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Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden ... see more see more... , Zohra Lampert , Fred Stewart , Joanna Roos , Jan Norris , Gary Lockwood , Sandy Dennis , Crystal Field , Marla Adams , Lynn Loring , John McGovern , Martine Bartlett , Sean Garrison , Phyllis Diller , Phoebe Mackay , William Inge , Charles Knox Robinson III , Jake LaMotta

1961's premiere "date" movie represented the screen debut of Warren Beatty. Set in the 1920s, William Inge's screenplay concerns the superheated romance between working-class high schooler Natalie Woo... read more read more...d and rich kid Beatty. Trying their best to keep their relationship from going "all the way," Beatty and Wood go through a series of unsatisfying interim romances. The troubled Wood attempts suicide and is sent to a mental institution, while Beatty impregnates freewheeling waitress Zohra Lampert. Wood and Beatty still carry a torch for one another, but circumstances preclude their getting together -- and besides, Wood suddenly realizes that she's outgrown the still-floundering Beatty. Scriptwriter William Inge shows up as a minister in Splendor in the Grass, while comedienne Phyllis Diller does a cameo as famed nightclub entertainer Texas Guinan; also, keep an eye out for Sandy Dennis, making her first movie appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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89% liked it

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85% liked it

13 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 4 min.

Directed by: Elia Kazan

Release Date: October 10, 1961

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DVD Release Date: February 15, 2000

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Stats: 644 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (644)

  • moonrivers
    May 3, 2012
    moonrivers
    A "big" Hollywood movie in its day, represented by dint of extravagant color, large, swelling musical scores, and turgid acting about an "important" issue of the day, in this case: young lust. This can't turn out well and it doesn't (Hollywood was doing all it could to defeat te... read morelevision in those days), but along the way we get Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in their youthful heyday, a decent script by William Inge, and fine character work by the supporting cast.
  • fb1341085175
    November 4, 2011
    fb1341085175
    The definitive bucket of cold water movie about the hormones that swept America. Warren Beatty finds his Stanley Kowalski and Natalie Wood gives one of the essential female performances in American film.
  • kenstachnik
    August 4, 2011
    kenstachnik
    A very well acted film that just ins't my cup of tea.
  • hunterjt13
    January 19, 2011
    hunterjt13
    If there is a heaven, it simply must involve being loved by Natalie Wood. I have only seen Rebel Without a Cause, but after this incredible, emotionally riveting performance, there are certainly more of her films added to my queue. In addition to possessing the physical ... read morebeauty that we simply don't celebrate anymore, she embodies this character with raw intensity, recognizing the complexities and themes of the story. In this performance, she is "actor as character" and "actor as storyteller" - an oft-overlooked combination.
    The story, penned by William Inge, is part morality tale, part universal truth. The film reverses the typical dictates about pre-marital sex and suggests that the constant pressures of being "untainted," "pure," "unspoiled," and "a nice girl" cause more moral degradation than they prevent. Additionally, the characters all see women as fitting into two distinct categories: they are either whores or wife material, a condition which is explained starkly by Mrs. Loomis: "A woman doesn't enjoy those things the way a man does. She just lets her husband come near her in order to have children." As a result of such sexual repression and categorical thinking, the film shows the inevitable descent of two good people. But their descent is marked both by the effects of their environment and by the simple fact that adulthood always disappoints the idealism of youth, a theme the title of the film evokes.
    The film has two very minor flaws. First, I thought the under-handed images of sexuality were over-used; how many times do I have to look at a waterfall? I understand the censorship of the time, but Kazan could have added a train going through a tunnel just for variation's sake. Second, Beatty seems to betray some inexperience here and there, unsure when to play subtlety and when to release.
    Overall, Natalie Wood makes this film a sheer joy to watch, and as long as men continue to tell women what is valued about their bodies and their sexuality, the themes in this film will remain relevant.
  • ajv2688
    November 22, 2010
    ajv2688
    This movie was directed by a great director and has a great cast. Wood and Beatty give fantastic performances. The story is both realistic and intensely dramatic. I loved this movie, and I highly recommend it.
  • ythelastman89
    July 30, 2010
    ythelastman89
    While this is certainly overacted and over-dramatic at times, this is truly a work of genius in the genre of teenage love. Elia Kazan created the high school sweethearts that everyone knew, but gave them humanistic qualities and real problems. It's not a happy story, in fact it's... read more very anti romantic for the most part, but the message is so important and true. Nothing is ever what it seems like when you're 18 years old, when ideals are all you can envision for the future.
  • bottcorecords1
    July 10, 2010
    bottcorecords1
    Director Elia Kazan made one of his most sophisticated films out of what, on the surface appears to be a soapy teen romance/drama. It's an odd subject for a (from the year 1961) pre-sexual revolution film: if it had been made just ten years earlier, it would've been a morality t... read moreale about the dangers of pre-marital sex. As it is, it seems to warn teens of the dangers of NOT having pre-marital sex. Warren Beatty makes his big screen debut as Bud Stamper, the all-american high school athlete and son of a wealthy oil man. He wants to go all the way with his sweetheart Deanie (Natalie Wood), but it's 1928 and they're living in Kansas. The parents are no help to the frustrated teens, in fact, they seem completely clueless and old-fashioned, such as when Deanie asks her mother about sex. "Mom, is it so terrible to have *those* feelings about a boy?" "No nice girl does." "Doesn't she?" "No NICE girl. Your father never laid a hand on me until we were married, and then I just gave in because a wife has to. A woman doesn't enjoy those things, only a man does, she just lets her husband come near her in order to have children." The warped morality of a puritanical society in action. Bud's dad, "Ace" isn't much better: "You get a girl in trouble boy, and you got to face the consequences. You have to MARRY her!". To say his father (Pat Hingle) lives vicariously through him is an understatement: "I got all my hopes pinned on you, boy". The father has given great thought and care into mapping out Bud's life for him, and makes it clear that any deviance from his plans is tantamount to throwing one's life away. He wants Bud to go to Yale and then take the position he has lined up for him in a very important company. Bud, however, doesn't want to go to Yale, he wants to be a farmer and marry Deanie, but dad doesn't pay attention. As much faith as Ace Stamper places in his son, he has little in his daughter Kay (Sandy Dennis), a flapper girl who "got into some trouble" back east and has been brought home a fallen woman. Ace treats his children like just another set of employees to instruct, and his forceful personality doesn't allow him to compromise or even listen to anyone else's thoughts.

