jeffhaller A love story, yeah! But we go on a slow and painful roller coaster ride. Think of Inge's work and this one fits so well. It is a movie about how following the mores of the time contribute to near tragedy. This is Natalie's best performance and not because of the big dramatic moments but of the much more subtle moments. The creators gave her the understanding of how less is more. Boy was it this time. Beatty is an actor I have never found rewarding but in his debut here he is heartbreaking. Audrey Christie as Deennie's mother probably gives the best performance. She has the dangerous role of potentially becoming the villainess, but her love and understanding of the character came from a deep self-exploration. I have seen this movie many times but this was the first time on a bigger screen. I had no idea how much more powerful it is when you can see the entire picture. This is one of those movies where you can tell that the screenwriter, the director and the actors knew exactly their purpose and didn't mess around. There isn't a scene out of place. And that ending will haunt you for much of your life.

Antonius Block Such a heartbreaking tale of teenage angst and tragic love. Natalie Wood is stunning and in a story with some real weight to it, performs brilliantly. The film 'introduces' Warren Beatty, who's no slouch himself, and finer looking couple I don't think you'll ever see.The film opens with the two of them making out heavily while parked by a waterfall (the crashing falls a little heavy in their symbolism), and her stopping him, much to his frustration. Once home, her mother cautions her about going too far, and then tells her that not only do good girls save themselves for marriage, but they don't have those urges at all(!) Meanwhile, he goes home to a father who tells him he'll have to marry her if he gets her pregnant, and then rams his vision for the boy's future down this throat, which is Yale followed by a job in his oil business, all without pausing to listen to him. Both go to bed understandably frustrated. Their parents have spoken to them out of love, but not in an open-minded way, and one that's hopelessly outdated.You really feel for Wood in this film. Her looks of love into Beatty's eyes are intensely endearing. Frustrated, he tests his power over her by pushing her to her knees and saying "at my feet, slave", and makes her tell him how much she loves him. She says she would do anything for him, and we believe it, but understand she won't do *that*. It drives Beatty crazy and he wants to marry her, but his father insists that he wait until after college, and encourages him to go after a "different kind of girl" to relieve his frustrations(!) The well-meaning but bad parenting abounds. Ultimately Beatty breaks it off with Wood despite their love for one another, and from there, her spiral begins.Wood has three fantastic scenes that earned her an Academy Award nomination. In the first, her teacher forces her to recite a poem from William Wordsworth; the words clearly relate to her heartbreak:"What though the radiance / which was once so bright / Be now for ever taken from my sight, / Though nothing can bring back the hour / Of splendour in the grass, / of glory in the flower, / We will grieve not, rather find / Strength in what remains behind…"The second has her in the bathtub, where her mother's only concern is whether he "spoiled" her, and her emotional reaction, expressing her grief and frustration of it all, "spoiled?? I'm not spoiled, mom! I'm not spoiled, mom! I'm just as fresh and virginal as the day I was born, mom!" her voice and emotion rising. We really feel the hypocrisy of the double standard - girls are either "bad" or "good" – and the horrible position this puts them in.In the third scene, Wood throws herself at Beatty, saying she's not a nice girl, and he resists, sensing her desperation and knowing they shouldn't do it in her state of mind. He asks her where's her pride, and she erupts, "My pride?! I haven't any pride! I just want to die!"Did I mention heartbreaking? They part, Beatty to a life of dissipation at Yale, Wood to a mental institution in Virginia. They never forget one another, but their time is past. The ending is brilliantly balanced. A couple of years later she sees him for closure; he's married with a child, and she's engaged. She asks him whether he's happy, and he replies, "I guess so. I don't ask myself that question much … What's the point, ya gotta take what comes." So poignant. One thing I've always found a little odd is how Beatty's bohemian, somewhat wild sister, played very well by Barbara Loden, disappears after some great scenes, the last of which has her drinking too much out of frustration at a New Year's party, 1929. She underscores the double standard and the desire to freely pursue one's destiny, wanting to go to California and study art, and saying she's a "freak in this town". The other small knock I have is that while the film is set in 1928, aside from the old car and some elements of the set, it really feels like 1961, the year it was made, based on the appearances of the characters and the story itself. No matter, though. This is a timeless story of heartache and passion, and yet in the end, maturity in working through breaking up over a love that (unfairly) couldn't be. Kazan directs it well, bringing out great performances and emotion, without being overly melodramatic. He's also daring – what Beatty (and Wood) want is abundantly clear – while at the same time being honest, and real. Definitely recommended.

Gideon24 Splendor in the Grass is the 1961 classic of forbidden love, mental illness, and family manipulation that features the finest performance of Natalie Wood's career and marked the film debut of Warren Beatty.Set in a small town in 1920's Kansas, this is the story of a mentally fragile high school student named Deenie Loomis (Wood) who enters a doomed romance with school stud Bud Stamper (Beatty), an aimless young man who allows his life to be quietly manipulated by his wealthy father (Pat Hingle), who is grooming Bud to take over the family business but in the meantime has decided that Deenie is not good enough for his son and forces him to end the romance, which sends Deenie on a slow descent into insanity, which actually climaxes with her being institutionalized.In the tradition of cinematic couples like Scarlett and Rhett, George Eastman and Angela Findlay, and Katie Morofsky and Hubbell Gardner, screenwriter William Inge has created star-crossed lovers who we immediately empathize with but also know that they are doomed.Elia Kazan's vivid direction and his respect for Inge's story is evident, and there is effective support from Hingle and from Audrey Christie as Deenie's harridan of a mother, but the real selling point here is Wood, who turns in a blistering and evocative performance as the fragile Deenie, a performance that earned Wood her first Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress, an award I think she should have won. There is an underlying sadness to the performance as we watch Wood do two particularly moving scenes involving water, one in a bathtub and one in a river, which Wood completely invests in, despite her lifelong fear of water and the way the actress eventually died. A film classic that should not be missed. Remade as a TV movie by NBC with Melissa Gilbert as Deenie.

TheLittleSongbird Splendor in the Grass is my fourth Elia Kazan film, the other three being A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and East of Eden. All three of those are wonderful films, On the Waterfront even being one of the best films of the 50s, and-apart from it being a little too long and psychologically simplistic in places-so is Splendor in the Grass. It looks absolutely beautiful and is technically accomplished, with the 20s setting actually looking like the 20s, and David Amram's score is romantic, lyrical and emotionally searing while allowing the drama to speak for itself. The script rightly won an Oscar, it is a very intelligently written film with no padding, it's both thought-provoking and poignant and it draws and develops the characters remarkably- bringing humanity and flesh-and-blood-quality to potential stereotypes- the most interesting being Deanie. The story takes its time to unfold but it's all worth it, it is done so gracefully, the romantic elements are sweet without being cloyingly so and it is also one of the most moving films I've seen. Especially the ending which is heart-breaking. Kazan's direction is remarkably sensitive, more so than his occasionally heavy-handed direction in East of Eden. The powerful performances in Splendor in the Grass also help, the standouts being Pat Hingle and especially Natalie Wood. Hingle is quite terrifying as the formidable father figure and Wood has never been more tender and it is a contender for her best performance(the bath-tub breakdown was another truly moving moment in the film, and the emotion felt genuine and not forced). Warren Beatty makes a most credible feature debut, acting with understated poise, while Audrey Christie dominates the screen while giving her maternal character depth and Barbara Lodon relishes her role too. All in all, a splendid film that is beautifully made and really tugging at the heart-strings. 9/10 Bethany Cox