John SteinbeckFilmography

Of Mice and Men

Crew: Book Author

Actors: John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, Casey Siemaszko, Sherilyn Fenn

Synopsis: Gary Sinese directed this respectful re-telling of John Steinbeck's classic novel, with Sinese as the wily George and John Malkovich as the brutish, simple-minded Lennie. Set during the Depression era, the film opens as George and Lennie are running from a woman with a torn dress, who has sent a Read More

The Winter of Our Discontent

Crew: Book Author

Synopsis: Michael de Guzman scripted this prettified TV-movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's gloomy 1961 novel The Winter of Our Discontent. Donald Sutherland stars as Ethan Hawkley, a solid citizen loved and respected by his family and by the citizens of his town. Ethan's loyalty and ethics will be tested Read More

Cannery Row

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Audra Lindley, Frank McRae, M. Emmet Walsh

Synopsis: This highly anecdotal film centers upon Doc (Nick Nolte), a self-employed marine biologist who lives by the ocean and interacts with the neighborhood denizens, trying to conceal a troubled past. Across from Doc's digs stands the local bordello, the Bear Flag Restaurant. Across the entrance ambles Read More

Of Mice and Men

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Randy Quaid, Cassie Yates, Robert Blake

Synopsis: This TV movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was a labor of love for producer-star Robert Blake, who utilized the screenplay from the 1939 Hollywood version as his guide--a screenplay personally presented to Blake by the original film's director, Lewis Milestone. Blake and Randy Quaid Read More

East of Eden

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, Lloyd Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Samuel Bottoms, Karen Allen, Anne Baxter

Synopsis: The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval Read More

The Red Pony

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Henry Fonda, Clint Howard, Maureen O'Hara

Synopsis: The Red Pony is a 1973 TV-movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, previously filmed for theatrical release in 1949. Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara star as a turn-of-century farming couple. Clint Howard plays their 10-year-old son, a rebellious lad constantly at odds with his taciturn father. Read More

The Harness

Crew: Short Story Author

Synopsis: Made for television, The Harness was "suggested" by a John Steinbeck short story. Lorne Greene stars as an aging California farmer, long under the thumb of his domineering wife. Much against his better judgment, Greene becomes fascinated with young Julie Sommars, a free-spirited unwed mother. When Read More

Flight

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Efraim Ramirez, Esther Cortez, Maria Gonzales, Andrew Cortez

Synopsis: Although based on a story about a young, unintentional killer by John Steinbeck, Flight's main credits are its musical score and scenic views of southern California's Big Sur. The year is 1900 or so, and Pepo (Efraín Ramírez) lives in crushing poverty, like many other Mexican-Americans in and Read More

The Wayward Bus

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Joan Collins, Jayne Mansfield, Dan Dailey, Rick Jason

Synopsis: John Steineck's novel The Wayward Bus was retranslated into pop-entertainment terms for the screen. Most of the story takes place on the charter bus owned by driver Rick Jason. Travelling slowly through a treacherous California mountain region, the passengers -- including Jason's spiteful Read More

East of Eden

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Dick Davalos, Jo Van Fleet

Synopsis: This truncated screen version of John Steinbeck's best-seller was the first starring vehicle for explosive 1950s screen personality James Dean, who plays Cal Trask, the "bad" son of taciturn Salinas valley lettuce farmer Adam Trask (Raymond Massey). Although he means well, Cal can't stay out of Read More

Dateline II

Synopsis: Irregularly scheduled on NBC from 1954 through 1957, Producers' Showcase was a series of lavish, full-color 90 minute specials, bringing the best of Broadway to the 21 inch screen. On November 14, 1955, the series digressed from its usual format to present Dateline 2, the second annual variety Read More

O. Henry's Full House

Actors: Charles Laughton, Marilyn Monroe, David Wayne, Richard Widmark, Dale Robertson, Anne Baxter, Fred Allen

Synopsis: This anthology film assembles five respected directors and a top-notch cast to bring a handful of stories by the great American author O. Henry to the screen. In The Cop and the Anthem, a tramp named Soapy (Charles Laughton) tries to get arrested so that he can spend the winter in jail Read More

Viva Zapata!