    When Deanie meets Kay, she's struck by her freedom, her apparent lack of concern with the social norms. It's confusing to see a girl living the kind of life she wants while she's so unhappy living the virtuous way her parents demand of her. Sin seems so appealing. Bud views his sister in the opposite light, as a drunken mess who can't control herself and is an embarrassment to her family (something he can't fathom, being so trusting of his father). He can't stomach the thought of turning his beloved Deanie into something like his sister, so he resists the evil temptation of sex. Bud attempts to talk to his doctor about his hormonal problems, but the doctor can only nervously chuckle at the suggestion Bud's father made that he find "a certain type of girl" to ease his frustrations. Bud hooks up with Juanita, the class floozy, and it gets around school. While in class, the teacher asks Deanie to recite the timely passage from Wordsworth's "ode on intimatations of immortality": "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". But if nothing remains of your lost passion, what then? Deanie succumbs to her confusion and in a panic, runs from the classroom.

    After Deanie has her breakdown, there's a scene where her mother calls her down to dinner and she sees her parents in a whole new (and surrealistic) light, as if they're completely out of their minds. And that's the key to this movie, the kids aren't rebelling without a cause, they have ample reason to revolt: they've done exactly as their parents have instructed them to do and it's caused them nothing but pain and heartache. Bud's dad demonstrates his perfect lack of understanding when he points to a chorus girl and shouts "It's the same thing (as Deanie)! Just as pretty!". The story between the two teens is the conflict between a girl who loves her boyfriend and wants to give him anything to make him happy and a boy who loves his girlfriend so much he doesn't want to despoil her and "ruin" her, and how this conflict of interests leads to emotional breakdowns for all parties concerned. It could be said that maybe Kazan was making a statement about doing the right thing, and how painful it can be, as in regard to his own life and the Mcarthy hearings. That might be over-stepping things, but an artist can't help but infuse some of himself into his works. But what happens with the kids at the end? Kazan tries to play things off as if the whole thing never really mattered all that much, that the adults might've even been right about things. Truthfully, I think we all know better.
  • jennifxu
    May 25, 2008
    jennifxu
    Finally, a movie where Elia Kazan doesn't go overboard! I owe it all to Natalie Wood's stunning theatrics and Warren Beatty sheer sexiness. The narrowminded town is so beautiful yet shockingly cruel to these young lovers and Kazan let the story spew out the message instead of for... read morecefeeding actors. I'm impressed.
  • jjnxn
    March 29, 2007
    jjnxn
    Natalie Wood's best performance
  • mjgildea
    October 30, 2006
    mjgildea
    Incredible drama disguised as a chick flick.

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Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
June 19, 2010
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

This romantic sudser is darker than those of its day, as it shockingly deals with matters Hollywood had previously kept under wraps. Full Review

David Cornelius
March 27, 2010
David Cornelius, DVDTalk.com

A smug sneer toward all the squares. Full Review

Eric Henderson
March 2, 2009
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

Splendor in the Grass is a prestigious, top-of-the-line, sensitively-handled melodramatic literalization of the axiom "If you touch yourself too much, you'll go crazy." Full Review

November 1, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Youth exploitation pictures were all the rage at the time, and while this is better than some in execution and intent, it's still exactly that. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
January 31, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

One of Kazan's two or three mastrpieces, this powerful small-town film examines growing pains, respressed sexuality, and social hypocrisy, featuring Warren Beatty, in an astonishing screen debut, and ... Full Review

February 9, 2006
Time Out

A complicated film that never really successfully yokes together the themes of money-making and sexuality, it reveals both Kazan's operatic sensibility and his inability to follow an argument rigorous... Full Review

Walter Chaw
July 12, 2003
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

a sometimes-devastating portrait of youth culture on the brink Full Review

James Sanford
January 23, 2003
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette

Probably Wood's finest hour

Christopher Null
January 1, 2000
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

Watchable but not great. Full Review

Tim Dirks
January 1, 2000
Tim Dirks, Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

Splendor in the Grass (1961) is another of director Elia Kazan's dramatic, hyperbolic films with daring and controversial content for its times - sexual repression Full Review

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  • "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower, we will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind."   Answer »
  • Warren Beatty first major film role was in the film Splendor In The Grass ?  Answer »
  • Who was the lead actor in "Splendor in the Grass"?  Answer »
  • What film did Warren Beauty appear in ?  Answer »
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