Overview: Marking the 54th anniversary of the death of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is a special two-disc collector’s set, 'James Dean: The Fast Lane,' in stores now!

DVD Verdict: Although his life abruptly ended decades ago at just 24 years old, James Dean remains one of the world’s most beloved and celebrated Hollywood icons.

The two-time Academy Award-nominated actor’s enduring fame and popularity rests on just three roles as leading man (only one of which was released prior to his death), but the brooding Dean – the personification of restless mid-’50s American youth – also appeared in four other films and on popular television shows of the era.

It was just 1,734 days from Dean’s first on-screen appearance to his death. 'James Dean: The Fast Lane' is an unprecedented and comprehensive look at the little-known aspects of the legendary star’s spectacularly brief career. Includes rarely seen footage of his on-air debut at just 19 years old, a 1950 commercial for Pepsi, as well as his final work, ironically a 1955 highway safety PSA filmed just 13 days before he died behind the wheel of his Porsche 550 Spyder.

Rebelliousness often goes hand-in-hand with “tortured” or “troubled”, especially in the morality plays that made up much of television programming in the early ‘50s. In the ten on this set, Dean plays a criminal or ex-con in five of them, and a naïve young man trying to escape his humble or distressing circumstances in two more. But he wasn’t any sort of one-note player.

His characterizations in these sometimes otherwise almost unbearably predictable productions are distinctly nuanced portrayals that are each so captivating that they alone redeem almost every one of the shows of which they are part. And that’s important to note not only because they clearly show the brilliance of Dean’s talent from the very beginning, but also because he’s not necessarily a major player in all of them. This is a Widescreen presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

10 Television Appearances (1951-54)
Full-length biographical film by six-time Academy Award-winning director Robert Altman, The James Dean Story (1957), which includes personal interviews with Dean’s family and friends.