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Confused about Dean's final 1951 visit to NYC

posted 10 years ago by surf-10
3 replies | jump to latest

Dean was always so "up" and positive whenever he was seeing one of his buddies after a spell of not being together. I am confused about that last meeting in NYC. Only a year had passed since Dean abandoned Sal in Mexico but it looked like a decade. Sal was all rich and gussied up while Dean looked half drugged out, depressed and probably homeless. Did I miss something? What happened over that year to explain how dramatically different they were? Why was Dean all of a sudden so depressed like he lost all his love for life over the course of just a year? I'm confused...

[–] Ace_Spade 10 years ago

I think it's foreshadowed in a scene earlier in the film where Dean looks at a bunch of homeless guys with a really odd look on his face. He seems to know he's headed somewhere dark. I think basically life finally caught up with him. We see that he's charming and puts on a carefree front, but he's hopping around aimlessly, not really connecting with anybody (deeply), and he's just conning his way from one moment to the next. Sooner or later, people like that burn out. Dean burned out.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Ace_Spade 9 years ago

Yeah, I think Sal had grown out of his friendship with Dean, tired of Dean's behaviour. But I think the OP was asking about why Dean looked like he was dying while Sal seemed to be on top of the world.