ElMaruecan82 James Dean died in September 1955, leaving behind him mystery, legacy… and eternal youth. Indeed, we'd never know what was eating that spirit torn between the tumultuous torments of young age and the realm of coming adulthood, but we know though that the tragically abrupt end to his lightning way to success turned, Dean into an instant icon. He'd be to youth what Marilyn Monroe was to glamour, John Wayne to Western and Hitchcock to thrills.His first film, "East of Eden", moves in the same circle than "Rebel Without a Cause" but in the polar side. If Jim Stark in "Rebel" faced the emasculation of his father and drove his own self like a racing car that would ultimately crash into the wall of reality, Cal Trask's father doesn't quite lack authority but perhaps something more life-impacting: love. Cal Trask is like the counterpart of Jim Stark, the rebellion is the tool for the former, the end for the latter, and both are directed toward the father… or the authority figure. And are you surprised that the two names' anagrams are exactly the same? It's never about Stark or Trask, but about James Dean.Dean inhabited his roles because they inhabited his life already. Dean had lost his mother at the age of nine and had no connection whatsoever with his father who worked in Los Angeles while he grew up in Indiana. In an especially poignant moment, facing the disapproval of his father, and the rejection of his gift, Cal tries to embrace him but his hands can barely reach his father's neck. It's physically painful to watch, but it gives us enough time to measure the desperation in Cal, facing the incapability to reach his father Adam, a farm-owner who didn't only plant lettuce in his grounds but also the seeds of his younger son's jealousy. He's played by the towering Raymond Massey.Adam is a stiff man, who loves both God and his son Aron (Richard Cavados) but can't duplicate that feeling toward Cal. It is left open to interpretation whether Cal grew these awkward mannerisms and emotional secrecy from the lack of paternal love or whether Adam seemed to favor Aron because of his odd behavior. But there are two certitudes; Adam could only love Cal if he was like Aron. Interestingly, Massey didn't get along with Dean who kept on teasing him and improvising his lines, the clash between the old-school and the new generation drove an interesting feud that Kazan expertly exploited for the film. Cal couldn't be like Aron even if he tried, just like Dean.But the awkwardness of Dean finally pays off in the terrifyingly poignant third act, in "Rebel" Dean incarnated a son who killed the father (symbolically) not to disappoint himself, in "Eden", it's the very fear of disappointment that drove Cal for most of the film, and many so-called rebellious kids where fearing disappointment like plague and only became rebels by rebelling from their own ties, once they realized the efforts would be fruitless. There is some Freudian parricide so to speak in "East of Eden", but the original 1952 novel, by John Steinbeck, is also a retelling of the story of Abel and Cain, it's also a brother's story with a rivalry caused by women. Starting with the most significant one: he Cal and Aron's mother, who fled from Adam's virtuous grip in Salinas and went to the 'east of Eden', in Monterey, a fishing port where she lead a successful brothel. She's played by Jo Van Fleet.Obviously, Cal inherited that 'dark side' from Kate, but when she finally tells her story, we start to see goodness in her, or at least, attenuating circumstances, and through a mirror effect, in Cal too. And the well-meaning Adam becomes a Biblical tyrant who tried to mold everyone under his own vision of family, to the point of lying to his son Aron and telling her that she went to heaven. The other female player is Aron's fiancée Abra (Julie Harris). She's a respectful and optimist girl who had her deal of troubles in the past, enough to be able to see goodness in Cal when he tries to please his gather and jealousy in Aron's when he suspects some ill behavior from his brother. Abra could have cemented the family, but there are just too many conflicts to expect a happy ending.Basically, envy, wrath, jealousy run in the family, and create many hellish situations paved by the best intentions, even the only money Cal can earn for his father will be deemed as dirty and unholy and will provoke the breakdown we all expected. Indeed, watching "East of Eden" is like knowing a ticking bomb will soon explode and the anticipation of a family meltdown is magnificently conveyed by the nervous, awkward but electrifying performance of James Dean. Elia Kazan contributed to cinema in many ways, but besides Brando who changed the face of acting, Dean was his best gift to the world. Dean was a newcomer, an unknown face, but when Kazan saw him and had a few exchanges, he knew Dean had Cal in him, he knew his life experience created that odd concoction of delicacy, shyness and rebellion.Many critics found his acting weird, difficult to enjoy or too mimicking his then-idol Brando. But there's a lightness of being in Dean I can't find in the steaming passion of Brando, Dean still tries to fit in his environment, conveying an ahead-of-its-time brilliant embodiment of vulnerability, something new but that holds up very well today, and that Academy members were clairvoyant enough to notice, and give Dean the first posthumous nomination of Oscar history.Unfortunately, "East of Eden" was the only film he could see released, by the time the two others came, he was history, and a legend.