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Wiseman, Arnold Moss

Synopsis: Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by Elia Kazan, this film follows the life of Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando) from his peasant upbringing, through his rise to power in the early 1900s, to his death. The film presents an interesting but fictionalized picture of Read More

The Red Pony

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Louis Calhern, Shepperd Strudwick, Gerald Perreau-Saissine

Synopsis: One of themost acclaimed films to emerge from Republic studios, The Red Pony is an adaptation of the John Steinbeck story of the same name. Top billing goes to Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum, but the film's true star is young Peter Miles as Tom. A lonely farm boy, Tom seeks refuge from his Read More

John Steinbeck's the Pearl

Crew: Book Author

La Perla

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Pedro Armendáriz, Maria Elena Marques, Fernando Wagner, Charles Rooner, Alfonso Bedoya

Synopsis: Gabriel Figueroa's evocative photography makes the Mexican-American co-production The Pearl seem a more significant piece of filmmaking than it really is. Based on John Steinbeck's short novel, The Pearl is the tragic fable of a simple Mexican fisherman (Pedro Armendariz) who finds a valuable Read More

A Medal for Benny

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dorothy Lamour, Arturo de Cordova, J. Carrol Naish, Mikhail Rasumny, Fernando Alvarado

Synopsis: John Steinbeck cowrote this sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching study of small-town hypocrisy. Shiftless Benny (who is never seen) has been tossed out of his Southern California town by the "proper" citizens. Drafted into the army, Benny is killed in action--and now that he's a hero Read More

Lifeboat

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, John Hodiak, Hume Cronyn, Mary Anderson

Synopsis: Seeking a creative challenge after several years' worth of fairly elaborate melodramas, director Alfred Hitchcock stages all of the action in Lifeboat in one tiny boat, adrift in the North Atlantic. The boat holds eight survivors of a Nazi torpedo attack: sophisticated magazine writer/photographer Read More

The Moon Is Down

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Travers, Lee J. Cobb, Peter Van Eyck, Doris Bowden, Margaret Wycherly

Synopsis: In this downbeat drama based on a novel by John Steinbeck (which was also adapted for the stage), German troops invade Norway during WWII, and Nazi forces occupy a small town. Col. Lanser (Cedric Hardwicke), the officer in charge of the occupation, believes that reason and the illusion of Read More

Tortilla Flat

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield, Frank Morgan, Akim Tamiroff

Synopsis: Like the John Steinbeck novel on which it is based, Tortilla Flat is not so much a movie as a series of warm-hearted anecdotes, all linked to a small California fishing village populated by poor but happy immigrants. The focus is upon Pilon (Spencer Tracy), a good-natured, charismatic freeloader Read More

The Forgotten Village

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Burgess Meredith

Synopsis: The Forgotten Village in this powerful 68-minute documentary is an unnamed, poverty-stricken Mexican community. Living in deplorable conditions, the villagers must not only contend with the elements but with their own lack of inner resourcefulness. In grim detail, the film records the life-cycle Read More

The Grapes of Wrath

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charles Grapewin, Doris Bowden

Synopsis: The adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of dirt-poor Dust Bowl migrants by 4-time Oscar-winning director John Ford starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who opens the movie returning to his Oklahoma home after serving jail time for manslaughter. En route, Tom Read More

Of Mice and Men

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Betty Field, Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen

Synopsis: This 1939 film version of John Steinbeck's classic novel was a surprising choice for comedy producer Hal Roach; in fact, Roach had no intention of filming the property until forced to do so as a result of a lawsuit brought by director Lewis Milestone. Burgess Meredith stars as itinerant farm Read More