Cheap Splendor in the Grass (DVD) (Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty) (Elia Kazan) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Splendor in the Grass

A Genuine Masterpiece, Art Sometimes Imitates Life to a T
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.

---

POIGNANT COMING OF AGE STORY OF STAR CROSSED LOVERS...
This is a deft directorial effort by Elia Kazan. The name of the film comes from some telling lines of poetry from Wordsworth that are thematic for what transpires in the film. It is a beautifully acted, well told, coming of age story. It is also a story about young love in all its innocence and hopefulness.

The film takes the viewer to the bucolic Midwest of the nineteen twenties. There, the viewer meets small town, high school sweethearts, the lovely Wilma Dean Loomis (Natalie Wood) and the handsome and wealthy Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty). Wilma, "Deanie" to her friends, is head over heels in love with Bud, and he is head over heels in love with "Deanie". They want to get married right after graduation, and Bud wants to farm the family ranch.

The only problem is Bud's Father. He wants Bud to cool it with "Deanie" and to see other girls for the fun of it. He wants Bud to attend an Ivy League college and put off getting married. Bud tries to comply and cools it with "Deanie". The problem is that things had heated up between them before the breakup, and "Deanie" cannot adjust to being without Bud. Her heartbreak is palpable, and Natalie Wood's performance is so poignant, the viewer can just about hear her heart break, when she sees Bud with another girl. It is her yearning for what was that ultimately brings her to the bittersweet edge of despair. Likewise, it is Bud's yearning for "Deanie" that makes him behave in ways that are contrary to his own interests.

Well, the best laid plans often go awry, and things do not work out for Bud or "Deanie" the way they had originally planned. Their world is rent asunder by the vicissitudes of life and the impact of world events and others on their plans. What happens to "Deanie" and Bud when they come to a fork in the road, puts them on paths that may criss cross, but will never again see them travel on the same road at the same time. This is a heartrending story of star crossed lovers that is sure to touch the viewer. It is at the conclusion of the film that the beauty of Wordsworth's words are driven home and take root in the viewer's heart.

---

A little too soapy ...
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.