LeonLouisRicci America and American Movies were No Doubt Feeling Their Cheerios in the 1950's. So Much So that Often Removing that 50's Patina was Difficult when Transitioning to Other Periods of Time. This Movie Reeks of the Decade that it was Made and 1917 is Present Only in Reserve.James Dean, a Quintessential Icon of the New Breed, the Post War Youth with Something to Say and a Anti-Establishment Way of Saying it. The Rather Calculated Movie Art of Their Father's Generation was Being Challenged and Broken Down with "Method" Acting and Improvisational Experiment.Dean's Mannerisms, Wardrobe, and Hair-Style were So Firmly Fastened to the Contemporary the WWI Years were Having a Difficult Time Breaking Through, and the Period Comes Off as Artificial and Distant. This Leaves Some of the Background of the Story Thin and Wispy.Julie Harris is Better and Dominates the Screen Despite Deans Dramatic Displays of Body Language that Draw Attention, and Not in a Good Way. The Rest of the Cast is Fine, Especially Jo Ann Fleet as the Mother.Not a Bad Film, but Hardly a Great One. It's Even Worse Today with a Dated Feel and it Has Lost its Appeal as Something Seething and Seems Overrated but Above Average. The Pulitzer Prize Winning Novel from John Steinbeck has Many Admirers and Most Seem Extremely Disappointed. But to be Fair, this is Film and Not Prose.Overall, Worth a Watch for its Place in Popular Culture, to See James Dean and Puzzle Over His God-Like Status, and for a Pretty Standard Studio Production that is Typical of Well Crafted Filmmaking from Ultra-Conservative Movie Studios that were Cautiously Concerned About New Trends and This was About as Daring as it Got in the Decade.

bschott4770 East of Eden Movie ReviewEast of Eden, written by John Steinbeck and directed by Elia Kazan, provided a good general idea, but left out two of the most important factors of the book in the form of Lee and the Hebrew word, Timshel.East of Eden was written to show the ultimate conflict between good and evil. The movie did a wonderful job of keeping good and evil equal and opposite throughout the movie. Cal and Aron were the best examples of this. Early in the movie, Cal was portrayed as evil while Aron represented all that was good. Late in the movie, the role was switched as Aron became the bad child when he left his father, however Cal took on the role of good and was there for his father.A major gap in the movie was the absence of Lee, Adam's servant. Lee had gotten Adam over his depression, as well as always tried to convince Cal that there was good in everyone. Lee was seen as the median in the book between Adam and his son, Cal. The tension between the two was evident, but without Lee, the resolution of Cal to be with his father was much less significant.As previously stated, this entire novel was based around the idea of good opposing evil. The main point in the novel was that each person had the ability to make their own decisions and choose right from wrong. Lee was the first to reveal this idea to the Trask family. The fact that the most important philosophy in the novel was left out completely defeats the entire purpose for making a movie without it. This was the ultimate factor as to why this movie was a big disappointment and completely destroyed the novel's only purpose.Although this movie was relatively interesting, it turned away from the book too much to be enjoyable to anyone who has read the novel. Although you could follow the movie along pretty smoothly, without Lee and the main idea of Timshel, the movie lacked the clarity the book had and that was the ultimate downfall of the movie.

gparrilla3733 As an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, "East of Eden" falls short. The movie leaves out the first three parts of the novel (though this is forgivable, given the pacing issues that could arise in movie form), leaves out the character Lee, who introduces the concept of "timshel", and, as a result, ultimately ignores the moral message of the novel. The idea of "timshel", which is Hebrew for "thou mayest", is used by John Steinbeck to assert his message of free will as opposed to predestination; because the movie abandons this concept, all that is left is a story about the love triangle happening between Cal, Aron, and Abra. To one who hasn't read the novel, this plot line may be sufficient, but to one who has, the focus on this love triangle (which did not even occur in the novel; Abra and Cal did not show romantic interest in each other until after Aron had left to go to war) may bring disappointment.However, the portrayals of the characters that were not cut out were mostly accurate to the novel (Jo Van Fleet's performance as Kate was probably the closest to the original character), and the acting was not particularly bad, though there were scenes, such as the fight between Cal and Aron, where the acting was bad to the point of making the serious scene hilarious.I might recommend this if you're looking for a bad or cheesy movie to make fun of with your friends (the Cal and Aron fight is particularly amusing for this purpose). Overall, this movie is rather inaccurate to the source material and thus a sub-par adaptation.