Synthetic

I never saw this movie or read the book. It looks interesting. John Steinbeck wrote some powerful stuff. I liked "Grapes of Wrath", both the book (which I read a long time ago) and the movie.

Grapes of Wrath may be the better film IMO. I agree with you, Steinbeck is great. I haven't read the novel of East of Eden but I might since I did enjoy the film. 

East of Eden is a take on the old bible story Cain and Abel with a heavy focus on a father-son relationship. It's a decent film. I thought the emotional connections in the film really drove it since it focuses so heavily on the father and sons and their struggles with one another. 

This old lady though, Jo Van Fleet definitely steals the show when she's on camera. I love it when she tells James Dean "it makes me mad thinking about a rrrrrranch." She was arguably even better in Cool Hand Luke.