According to actor Jim Backus, "We started out making a routine
             program picture in black and white (that) was going to be. . . about
             teenage kids that I thought was going to be a sort of Ozzie and Harriet
             with venom. Then the reports started coming in on East of Eden, and they
             (the studio) knew they had a star on their hands" (Alexander, 56). Since
             Backus was signed by Warner Brothers to star in Rebel Without A Cause as
             the father to James Dean, his comment on the film as being something
             similar to Ozzie and Harriet "with venom" should be viewed as highly
             accurate, for in Nicholas Ray's American masterpiece, the presence of
             "venom" is easily sensed, due to the various cultural/societal conflicts
             that erupt between the two opposing sides, being the teenagers and their
             older superiors. James Dean, in the role of Jim, the non-conformist "rebel"
             son of Backus, seems to provide most of the conflict through what is now
             generally described as the "generation gap" which was linked to many social
             problems in the 1950's when Rebel Without a Cause was in production.
             Set in the city of Los Angeles, Rebel Without a Cause, considered by
             many critics as a classic example of American cinema, explores the lives of
             three teenagers caught within the "generation gap"â€"Jim (James Dean), Judy
             (Natalie Wood), and John (Sal Mineo), nicknamed Plato. Underneath a rather
             straightforward story about a clash between mixed-up but sensitive
             teenagers and their mutual alienation from their parents, Rebel Without a
             Cause contains many of the traits that often contribute to youthful
             confusion, such as excesses in material comfort, inadequate and incapable
             fathers and an alarming desire for an early death. In this regard alone,
             the film was tragically prophetic for the next two generations of American
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             slipped from mild ...