Crime and Sexuality in the 1955 and 1981 Adaptations of John Steinbeck ’ s East of Eden
Cal drinks a little before that plot point , and Kazan ’ s Cal hits the bottle throughout the film .
Cal also commits the crimes of destruction of property , disturbs the peace , and assault and battery . At one point , James Dean ’ s character even admits to Abra , Aron ’ s girlfriend , after he beats Aron up , “ I was trying to help him .... Who am I kidding ? I�I tried to kill him .” Another of Cal Trask ’ s crimes is stalking , and the object of his obsessive pursuit is his mysterious mother . Kazan ’ s film opens as teenaged Cal , accompanied by foreboding , non-diegetic music , is following Kate while she goes to make her weekly bank deposit . Steinbeck explains that Cal has arranged his school schedule to be able to trail Kate on Monday afternoons .
Prostitution is the main correlation between crime and sexuality in the novel , the feature film , and the miniseries . However , prostitution is most implicit in Kazan ’ s adaptation , during whose first 10 minutes it is established that Kate practices the world ’ s oldest profession through camera shots and dialogue . The teller compliments a plumpish , African-American woman on making a “ nice , fat deposit . You sure are in the right business , Sally .” Then , he tells Kate , “ Another nice deposit . You and Sally are sure in the right business .” Behind a window , a couple of respectable-looking women whisper about Kate as she passes outside . When he is asked by her bouncer , Joe , why he has been following Kate around , Cal replies , “ Any law against following around the t-town ... ‘ m-m-madam ’ �whatever you call her ?” During preproduction , there were objections to James Dean ’ s line because , according to Simmons , “‘ madam ’ was on the Code office list of forbidden words . However , Kazan was successful in justifying that , at that stage , it was not feasible for Shurlock to impose new limitations in order to strike that word .
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