Jamal mewarisi perniagaan ayahnya menjadi saudagar getah terkenal dan hidup bersama isterinya yang setia, Aminah. Walaupun sudah mendirikan rumahtangga selama enam tahun dan telah dikurniakan seorang anak perempuan (Mardiana), namun kehidupan mereka tetap dalam aman dan bahagia.

Suatu hari wakil insurans (Harun) telah datang bertemu dengan ayah Jamal (Kamil) untuk menjual polisi insuransnya tetapi telah ditolak. Bagaimanapun Jamal menunjukkan minatnya terhadap insurans tersebut.

Berikutan pengenalannya dengan Harun, Jamal telah dibawa berkenalan pula dengan teman wanita Harun (Aishah) dan rancangan telah dibuat oleh mereka berdua untuk mempengaruhi (menggoda dan memikat Jamal oleh Aishah) dengan tujuan untuk membolot harta kekayaan yang diwarisi Jamal.

Jamal berjaya dipikat oleh Aishah dan mula pula mengabaikan tugasnya dipejabat dan terhadap isteri dan anaknya. Dia sering berfoya-foya dengan Aishah. Sudah begitu mencintai Aishah, Jamal meminta Aishah berkahwin dengannya dan sanggup menceraikan Aminah.

Bagaimanapun pertentangan timbul antara Jamal dan ayahnya yang tidak setuju Jamal berkahwin dengan Aishah dan bertindak mengusir Jamal keluar dari rumah juga meninggalkan Aminah dan anaknya.

Sungguh pun ayah Jamal mewarisi hartanya kepada Aminah dan tidak meninggalkan sesen pun untuk Jamal tetapi sebagai isteri yang setia Aminah menyerahkan wasiat itu kepada Jamal (setelah ayahnya meninggal dunia) disamping, membenarkan Jamal berkahwin dengan Aishah asal saja dirinya tidak diceraikan.

Oleh kerana Aminah dan anaknya menjadi penghalang pergerakan mereka, Aishah dan Harun merancang membuat hasutan hingga menyebabkan Jamal percaya lantas menghalau Aminah dan Mardiana keluar rumah banglo yang selama ini menjadi tempat kediaman mereka.

Bersama orang gajinya (Karman), Aminah dan anaknya pindah tinggal di sebuah pondok usang. Dalam pada itu, keadaan rumahtangga Jamal dengan Aishah mulai retak apabila Harun sering saja memeras ugut Aishah bagi mendapatkan wang untuk berjudi, manakala pasaran getah yang diusahakan Jamal pula telah jatuh menjunam.

Mardiana pula jatuh sakit dan dia perlu mendapatkan rawatan doktor tetapi kerana tidak berkemampuan membayar wang rawatan doktor tidak dapat datang dan atas rayuan Karman mahu tidak mahu Aminah terpaksa pergi ke rumah Jamal bagi mendapatkan pinjaman wang di dalam keadaan cuaca hujan rebut.

Bagaimanapun, Aminah tidak dapat bertemu Jamal tetapi Aishah yang tidak berperikemanusiaan telah menghalau Aminah tanpa memberikannya pinjaman yang diperlukan.

Di saat itu juga tiba-tiba pondok tempat Aminah dan anaknya menumpang terbakar dan tidak membuang masa lagi Karman yang sedang menjaga Mardiana membawa dia lari, tetapi malangnya dia telah dilanggar kereta dan dibawa ke hospital dengan meninggalkan Mardiana yang tercampak di tepi jalan.

Mardiana bagaimanapun diselamatkan oleh Suparjo dan membawanya pulang. Suparjo dan isterinya tidak mempunyai anak menyayangi Mardiana dan merawatinya dan kemudian membuat iklan di surat khabar meminta ibu dan ayah Mardiana mengambil di rumahnya.

Aishah pula membuat rancangan untuk lari (membawa harta Jamal) bersama Harun dan meninggalkan Jamal, tetapi belum sempat mereka berbuat demikian Aishah dan Harun telah ditahan oleh Jamal dan kerana menyedari atas kesilapannya kerana mencintai Aishah yang tidak setia, Jamal kemudian menghalau Aishah keluar rumah dengan sehelai sepinggang.

