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Adam Trask: [Adam gives Cal the bible to read] Start at the fifth verse. Verse 5.
Cal Trask: [Cal begins to read...] "I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah."
Adam Trask: Go on.
Cal Trask: [he continues] Six..
Adam Trask: And I suggest a little slower, Cal. And you don't have to read the verse numbers.
Cal Trask: [Cal continues on] "For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee. And surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Selah." Seven..
Adam Trask: Not the numbers, Cal...
Cal Trask: [Cal abruptly furthers reading] "Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble, thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah."
[pause]
Cal Trask: *Eight*...
Adam Trask: You have no repentance! You're bad! Through and through, bad!
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Cal Trask: Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man.
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[Abra pleads with Adam to reconcile with his son]
Abra: Mr. Trask, it's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world. Don't ask me - even if you could - how I know that. I just know it. It makes you mean, and violent, and cruel. And that's the way Cal has always felt, Mr. Trask. All his life! Maybe you didn't mean it that way - but it's true. You never gave him your love. You never asked for his. You never asked him for one thing.
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[refusing Cal's gift of money]
Adam Trask: If you want to give me a present, give me a good life. That's something I can value.
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Abra: But you must give him some sign, Mr. Trask, some sign that you love him... or he'll never be a man. All his life he'll feel guilty and alone unless you release him.
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Description
Based on John Steinbeck's novel and directed by Elia Kazan, East of Eden is the first of three major films that make up James Dean's movie legacy. The 24-year-old idol-to-be plays Cal, a wayward Salinas Valley youth who vies for the affection of his hardened father (Raymond Massey) with his favored brother Aron (Richard Davalos). Playing off the haunting sensitivity of Julie Harris, Dean's performance earned one of the film's four Academy Award nominations.* Among the movie's stellar performances, Jo Van Fleet won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.
Amazon.com essential video
East of Eden is an acknowledged classic, and the starring debut of James Dean lifts it to legendary status. John Steinbeck's novel gave director Elia Kazan a perfect Cain-and-Abel showcase for Dean's iconic screen persona, casting the brooding star as Cal, the younger of two brothers vying for the love of their Bible-thumping father (Raymond Massey) in Monterey, California, at the dawn of World War I. Massey is a lettuce farmer, striving for market domination with an ill-fated refrigeration scheme. Having discovered that his presumed-dead mother (Oscar® winner Jo Van Fleet) is a brothel owner in nearby Salinas, Cal convinces her to finance an investment that will restore his father's lost fortune, but neither money nor the tenderness of his brother's fiancée (Julie Harris) can assuage Cal's anguished need for paternal acceptance that comes nearly too late. Kazan's oblique camera angles and Dean's tortured emoting may seem extreme by latter-day standards, but their theatrics make East of Eden a timeless tale of family secrets and hard-won affection. --Jeff Shannon
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