

Donald Sutherland sells his soul for a grocery store. Steinbeck's darkest morality play, forgotten by time.
This story tells those self-denials of an honest man what necessary to reach his object of life.
Acting
Sutherland's hollowed-out desperation—he's terrifyingly ordinary.
Writing
Steinbeck's dialogue fights the TV budget and mostly wins.

Director
Waris Hussein
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the last Steinbeck adaptation until the 2010s; Reagan-era audiences apparently couldn't handle his unsparing class critique.
Teri Garr filmed this during her peak comedy period—she reportedly fought to keep Mary's desperation visible beneath the 1950s housewife surface.
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