Terbaca dalam surat khabar tentang anaknya, Mardiana, Jamal tidak membuang masa lagi pergi mahu mengambilnya dan di sana juga dia telah bertemu dengan Karman yang juga berhasrat mahu mengambil Mardiana.

Aminah yang begitu sedih dengan kehilangan anaknya dan pondoknya terbakar tidak begitu siuman dan merayau-rayau. Pada ketika itu juga Aminah telah ditemui oleh Mariam lalu memujuknya pulang ke rumah banglo mereka untuk bertemu Jamal kerana Jamal sudah insaf disamping telah menghalau Aishah keluar dari rumah tersebut.

Aminah bersetuju dan bila sampai di sana, Aminah bertemu semula dengan anaknya dan suami yang dikasihinya, Jamal. Dan mereka pun memulakan penghidupan baru dan hidup dalam aman dan bahagia sebagaimana sebelumnya.

Set in Texas during the late 1860s, Rio Bravo is a story of men (and women) and a town under siege. Presidio County Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) is holding Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), a worthless, drunken thug, for the murder of an unarmed man in a fight in a saloon -- the problem is that Joe is the brother of wealthy land baron Nathan Burdette (John Russell), who owns a big chunk of the county and can buy all the hired guns he doesn't already have working for him. Burdette's men cut the town off to prevent Chance from getting Joe into more secure surroundings, and then the hired guns come in, waiting around for their chance to break him out of jail. Chance has to wait for the United States marshal to show up, in six days, his only help from Stumpy (Walter Brennan), a toothless, cantankerous old deputy with a bad leg who guards the jail, and Dude (Dean Martin), his former deputy, who's spent the last two years stumbling around in a drunken stupor over a woman that left him. Chance's friend, trail boss Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), arrives at the outset of the siege and tries to help, offering the services of himself and his drovers as deputies, which Chance turns down, saying they're not professionals and would be too worried about their families to be good at anything except being targets for Burdette's men; but Chance does try to enlist the services of Wheeler's newest employee, a callow-looking young gunman named Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), who politely turns him down, saying he prefers to mind his own business. In the midst of all of this tension, Feathers (Angie Dickinson), a dance hall entertainer, arrives in town and nearly gets locked up by Chance for cheating at cards, until he finds out that he was wrong and that she's not guilty -- this starts a verbal duel between the two of them that grows more sexually intense as the movie progresses and she finds herself in the middle of Chance's fight. Wheeler is murdered by one of Burgette's hired guns who is, in turn, killed by Dude in an intense confrontation in a saloon. Colorado throws in with Chance after his boss is killed and picks up some of the slack left by Dude, who isn't quite over his need for a drink or the shakes that come with trying to stop. Chance and Burdette keep raising the ante on each other, Chance, Dude, and Colorado killing enough of the rancher's men that he's got to double what he's paying to make it worth the risk, and the undertaker (Joseph Shimada) gets plenty of business from Burdette before the two sides arrive at a stalemate -- Burdette is holding Dude and will release him in exchange for Joe. This leads to the final, bloody confrontation between Chance and Burdette, where the wagons brought to town by the murdered Wheeler play an unexpected and essential role in tipping the balance. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

This landmark juvenile-delinquent drama scrupulously follows the classic theatrical disciplines, telling all within a 24-hour period. Teenager Jimmy Stark (James Dean) can't help but get into trouble, a problem that has forced his appearance-conscious parents (Jim Backus and Ann Doran) to move from one town to another. The film's tormented central characters are all introduced during a single night-court session, presided over by well-meaning social worker Ray (Edward Platt). Jimmy, arrested on a drunk-and-disorderly charge, screams "You're tearing me apart!" as his blind-sided parents bicker with one another over how best to handle the situation. Judy (Natalie Wood) is basically a good kid but behaves wildly out of frustration over her inability to communicate with her deliberately distant father (William Hopper). (The incestuous subtext of this relationship is discreetly handled, but the audience knows what's going on in the minds of Judy and her dad at all times.) And Plato (Sal Mineo), who is so sensitive that he threatens to break apart like porcelain, has taken to killing puppies as a desperate bid for attention from his wealthy, always absent parents.

