector once said. 'They can't disappoint you, which is about all the live ones are capable of doing.'
