September 30, 1955
September 30, 1955 (originally titled 9/30/55) is a 1977 drama film written and directed by James Bridges and starring Richard Thomas. Plot On the evening of September 30, 1955 in Conway, Arkansas, college student Jimmy J. watches the film East of Eden alone in a theater. The next day at football practice, he hears that the film's star, James Dean, was killed in a road accident in California around the same time that Jimmy J. was viewing the film. He runs to the local radio station, desperate to learn the details. The radio disk jockey, while reading the morning news on-air, makes a brief announcement of James Dean's death. Jimmy J. calls his friend Billie Jean, a working-class girl who also admires Dean. Jimmy J. takes his girlfriend Charlotte, his roommate Hanley and another college couple, Frank and his girlfriend Pat, off-campus in Jimmy J's car. They buy some food at a local grocery store and Jimmy J. steals some liquor. They have a party on the banks of Arkansas River, where Jimmy J. grows upset that his friends do not understand the depth of his grief. When Frank belittles Jimmy J. for caring so much about someone whom he