Rebel Without a Cause Characters

Jim Stark

Jim Stark is the protagonist of the film, and the "new kid" in town. He and his family have just moved to a new town after he attacked a boy for calling him chicken. Jim struggles to do what is right, especially given that his family life is chaotic and his father is unable to give him effective advice. Jim is a complex character: although he is at times dismissive of authority, he also is desperate for advice from his elders. Although he has a gentle, nurturing side, he also becomes enraged when anyone threatens his manhood, or honor.

Judy

Judy is a teenage girl who lives around the corner from the Stark family. Her boyfriend, Buzz, is the head of the gang harassing Jim, and Judy deliberately helps Buzz antagonize Jim in the first act of the film. When we first meet Judy, she has been arrested for wandering the streets late at night, seemingly in order to spite her father, who resents her sexual maturity. Over the course of the film, Jim encourages Judy to leave behind the cold, insincere demeanor she assumes around her friends, and to embrace a more sincere, genuine way of relating both to herself and others.

John "Plato" Crawford

John “Plato” Crawford is a troubled, sensitive, unpopular teenage boy. His father has abandoned him, and his mother has left him in the care of a housekeeper, having fled to Hawaii. We first meet him in the police station being questioned for murdering puppies by shooting them with a pistol. Like the film's other characters, Plato is desperately in search of male role models: he has a picture of Alan Ladd taped up inside his locker, and he immediately clings to Jim as a kind of father figure. Plato strives to cover up his miserable home life by telling intricate lies, such as his father being a war hero in the South China Sea. He grows to view Judy and Jim as the closest thing to family that he has.

Buzz

Buzz is the de facto leader of the gang at Dawson High School and Judy’s boyfriend. After being pressured by his gang, he challenges Jim to a knife fight on the first day at school. Although he loses the fight, he seems exhilarated and amused by how differently Jim behaves than the other members of his crew. Nevertheless, he feels pressured by the group to challenge Jim to a "chickie-run" in order to reassert his dominance. Buzz tells Jim he likes him before the chickie-run, revealing that his complicity in the competitive rituals of adolescence is merely for show.

Frank Stark

Frank Stark is Jim’s father. Although he clearly cares about Jim, he can't give Jim the kind of advice that he so desperately needs. Moreover, Frank allows himself to be cowed by Jim's imperious mother and grandmother, submitting to their whims and wishes, which Jim resents. Jim want his father to reassert his authority as the patriarch of the household, and finds it difficult to respect his father as long as he continues to act obsequiously.

Carol Stark

Carol Stark is Jim’s mother. She uses sleeping pills to get to sleep, and is accustomed to running from town to town when something bad happens. She berates Jim for his mistakes, as well as Jim's father for doing or saying anything with which she disagrees. Rather than attempt to understand or listen to Jim, Carol is often more interested in scoring points in the various petty disputes in which the family engages. Her impulse is to deflect and accuse others, rather than seriously deal with the issues motivating the Stark family's dysfunctional dynamic.

Ray Fremick

Ray Fremick is a police officer introduced in the film's opening sequence at juvenile hall. As a more stern, masculine figure, he is able to win Jim's respect in a way that his father cannot. He allows Jim to express his anger, and gets him to open up about his fears and insecurities about being called "chicken." He is the one effective male role model that Jim tries to find later in the film, to no avail.