Rating: 
Summary: Classic American cinema
Review: Here we have just one of those really good American movies that let the international community know that not all our movies are stupid or withut real plots. Basically, anyone can watch this movie and get something out of it because everyone's been through what these characters go through to SOME degree. It's universal yet distinctly American, and it's a very well-crafted movie. Most of the scenes seem idyllic yet menacing at the same time - the nice, white picket fence houses of Deanie's Kansas at first seem welcoming, but the more you see the things that go on in them, the more acutely you sense the difference between what the characters shown and what they actually feel. The people in this movie put up happy, idyllic fronts to compensate for how messed up their actual personal lives are, and it destroys almsot all of the characters in the movie. There are a lot of scenes in "Splendor in the Grass" that you probably wouldn't want to see if they weren't done so perfectly, because they're so hard to watch. However, they ARE done just about perfectly, to the point where you really just enjoy watching how great they are. My mom saw this when it came out in 1961 - she was 14. After I saw it I felt like I had a much better appreciation for what it must have felt like to live in a time period like Deanie's, when sexuality was generally seen as an abomination - we kids today don't live in a society like that, thank God, and so we don't really have any concept of it. Well, you'd be hard pressed to find a better cinematic portrayal of 1920s Kansas social mores than this, so definitely check it out. If nothing else Natalie Wood is f---ing gorgeous and some dude jumps off a building at the end.
Rating: 
Summary: CORNEY MOVIE
Review: Hey this movie was NO Rebel Without A Cause.First of all its a sappy love story and well thats just not me i think the movie industry would be alot better if we would cut out all of this garbage in the movies and look at life how it REALLY is,not the prospective from two idiot teenagers in love.Second two words warren beatty this guy must be if not the worst and most ugly actor to have ever lived.His proformance is very dull and boring you can see right through him,as for natalie wood well was just okay i felt her proformance was akward and strange for my taste another one who you can see right through.Buts thats just my opinion!
Rating: 
Summary: Definetly not a turn pager
Review: I am a great admirer of Natalie Wood. The facts read in the book and the sequence of her life seemed to be very credible. The style in which the book was written,however, was trite ,redundant and poor. I regretted turning each page--a real sleeper. All in all, the book was insiteful .A long waited for biography,too bad it was boring.
Rating:
Summary: Spelndor of a Movie
Review: I am an 18 year old, who saw this movie for the first time, because it is her Mom's favorite movie, and i fell in love... It is a story of Deanie Loomis and Bud Stamper.. two teenagers in love, but the timing was just wrong.. there was a Depression going on.. It shows that "things turn out awfully funny sometimes." to quote Bud.
Rating:
Summary: SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS is amazing - just AMAZING
Review: I completely and totally recommend this incredible movie. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty are completely believable as young lovers caughjt up in desire in one hand and respectability in the other. Not only did Natalie Wood deserve her Oscar nomination for this movie, she should have WON in 1961! She is in top form, as is Beatty and the rest of the cast in this Elia Kazan masterpiece. It is my favorite movie of all time, as is Wood my favorite actress.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a Chick Flick!
Review: I hope no one in Hollywood will attempt to remake this movie because it can't be done. I don't think any actors can duplicate the emotional realism and "connection" to the audience that Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood so effectively conveyed. I think this movie is far superior to any film adaptations of "Romeo and Juliet."I mean, I'm the straight guy raised on Sci-Fi, and I practically wept when this movie ended. It's that real. In a way it's not possible to remake this film given the, er, "relaxed" social norms of today. Most young people watching this film will probably just shrug and say, "so what's the big deal?" SITG is a snapshot of another era, yet all (or most) of us can relate to the question: "what if?" or "what might have been" when we look back at growing up and our love lives, no matter what era you grew up in. This film is not representative of my generation, neither with regard to the era in which it was filmed nor the era it depicts, yet I was transfixed by it. If you can relate to that kind of experience then this film will touch you like no other film. SITG helped launch Warren Beatty's career. Natalie Wood was, of course, already a star but this was arguably one of her most sensational performances. I always felt she sort of overdid her performances a bit--eye and facial movements seemed over exaggerated, etc., but physically and emotionally she still owns the screen. Many have already pointed out that her tragic death was foreshadowed in the scene in the bathtub and at the waterfall (and the boat on/from which she died was named, yep, you guessed it). I actually like Pat Hingle's (Commissioner Gordon from the Batman films) over the top performance as Ace Stamper: "You want that? You got it boy! I'll get it for you! This world is your oyster!" He's not so much a character as a characature--in this case he's the emotional polar opposite of Jim Backus as the father in "Rebel Without A Cause." Complex, raw, brilliantly acted. Leaves you with many questions. When Deanie hugs Bud Jr you almost know that she's thinking "what if?" while projecting her love to a pure and innocent child. I just can't believe that encounter was the end and the two of them said goodbye forever. The film begs for a sequel yet no sequel can do it justice. It can and should stand alone.
Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet in Kansas
Review: I know it sounds corny, but that is what this film reminds me of. Two young people positively destined for each other are systematically torn apart by the social morals of the time (1920's rural Kansas) and by their parents who actually believe they are doing what is best for them. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty (in his screen debut) have never been better. As with Romeo and Juliet (or West Side Story) you keep wanting to leep inside your TV and knock some sense into these people, but you are unable to help them and must watch as the inevitable unfolds before you.
I first watched this film late at night when I could not sleep and was mesmerized by the story and by the performances. There was no holding back in this script, it hits much harder than you would expect from a love story filmed in 1961. Three scenes with Natalie Wood (reading the quote of the movie title in her classroom, in the bathtub confronting her mother, and at the waterfall) are 3 of the most amazing scenes I've encountered in film.
If you've ever been in love with the "wrong" person this film will bring all of those feelings back the surface with honesty, heartache, and passion.
If Romeo and Juliet is the standard against which all love stories are measured, then "Splendor In The Grass" has passed the test with flying colors.
Rating: 
Summary: A little too soapy ...
Review: I like Natalie Wood, and her performance here is outstanding, but I found this film to be a little over-the-top and mirrored soap operas in some ways. First, the whole psychosexual drama, (or overdrama). Second, the fact that NONE of the parents in the film listened to their teenagers. When Deanie's mom talks to her, she doesn't give her a chance to confide any of her own feelings about Bud. Mom just says, "Don't do this, don't do that, and be good little girl." Even worse, Bud's dad just talks and talks, totally oblivious to what Bud wants out of life. The parents are what drive these two teens crazy, not their hormones. I must say that I was pleased with the ending though. (Spoiler ahead). I halfway expected for Deanie and Bud to get together at the end of the film somehow, but Elia Kazan didn't wrap it up with a little bow at the end. A point in his favor. I like the close with Natalie repeating the lines from Wordsworth's poem in her head too. That's a powerful reminder that she has grown up, she is mentally stable, and she's ready to move on with her life.
Rating:
Summary: A young punk's cruelty destroys a tender flower of a girl
Review: I totally agree with the SECOND part of the "viewer from Texas'" opinion above: this was a movie about how a man broke a woman's heart when social mores prevented her from satisfying his shallow, self-serving lust (NOT love). Natalie Wood was sweet and almost incredibly beautiful, but I never liked Warren Beatty--he wasn't worth it, Honey! This movie made me sad and angry--I would much more recommend something with a happy ending and better love chemistry between the players--like Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen (hubba, hubba!) in "Love with the Proper Stranger." McQueen turns out to be a gentleman (a REAL man!), not the cad Beatty is! If you don't have enough to cry about in your own life, rent this movie, but don't buy it!
Rating:
Summary: By far the best movie ever done! A classic story!
Review: If you have ever been in love and had it end, this movie will bring it all back to you. Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood are perfect together in this movie, they keep you hoping that they will be together. The last scene will leave you in tears as you can see the love the two still have for each other, but they go different paths in life. You cannot help but wonder if they just might get back together sometime in the future! This is a movie that will touch your heart when you see it!
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