Find the word definition

Wiktionary
rebel without a cause

n. One who fights the good fight for the sake of fight but has no clear goal to achieve.

Wikipedia
Rebel Without a Cause

Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers filmed in CinemaScope. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. The film stars James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood.

The film was a groundbreaking attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and explore the differences and conflicts between generations. The title was adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner's 1944 book, Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath. The film itself, however, does not reference Lindner's book in any way. Warner Bros. released the film on October 27, 1955.

Over the years, the film has achieved landmark status for the acting of cultural icon James Dean, fresh from his Oscar nominated role in East of Eden and who died before the film's release, in his most celebrated role. This was the only film during Dean's lifetime in which he received top billing. In 1990, Rebel Without a Cause was added to Library of Congress's National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant".

Usage examples of "rebel without a cause".

Hollywood took him at his word and made a film of his life in which he was represented as a teenage ‘rebel without a cause’.

Sasha says that I remind her of James Dean, more as he was in East of Eden than in Rebel Without a Cause.

He cites the late James Dean who depicted the alienated adolescent in the movie Rebel Without a Cause or Elvis Presley who initially fixed the image of the guitar-twanging rock-'n'-roller.

I liked Rebel Without a Cause, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Seventh Seal.

Adam Roffrey was a psychopath, a rebel without a cause, a hater of state and organisation.

The headlights splashed against the back wall of the garage, revealing a workbench, neatly racked tools, a cool forty-year-old sign from a Shell service station, and a framed poster of Jimmy Dean leaning against the 1949 Mercury that he had driven in Rebel Without a Cause.

Sasha insists that I look like the late James Dean, and even though I don't see the resemblance, I am appalled and ashamed to say that at times I take pleasure in this supposed resemblance to such a celebrated figure, indeed, it would require little effort for me to conduct periods of my life with the edgy score of Rebel Without a Cause swelling in my mind.