Rating: 
Summary: splendor is a classic
Review: It is a unbeleviable movie, and you will find yourself thinking about it for days to come. Natalie and Warren are great they are my favorite actors of all time and this is a good movie to cry at, and the ending is surprising but never the less great.
Rating: 
Summary: fine, rueful drama
Review: Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty star in the rueful coming-of-age drama SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS.Deanie (Natalie Wood) is a beautiful young woman ready to do what's expected of her in her 1920's Kansas hometown. Bud (Warren Beatty) is her shy boyfriend, who only wants to marry her and begin life together. The town that raised them has strict, closed-minded ideas about "what's best", not to mention the busybody parents of the pair. Soon conflicts between the couple's passion and the town's corseted regime drive Bud to physical collapse, and Deanie to madness. Both young stars are remarkably good here. This was Beatty's screen debut, while Wood proved herself a major new adult star here. The film also features Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden, Zohra Lampert, Phyllis Diller and Sandy Dennis. A highly emotional script by William Inge was actually based on a story he heard during his youth spent in the Midwest, and would win an Oscar for Best Screenplay. As powerful as it is intimate, the splendid story of two teenagers driven to destruction and back again is just as relevant today as it was in 1961.
Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFUL, HEATBRAKING MOVIE
Review: Natalie Wood is sensational as Deenie Loomis a teenager who is soulfuly in Love with Bud,It is a heartbraking story at which Deenie and Bud must go their seperate ways But stil forever remain in eachothers hearts with happiness and hurt. A GREAT MOVIE! NATALIE IS MY FAVORITE.
Rating:
Summary: WOW !!!
Review: Ok, I'm only 25, I'm a Black Male who loves Hip Hop and all of that. Well, I saw this film by "accident" on AMC when I was flipping channels one night. The only reason I started watching it was because it had Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood, and I thought it would be "funny" to see them when they were young.
What I got instead was an AMAZING film about 2 high school sweethearts who are hopelessly in love during a time when society dictated who (and HOW) you were allowed to love someone.
In many ways this has not changed, as a Black man who has been in love with a white women, I can easily identify with this film.
During the 1920's in a small town in Kansas, Deanie (Natalie Wood) is in love with Bud (Beatty). He wants to go all the way, but she's been taught that only "bad" girls do that, and no real man would ever respect if she did. So she holds off, and Bud eventually sleeps with the school "flapper girl". Deanie can not stand this, and eventually falls into depression, soon to be followed by Bud. Both of them have realized the mistake they made and need to get back together. Unfortunately the wheels of fortune are already in motion, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. Frankly, I was not prepared for how emotional this film would be, or for how amazing the performance were. Now I understand all the hype that Natalie Wood has received over the years, her performance in this movie is truly heart-breaking. Everyone should watch this movie and LEARN from it - when you fall in love with someone, there is a reason for it, and you should NEVER let others dictate your feelings or emotions for you. The classic line in the movie is from a book of poetry:
"Though we can never bring back the hour of Splendor In The Grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not, rather find strenght in what remains behind"
These words are seen by me as a warning to all of us: Act now and set your path, or you will spend the rest of your life with nothing but memories. They may be good memories, but they are only that - just memories. And wouldn't it be better to spend your days with your one true love, then only have memories of what might have been ??
Rating:
Summary: Movie making at it's best!!!
Review: One of the best films from the early 60's with great performances and a great storyline! Natalie Wood is, again, SPECTACULAR and truly deserved the Oscar for this one! If you are a Wood fan you can't miss this one... ...and here is a little piece of trivia...a true Wood fan knows she never appeared without a bracelet or other cover up on her wrist because of a distended bone caused by an accident when she was a pre-teen...well, check out the bathtub scene very closely...no bracelets or coverups!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Genuine Masterpiece, Art Sometimes Imitates Life to a T
Review: Opinions on this movie and its message are as varied as the backgrounds of the people who've seen it. Though the story took place back in the roaring 20's, I was growing up with very much the same parental and social pressures in the early 80's, so I identify strongly with this movie. Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) and Deanie Loomis (Natalie Wood) are two teenagers madly in love during the roaring 20's in smalltown Kansas. They are so emotionally and physically overwrought that it's all they can do to keep from experiencing full-blown intimacy. They don't dare, because their parents, peers, and neighbors know everything that goes on and, what they don't, they manage to find out somehow. The social repercussions can be disastrous. Deanie comes from a poor family, and her mother is an overbearing woman who corners her about her relations with Bud, because "no nice girl" has provocative feelings for a man--not even after marriage. Deanie's guilt and frustration can be seen in the way she hugs her pillow and lays suggestively alone in her room, then goes to blow kisses to her photos of Bud above her dresser and follows this with prayer. Bud is a high school football hero, the son of a rich oil baron who wants him to go off to college and excel in business. All Bud want's is to run his father's ranch and be happily married to Deanie. His father won't hear a word