| ~ Boulevard of Broken Dreams : The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean ~ |
| Book Review: The interesting thing about James Dean is the fact that, almost 40 years after his death, he remains an icon of American pop culture. In the last chapter of this tell-all biography, Alexander takes a stab at accounting for Dean's continuing popularity, but his real interest throughout the book is in the actor's sex life. Although he devotes some attention to Dean's work as an actor and to his heterosexual liaisons, Alexander's contribution to the Dean legend is to label him as homosexual. The early death of Dean's mother; abandonment by his father; a close teenage "friendship" with an older, more worldly man; trips to the Hollywood casting couch (male version); testimony from numerous of Dean's self-proclaimed male lovers (one of whom provides a diary, complete with pillow talk)--these are only a few of the brush strokes that make up Alexander's portrait of Dean as a gay man. Contradictory evidence,like Dean's romance with actress Pier Angelli--considered by many to be the love his life--gets perfunctory treatment: ". . . the affair developed so quickly it would be hard to imagine that the love was lasting or substantial." That clears the way neatly for Alexander's conclusion: "James Dean used this sense of angst, caused by his inability to live the life he wanted to lead, to spur him on as he relentlessly pushed the boundaries of his art." Well, maybe, but by Alexander's reckoning, Dean didn't suffer from all that much repression, despite living in a 1950s closet. The point about revealing the secret sexual histories of dead celebrities, after all, isn't to prove the case as much as to raise a ruckus. Alexander ought to do just fine. - Ilene Cooper This book description thanks to Amazon.com. ~ For Information on buying this book, go here. Comments From Me: I am currently reading this book. So far, it is pretty good. It tells a lot about Jimmy, behind the scenes. Little jobs he had here and there, and a lot of things like that. This book is very "personal " though. It is not recomended for people who would be affended by hearing Jimmy being called homosexual. You have to keep an open mind when reading it...I, personally, do not care if he was or not, but the book is good other than that. |
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