The next morning, Jimmy tries to start clean at a new high school, only to run afoul of local gang leader Buzz (Corey Allen), who happens to be Judy's boyfriend. Anxious to fit in, Jimmy agrees to settle his differences with a nocturnal "Chickie Run": he and Buzz are to hop into separate stolen cars, then race toward the edge of a cliff; whoever jumps out of the car first is the "chickie." When asked if he's done this sort of thing before, Jimmy lies, "That's all I ever do." This wins him the undying devotion of fellow misfit Plato. At the appointed hour, the Chickie Run takes place, inaugurated by a wave of the arms from Judy. The cars roar toward the cliff; Jimmy is able to jump clear, but Buzz, trapped in the driver's set when his coat gets caught on the door handle, plummets to his death. In the convoluted logic of Buzz' gang, Jimmy is held responsible for the boy's death. For the rest of the evening, he is mercilessly tormented by Buzz' pals, even at his own doorstep. After unsuccessfully trying to sort things out with his weak-willed father, Jimmy runs off into the night. He links up with fellow "lost souls" Judy and Plato, hiding out in an abandoned palatial home and enacting the roles of father, mother, and son. For the first time, these three have found kindred spirits -- but the adults and kids who have made their lives miserable haven't given up yet, leading to tragedy. Out of the bleakness of the finale comes a ray of hope that, at last, Jimmy will be truly understood.

Rebel Without a Cause began as a case history, written in 1944 by Dr. Robert Lindner. Originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando, the property was shelved until Brando's The Wild One (1953) opened floodgates for films about crazy mixed-up teens. Director Nicholas Ray, then working on a similar project, was brought in to helm the film version. His star was James Dean, fresh from Warners' East of Eden. Ray's low budget dictated that the new film be lensed in black-and-white, but when East of Eden really took off at the box office, the existing footage was scrapped and reshot in color. This was great, so far as Ray was concerned, inasmuch as he had a predilection for symbolic color schemes. James Dean's hot red jacket, for example, indicated rebellion, while his very blue blue jeans created a near luminescent effect (Ray had previously used the same vivid color combination on Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar). As part of an overall bid for authenticity, real-life gang member Frank Mazzola was hired as technical advisor for the fight scenes. To extract as natural a performance as possible from Dean, Ray redesigned the Stark family's living room set to resemble Ray's own home, where Dean did most of his rehearsing. Speaking of interior sets, the mansion where the three troubled teens hide out had previously been seen as the home of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Of the reams of on-set trivia concerning Rebel, one of the more amusing tidbits involves Dean's quickie in-joke impression of cartoon character Mr. Magoo -- whose voice was, of course, supplied by Jim Backus, who played Jimmy's father. Viewing the rushes of this improvisation, a clueless Warner Bros. executive took Dean to task, saying in effect that if he must imitate an animated character, why not Warners' own Bugs Bunny? Released right after James Dean's untimely death, Rebel Without a Cause netted an enormous profit. The film almost seems like a eulogy when seen today, since so many of its cast members -- James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Nick Adams -- died young. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jules Dassin -- in his second European film after being driven out of the United States during the years of the house Un-American Activities Committee hearings -- directed this landmark caper film about the planning and execution of a nighttime robbery at a swanky English jewelry shop in the Rue de Rivoli. The story concerns a collection of thieves who band together to commit a seemingly impossible robbery. The gang consists of a tough, straight-talker named Tony Stephanois (Jean Servais); a young man under Tony's tutelage named Jo (Carl Mohner; a happy-go-lucky Italian by the name of Mario Farrati (Robert Manuel); and a safecracker named Cesar (the director Jules Dassin under the pseudonym of Perlo Vita) who likes to jiggle the combinations of women in his off hours. The set piece of the film is an intricate 28-minute sequence that depicts the robbery in detail -- all filmed silently without dialogue or music. After the success of the robbery, the gang barely has time to celebrate when a rival gangster, Pierre Gruuter (Marcel Lupovici), decides that he wants a cut of the take. When Tony's gang refuses to cooperate, Pierre kidnaps Jo's son, and the gang has to get tough with their nemesis. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi