East of Eden (film) Although set in early 20th century Monterey, California, much of the film was actually shot on location in Mendocino, California. Some scenes were filmed in the Salinas Valley. Of the three films in which James Dean played the male lead, this is the only one to have been released during his lifetime and the only one Dean personally viewed in its entirety. The film, along with "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant", has been named by the American Film Institute as one of the best 400 American films of all time. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in
Rebel Without a Cause historically, and aesthetically significant". In Los Angeles, teenager Jim Stark is arrested and taken to the juvenile division of a police station for "plain drunkenness". At the station he meets John "Plato" Crawford, who was brought in for killing a litter of puppies, and Judy, who was brought in for curfew violation. The three each separately reveal their innermost frustrations to the officers; all three of them suffer from problems at home: On the way to his first day at Dawson High, Jim again meets Judy and offers her a ride. Seemingly unimpressed by Jim at first, she declines and