he says, and also gives him bad advice as to how to deal with his pent-up physical desires toward Deanie by having a tryst with the town tramp. This is a costly mistake, as it makes Bud physically ill, and Deanie, pushed over the edge by having to read Wordsworth's poem about the end of love, begins to go through the stages of a mental breakdown. The words tell her something she doesn't want to hear, and the fact that everyone in school is talking about Bud's infidelity only makes it worse for her. The signs that Deanie isn't well are very apparent, but her stubborn and overbearing mother (Audrey Christie) keeps denying that something is wrong, even after Deanie's shocking outburst in the bathroom. Her mother badgers her so much about her purity that Deanie finally snaps when asked, "Did he spoil you?" Deanie begins to scream to the delight of her nosey neighbors that she's as pure and virginal as the day she was born and runs to her bedroom naked, screaming that she hates her mother. This is what leads Deanie to the climax of her final cave-in. Bud's sister Ginny is the town trollup, but she is more sympathetic than despicable once you see what a selfish and domineering man Ace Stamper (Pat Hingle) is. It's very obvious, before losing control, that the repressed Deanie is fascinated by Bud's uninhibited flapper sister, and it shows in her deteriorating behavior. Deanie cuts off her hair and puts on a slinky red flapper dress as she sings a song she heard Ginny warble, and goes to the school dance with a friend of Bud's to show him she can be worldly too. Her plans for a reunion are ruined by the ultimate rejection Bud gives her after turning a cold shoulder to her even before his romp with Juanita, and she would be successful in trying to drown herself in the town falls if not for the local villagers pulling her out in time. Deanie is placed in an institution and Bud goes off to college, intentionally flunking out, and he takes up with a girl whose parents own a pizza place. The stock market crash of '29 hits hard, and it's not until Bud's father jumps out a hotel window that he can finally be at peace and do what he wants--except for being with Deanie. Two and a half years have gone by, and Deanie is ready to go home after her time in the institution. She's engaged to a fellow patient who is going to be a doctor, but her psychiatrist urges her to see Bud once more for closure before she weds. Her mother is against this and tries to convince her friends not to indulge her, lying that Deanie was upstairs crying in hysterics. For once, her father takes her side and tells the girls where they can find him. The end is pivotal to the film, and it shows how much more Deanie has grown up than Bud. Peace at last, and the hope of going on to something new. This film is a tragic love story, but it's also a phoenix rising from the ashes. It's powerful and mellowdramatic, but this is the genius of Elia Kazan's direction. Most of the film is seen through Deanie's eyes, from her young, misty-eyed idealism to her adult realizations that her hero is nothing but an overgrown boy with burdens he's brought on himself. Even the way they're dressed speaks volumes about the changes each of them has made. This film is terribly moving, and if you grew up in the same repressive climate, you will get a lot out of it. Even if you haven't, this is such a beautiful and perfectly done account of so many people's reality, distorted a bit because most people see things in their own way. One particular performance to pay attention to is Barbara Loden as Bud's irrepressible sister Ginny. There is more to this character than a lot of people are giving significance to, and Loden turns out a highly impressive performance. I urge you to add this video to your library as it is more than worth your time, and make sure you have a kleenex handy. Something tells me you're going to need it.
Rating:
Summary: A Genuine Masterpiece, Art Sometimes Imitates Life to a T
Review: Opinions on this movie and its message are as varied as the backgrounds of the people who've seen it. Though the story took place back in the roaring 20's, I was growing up with very much the same parental and social pressures in the early 80's, so I identify strongly with this movie. Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) and Deanie Loomis (Natalie Wood) are two teenagers madly in love during the roaring 20's in smalltown Kansas. They are so emotionally and physically overwrought that it's all they can do to keep from experiencing full-blown intimacy. They don't dare, because their parents, peers, and neighbors know everything that goes on and, what they don't, they manage to find out somehow. The social repercussions can be disastrous. Deanie comes from a poor family, and her mother is an overbearing woman who corners her about her relations with Bud, because "no nice girl" has provocative feelings for a man--not even after marriage. Deanie's guilt and frustration can be seen in the way she hugs her pillow and lays suggestively alone in her room, then goes to blow kisses to her photos of Bud above her dresser and follows this with prayer. Bud is a high school football hero, the son of a rich oil baron who wants him to go off to college and excel in business. All Bud want's is to run his father's ranch and be happily married to Deanie. His father won't hear a word he says, and also gives him bad advice as to how to deal with his pent-up physical desires toward Deanie by having a tryst with the town tramp. This is a costly mistake, as it makes Bud physically ill, and Deanie, pushed over the edge by having to read Wordsworth's poem about the end of love, begins to go through the stages of a mental breakdown. The words tell her something she doesn't want to hear, and the fact that everyone in school is talking about Bud's infidelity only makes it worse for her. The signs that Deanie isn't well are very apparent, but her stubborn and overbearing mother (Audrey Christie) keeps denying that something is wrong, even after Deanie's shocking outburst in the bathroom. Her mother badgers her so much about her purity that Deanie finally snaps when asked, "Did he spoil