James Dean: a symbol of rebellion, youthful angst, and nonconformity1 made eternal due to his death at the tender age of 24. Even before you see one of Dean’s three movies,2 you already feel like you know James Dean, since his image has so thoroughly permeated the ether. He’s this guy:
As James Dean goes, so goes East of Eden. Dean plays Cal Trask, a troubled young man navigating the complexities of his familial relationships. Dean’s performance is intense and nakedly emotional, helping to establish him as a symbol of brooding, tormented youth. It’s assuredly a form of acting genius, but to watch Dean in East of Eden as an adult is to feel a form of vicarious embarrassment. Maybe it just sucks to watch a movie about the vicissitudes of youth when you’re comfortably in your thirties.
East of Eden is a California retelling of the biblical Cain and Abel story, with Aron Trask (Richard Davalos) the dutiful, favored son and brother Cal the moody, sinful black sheep. The brothers believe their mother is dead, but Cal discovers that she is alive and running a brothel.3 When Cal discloses this to Aron, Aron enlists in the Army to fight in WWI, which gives their father a stroke. Yeah, that’s basically what happens in Genesis.
Though I didn’t care for the “Days of our Lives”-style plot or Dean’s overly mannered performance, I will admit that the film is absolutely stunning.
Rating: 4/10, but I’m pretty sure that rating says more about me than it does about James Dean.
Cast and Crew
Okay, just a few more things about James Dean. He studied Method acting under Lee Strasberg and was cast in East of Eden because director Elia Kazan was looking for a Brando type. Sure, Dean and Brando were both Method guys prone to mumbling who had only a loose knowledge of their lines, but physically, they were worlds apart: Brando exuded power, while Dean…well, Kazan described Dean’s mannerisms as “exactly like the people you see in insane asylums.” (I think he meant it as a compliment.) Kazan almost cast Brando as Cal, but figured Brando was, at thirty, a tick too old and that the younger Dean would play better.4
This is the fourth and final Elia Kazan film we’ll watch (having already seen A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, and On the Waterfront), but he made eight more films over his last twenty years in Hollywood. His biggest hit of that period was Splendor in the Grass (1961), about two young lovers played by Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. Other films of his were Baby Doll (1956), A Face in the Crowd (1957)5, and The Last Tycoon (1976).6
Raymond Massey, who couldn’t stand James Dean’s antics on the set of East of Eden, played Cal’s father Adam. Because we started this project in 1950, we missed Massey’s Best Actor nomination for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940). Interestingly, Massey’s brother, Vincent Massey, was the first native-born governor general of Canada.7
The Trivia
Alright, let’s talk John Steinbeck, famed dog lover and also towering 20th century American literary giant. Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, California. Salinas is inland, separated from coastal Monterey by the Santa Lucia mountains. Often, Steinbeck’s books involved the hardworking small-town people of agricultural Salinas and the looser city folk of Monterey. Here are some of his works you need an awareness of:
“Cup of Gold” (1929), Steinbeck’s first novel, about privateer Henry Morgan8
“The Red Pony” (1933), a novella about a boy and his horse9
“Tortilla Flat” (1935), Steinbeck’s comic novel breakthrough about Monterey’s errant paisanos
“Cannery Row” (1945), a comedy set on a Monterey street full of sardine canneries
“The Pearl” (1947), about the discovery of a big pearl.
You should know a bit more about two of his works on the California laboring class: “Of Mice and Men” and “The Grapes of Wrath.” The former is about two itinerant farmhands, George Milton and Lennie Small (his name is ironic), as they travel around California. Lennie, the big slow lug, just wants to tend rabbits, but instead he accidentally kills a girl and must be euthanized by George. “The Grapes of Wrath” is a similar downer, with Tom Joad and family leaving Oklahoma for California during the Dust Bowl and experiencing numerous tragedies.
Towards the end of Steinbeck’s life, he wrote the autobiographical “Travels with Charley: In Search of America.” In it, Steinbeck and Charley putter around America in a pickup-camper named Rocinante.10 Oh, also, Charley’s a poodle.
Odds and Ends
Jimmy Dean, the singer and sausage man, is different from James Dean11…at a parade, there is a character dressed as Uncle Sam and another as John Bull; John Bull is the British equivalent of our avuncular patriot…that same parade has a wagon for the WCTU; they’re the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, who helped get the 18th amendment passed…East of Eden starts with an overture, a lost part of movies that this article from the Atlantic argues we should bring back…Jo Van Fleet won a Best Supporting Actress statue for her role as Cal’s mother…east of Eden to the land of Nod was where Cain went after slaying Abel…Aron’s girlfriend Abra (Julie Harris) wins at the carnival bottle game, but that game is super rigged so I think that was just some movie magic.
Oh, one last important factoid: East of Eden is one of Nicolas Cage’s favorite movies and seeing James Dean on the screen was what made Cage want to go into acting. So if you want someone to thank for Cage’s “Nouveau Shamanic” style and the stone-cold classics The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), and Con Air (1997), maybe Dean’s your guy.
I mean, just look at the musical shout-outs he gets. Taylor Swift: “You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye.” Bloc Party: “Stop being so American / There's a time and there's a place / So James Dean, so blue jeans.” Even Nickelback: “I want […] my own star on Hollywood Boulevard / Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me.” The Eagles have a song called “James Dean,” the Goo Goo Dolls have a song called “James Dean,” Hilary Duff has a song called “Mr. James Dean.” But where are my songs about Montgomery Clift?
Yeah, he only made three—Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955), and Giant (1956).
Oh, and the parents of Cal and Aron, Adam (Raymond Massey) and Kate (Jo Van Fleet), represent Adam and Eve. Kate’s move to Monterey from Salinas and opening of the brothel are meant to represent her fall from grace and banishment from Eden. The stuff is all very on-the-nose.
Note that Dean was one of the youngest people ever nominated for Best Actor. The younger folks to score nominations are Mickey Rooney (twice), Timothée Chalamet, John Travolta, and the only child nominated, Jackie Cooper.
The film, which launched Andy Griffith to superstardom, was written by On the Waterfront screenwriter Budd Schulberg. Sometimes ya gotta know Schulberg’s novel “What Makes Sammy Run?” about the title character backstabbing his way up the corporate ladder (and which was inspired by Schulberg’s own father’s journey up the film business hierarchy).
The Last Tycoon was based on Harold Pinter’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished final novel.
Wait, why does Canada have a governor general? Great question! The King of England (who is the head of state of Canada) appoints a governor general to carry on “the government of Canada on behalf and in the name of the sovereign” since said sovereign is, y’know, busy being in England. But, like the post of King of England, it’s mostly ceremonial. Fun fact: both the Stanley Cup (NHL) and the Grey Cup (CFL) are named after former governors general of Canada.
You might know Henry Morgan better as Captain Morgan, rum namesake. Also, yeah, privateers are just state-sponsored pirates.
“The Red Pony” was made into a movie in 1949. A good rule of thumb is that, if Steinbeck wrote it, somebody put it up on the big screen.
Named after Don Quixote’s horse. Sancho Panza, on the other hand, rode a donkey named Dapple.
Though confusingly, the film Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) is about a fictional James Dean (not Jimmy Dean) fan club.