East of Eden... James Dean

This film really is something special and by far my favourite James Dean film and performance. He plays a character who is deeply troubled and out of place in the world sort of like James Dean himself. Knowing that the director picked Dean over Paul Newman who was also an extremely talented young actor at the time, just goes to show how gifted James Dean was. The impact he had on the world with only three films to his name was nothing short of incredible. Would he of reached the status of icon though if he had led a full life? It's like the saying it's better to burn out than to fade away. Talented artists who die young often get romanticized and I think it's because people secretly love a lost cause. Perhaps this is because we live in a world where almost everyone successful paint themselves as a perfect person with their life together, and most people try to do this celebrity or not. Imagine if Brad Pitt died young for instance. He was stunningly good looking like James Dean and played characters very similar as well. His early career for instance, edgy performancesas like A river runs through it, and fight club ect. Now Brad Pitt is not considered as a historic icon and probably never will, but don't get me wrong he is very respected and his talent is at knowledged. Imagine if he died though in his late 20s or early 30s after he made fight club. If that happened I reckon there would have been endless documentaries about his life and people would be fascinated and wonder what he could have achieved if he reached his older years just like James Dean. There are obviously some artists leading a full life that will be considered iconic after their death. People like Bob Dylan and Robert De Niro but that is a minority of artists that will go down in history has iconic.

James Dean's character in east of Eden also longs for a father figure and to be loved. Something James Dean struggled with himself in his own life. The similarities between him and his character made the film all the more sad to watch. I give the film a 8/10*

East of Eden is one of the great movies, in large part thanks to Dean but also Elia Kazan and Steinback too. What other James Dean performances have you seen?

Yeah those actors were great too and underrated. I watched rebel without a cause and giant but also have seen some of his old TV performance as well where he has bit parts My favourite documentary though is called James Dean born cool where it interviews people from his hometown. It's an old documentary but it's very wholesome. There's a piece of music at the end credits that I love and I think you could only watch it on YouTube as that's where I watched it. So yes it's free documentary basically. When I was 19 I went through a huge James Dean phase Lol. Have you seen all of his films and where would you rank them?

I'd have to rewatch all three of the feature films Dean starred in to rank them, it's been awhile since I seen them so I'll just say East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant are all truly special.

My review of the film:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...t_of_eden.html

The iconic 1955 James Dean photograph taken in Times Square by Dennis Stock:

He was a good actor, but I never liked the kind of mopey characters he played.

I read East of Eden when I was in the ninth grade. At the time my younger brother was trying to enslave me because he knew my recently retuned father from Vietnan would beat the crap out me if he said I did something bad to him. My father's older brother did that to him and his addled mind thought that's what I was doing. The book turned a horror story into the reality of the world. I still tell victims of physical child abuse that self-pity is the real enemy. A bad start does not determine how you finish.