you?" Deanie begins to scream to the delight of her nosey neighbors that she's as pure and virginal as the day she was born and runs to her bedroom naked, screaming that she hates her mother. This is what leads Deanie to the climax of her final cave-in. Bud's sister Ginny is the town trollup, but she is more sympathetic than despicable once you see what a selfish and domineering man Ace Stamper (Pat Hingle) is. It's very obvious, before losing control, that the repressed Deanie is fascinated by Bud's uninhibited flapper sister, and it shows in her deteriorating behavior. Deanie cuts off her hair and puts on a slinky red flapper dress as she sings a song she heard Ginny warble, and goes to the school dance with a friend of Bud's to show him she can be worldly too. Her plans for a reunion are ruined by the ultimate rejection Bud gives her after turning a cold shoulder to her even before his romp with Juanita, and she would be successful in trying to drown herself in the town falls if not for the local villagers pulling her out in time. Deanie is placed in an institution and Bud goes off to college, intentionally flunking out, and he takes up with a girl whose parents own a pizza place. The stock market crash of '29 hits hard, and it's not until Bud's father jumps out a hotel window that he can finally be at peace and do what he wants--except for being with Deanie. Two and a half years have gone by, and Deanie is ready to go home after her time in the institution. She's engaged to a fellow patient who is going to be a doctor, but her psychiatrist urges her to see Bud once more for closure before she weds. Her mother is against this and tries to convince her friends not to indulge her, lying that Deanie was upstairs crying in hysterics. For once, her father takes her side and tells the girls where they can find him. The end is pivotal to the film, and it shows how much more Deanie has grown up than Bud. Peace at last, and the hope of going on to something new. This film is a tragic love story, but it's also a phoenix rising from the ashes. It's powerful and mellowdramatic, but this is the genius of Elia Kazan's direction. Most of the film is seen through Deanie's eyes, from her young, misty-eyed idealism to her adult realizations that her hero is nothing but an overgrown boy with burdens he's brought on himself. Even the way they're dressed speaks volumes about the changes each of them has made. This film is terribly moving, and if you grew up in the same repressive climate, you will get a lot out of it. Even if you haven't, this is such a beautiful and perfectly done account of so many people's reality, distorted a bit because most people see things in their own way. One particular performance to pay attention to is Barbara Loden as Bud's irrepressible sister Ginny. There is more to this character than a lot of people are giving significance to, and Loden turns out a highly impressive performance. I urge you to add this video to your library as it is more than worth your time, and make sure you have a kleenex handy. Something tells me you're going to need it.
Rating:
Summary: recommended to all those who need a good cry
Review: Should be rated up there with Gone With The Wind and Casablanca as one of the greatest love stories of all times. Natalie Wood is mesmirizing. Even Warren Beatty is likeable.
Rating:
Summary: Splendor in the Wood
Review: Simply put, Natalie Wood provides one of the most poignant depictions of tortured adolescence ever put to film. Wood is utterly mesmerizing as Deanie, a beautiful but insecure young girl who carefully constructs her entire existence around the love of her life--a brooding young high school hero named Bud--only to have her mental and emotional worlds simultaneously come crashing down when Bud suddenly pulls himself out of her life. Looking back, it was apt that Wood first came to stardom playing opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, for her performance in this film equals Dean's in terms of sheer emotional ferocity and raw vulnerability. While Splendor in the Grass is by no means one of director Elia Kazan's masterpieces, it is very much worth watching if only as a showcase for the heartbreaking Natalie Wood.
Rating:
Summary: Politically Correct on Moral Issues
Review: Splendor in the Grass (1961), Warner Brothers Studio, Directed by the late Elia Kazan, is a movie based on moral issues about love. Yes, it is another love story though this one explores a different avenue on the issue of love. It begins with the hardship of leaning about the desires of the flesh through the high school years, as it sends two young sweethearts into turmoil. This movie is definitely dated by the stern rearing of teenagers in the year 1928 set in Kansas. Though throughout the movie you cannot get away from the fact that this is the way that parents would like to see life play out for their children. The two young sweethearts, Bud (Warren Beatty) the star of the football team and his girlfriend Deanie (Natalie Wood) are the perfect couple in the senior class; in another translation they are the "Ken and Barbie" of today's world. Controlling parents dominate the scenes in what is morally correct for their children. Deanie has the overbearing mother who cannot listen to her daughter and realize she is having trouble dealing with the emotions in her body. Bud has the controlling father that will not listen to his son's dreams. Each parent manages to destroy a portion of the relationship this young couple is building between themselves. The insolent mother tries to explain to her young daughter her ideas of a sexual relationship, but it is not what Deanie needs to hear. Then Bud's father never has time to listen to his son's dream and has mapped out his life for him. Both of the teenagers end up frustrated and their lives separate, truly an unhappy turn of events play out in the movie. But, this is an enjoyable movie and there will be many interpretations of the film as each person views it for them self. This film will bring all adults back to an earlier time in their own lives for this reason I would recommend this movie.
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