Review of East of Eden (1955) by Gavin S — 12 Nov 2011
This is simply a classic. James Dean in his first major role is fantastic, the right mixture of energy, brooding, anger, and vulnerability. Based on Steibeck's novel and directed by Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire) this is a modern day (1917 California) tale of Cain (Dean as Cal) and Abel (Richard Davalos as Aron), 2 brothers as different as night and day, the father showing his preference for Aron over Cal clearly.
Dean as Cal in this film set the modern template for the dark outsider over the more establishment Aron, and in doing so, became the poster boy for cool and helped inspire a generation. Not bad for a first major role.
It's telling that even though Dean is supposed to be the bad one, I identify with his character quite easily, and found Cal to be the one I was rooting for, given a family like that, whereas back when it was released, he would have been the one people rooted against.
Hands down a must see for any fan of film, if you don't like this, you don't like movies. Dean was given his first posthumous Oscar nomination for this role, and in fact, the first ever posthumous nomination.
He only made 2 more films before his death, and was given a 2nd Oscar nod...67% of his performances were Oscar callibre...not bad.
This review of East of Eden (1955) was written by Gavin S on 12 Nov 2011.
East of Eden has generally received very positive reviews.
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