A Sad Dean?

I think Hedlund was aiming to humanize Dean, and it worked in the context of Salles' vision.

Dean is a man of illusion - yes, he's this live wire of excitement, vitality, sexuality, and passion - but he is suffering underneath it, you know?

Also, think of the number of times he mentions his father.. at one point towards the end, he even tries to seek him out. I think the lack of a father figure/male influence in his life might have shaped his reckless behavior in some way.

Now, Sal is the last remaining male in his life whom he does care for and with whom he has shared all these experiences, so when Sal leaves him at the end, it evokes all these emotions within Dean.

Hedlund's face says it all - pain, sadness, regret, and finally, resignation. He's not only lost a friend, but a brother.

That's just my take.

Any thoughts? I'm glad you brought this up, Silent Troubadour, thanks!

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I wanted to see the stuff that dean could do that made people go wow! Him coasting the limo through the mountains bare-chested because they can't afford gas or him driving 100 mph over ice lakes with little visibility and never losing control. What about when they have a running race and dean can jump really high? That comes at a time in the book when Sal isn't sure about dean's morality and can't help but admire what he can do.

But I really liked the film. It will grow in popularity over the years

When the film ended, I turned and said the same thing to my husband. Where was the fun, happy, vibrant Dean?!? The film really only showed the sad almost pathetic side of Dean. And he was angry or sad in nearly every scene, not what I expected. I love the book, the movie was just "okay" to me. Had a lot of potential, great actors, great director, great source material, and great prep (I would have LOVED to have taken part in the beat boot camp) but for me, failed to capture the book's fun, happy, exciting, hilarious, "iconic" scenes.

I think the movie's purpose is not to be the book on film as much as supplement to it. The movie gives a voice to the female characters and thus a different viewpoint of the Beatniks. Sal disregards any female agency, because that takes away from his journey.

Similarly, the film shows another side of Dean, one that Sal most definitely ignored. Dean was his immortal muse, so he would not have wanted to recognize the sadness his hero felt towards his own life. As we have learned, Neal Cassady was internally troubled and self-conscious about the way he lived his life. But Kerouac and the other writers don't want just realities to taint their image of what he represented.

There’s no one on IMDB I care enough for to use spell check- suck it grammar Nazis

Wow. Did you hear a whistling sound when this one flew over your head? Watch it again. That final scene makes the film. Without it the whole point of everything you see before it would be lost.

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

Whether Casady's family wanted him "humanized" I cannot say. Of course characters are exaggerated in books (and film), but Neal Cassady can be seen behaving with seemingly limitless frenetic energy in documentary footage, as well as being portrayed as such in other writer's works (Tom Wolfe).

The actor playing Dean/Neal in this film was depressing, and bore no resemblance to the character from the book, nor to the Neal Cassady known to people like Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Tom Wolfe, Jerry Garcia, and many others.