In method acting, an actor draws from the trials and tribulations of real life to mold believable characters and situations. In television movies, producers sift through the trials and tribulations of real life for the juicy undercurrents sure to draw ratings.

Somewhere in between falls TNT’s presentation of “James Dean,” an accomplished and brief portrait of the accomplished and brief life of the mythic method actor.

With the movie’s recent release on DVD, ’50s afficionados and those drawn to the mysterious “bad” guy aren’t obliged to sit through countless showings of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “An American President” on TNT for a chance repeat. However, the producers offer little else than replay value in a presentation that could have served as a legitimate jumping-off point into the Dean legacy.

Despite only starring in three major motion pictures, the Dean legacy’s waters run quite deep. James Franco (“Freaks and Geeks”) has taken the dive to critical acclaim (he received a Golden Globe for his performance), but don’t just take the Hollywood Foreign Press’s word for it.

In “Dean,” Franco’s hunched shoulders and the cool pain barely hidden on his face ooze with contempt and sadness. But in frequent glimpses into Dean’s craft, Franco eliminates any leaps of faith as we wonder just how Dean could bring so much energy to his performances.

The backstory fills in all these wonders with a story based “mostly in truth, and the rest an educated guess.” For Dean, that’s about as good as it gets, for his status doesn’t necessarily mean he’s been figured out since his tragic death in 1955.

Israel Horovitz’s script focuses on the interesting relationship between method acting and Dean’s painful life. Director Mark Rydell cuts between instances of sorrow (a mother’s funeral at a young age, a father who couldn’t care less throughout) and powerful acting performances that provide a release for all those pent-up frustrations with life.

Helping ease the transition between feeling and release is Elia Kazan (Enrico Colantoni), the famed director of “On the Waterfront” with Marlon Brando and one of the first men in film to embrace method acting as a viable craft in Hollywood and on stage. Kazan lights the ways for those feelings of contempt, lovelessness and sadness and funnels them through a character. The result is a powerful and draining performance, one that leaves the actor huddled in a dark corner and more conventional Hollywood in awe.

The film also, within the quick 90-minute playtime, establishes a unique comparison between the ragtag warmth of New York’s burgeoning acting scene in the early ’50s and the sophisticated classic cinema processes of Hollywood at the same time. The Indiana-bred Dean embraces New York while never quite accepting the less-personal nature of major films.

Nothing embodies this more than the great performance by Rydell as Jack Warner, another sleazy authority figure for Franco’s Dean to butt heads with and a convenient source for the angst needed in such films as “Rebel Without a Cause.”

Speaking of which, the only DVD extras are true gems: the sensationalistic trailers for “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant.” In these few minutes, we see just how much power Dean exuded on screen … and how much power Franco wielded in his dead-on portrayal of the mythic icon of youth.