By the time 24-year old actor James Dean died in a traffic accident on September 30, 1955, only one of his three major movies had been released. Nevertheless, young people had already declared him their idol, and he would eventually become one of the greatest American legends of our time.
James Dean was not only known for his extraordinary acting talent, with great prospects for a major career in Hollywood; he also had just started to make a name for himself as a race car driver, scoring remarkable success at three sports car events he entered in 1955 with a Porsche Super Speedster. The documentary shows exclusive and never-before-seen footage of James Dean at one of these races.
At that time he met Rolf Wütherich, a German auto mechanic, with whom he shared a passion for speed and Porsche sports cars, and who rode with him in the Spyder when the tragic accident happened. While Wütherich survived the crash, he had a hard time coping with the physical and emotional impact that the accident had on his life - including the seemingly never-ending harassment by Dean fans and the media.
Based on accounts of eyewitnesses and the results of police investigations, the documentary features an amazingly photorealistic reenactment of the accident, representing the most likely scenario that led to the crash.
Filmed at original locations in the U.S. and Germany, the documentary includes a great number of interviews with colleagues, friends, and relatives of both, James Dean and Rolf Wütherich, some of whom have never been interviewed before.
One of them is a man who says his father has bought the wreckage of Dean's Spyder from a junk yard. To this day he considers his family to be the only rightful owner of the wreckage. His claim is supported by original documents and the former owner of the junkyard from where the Porsche was purchased.
Alexander von Wechmar
email: JimmyAndRolf@germantvfilms.com
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For more than 25 years Hollywood based German Television Films works foremost for German speaking Television Networks.
