As great as Dennis Hopper was in this role, I think an older James Dean could have been even better. Alas, we will never know. Thoughts?
shareHmm interesting thought. Dean could definitely have handled it well, though don't know if he would best Hopper's fabulous performance.
shareWell, there are all sorts of things a 30-year-older James Dean might have been great (or horrible) at. We don't know what kind of movies he would have done in the Sixties and Seventies. He might have been great or maybe all wrong for the part.
But yeah, the golden boy teen gone wrong in middle age -- yeah, I could see that.
Plus Dean was an Indiana boy who played basketball at Fairmount High...of all the roles we could have speculated for him to play, this is the one I think of the most.
shareA younger James Dean would have been a perfect talented player with an attitude that clashed regularly with the coach and sometimes teammates.
shareDean was a ham, and Hopper was obviously influenced by him. But even though I could see Deanisms in Hopper's performance, Hopper was better. Hopper, of course, had the advantage of a few decades more experience than Dean ever got.
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