368. Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Running Time: 124 minutes
Directed By: Elia Kazan
Written By: William Inge
Main Cast: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle, Barbara Loden, Audrey Christie

SEXUAL REPRESSION, PRE-DEPRESSION

Unintentionally I picked another Warren Beatty film, as we make our way deeper into the cinematic offerings of the 1960s. This time around we're dealing with Beatty's first feature film, as he stars opposite an absolutely radiant Natalie Wood.

Bud Stamper(Beatty) and Wilma Dean a.k.a. Deanie Loomis (Wood) are two high-schoolers in love. When the film opens, the two love birds are parked near a raging waterfall and making out like love birds do. Except our tale is set in Kansas, circa 1928 and it takes place during a time when kissing is as far as you'd better go, lest you be outcast from society - especially if you're a woman. Deanie is all about upholding her family's name and keeping her name and reputation clean and virginal. All that Bud seems to really care about is getting past kissing and on to more serious love making. Bud represses his urges though and the two make for a cute, ultra popular high school couple. When Bud can't take fending off his urges any longer, he pleads with his father to let him marry Deanie, so that the two can consummate their relationship, but Bud's successful father, Ace (Hingle), only wants the best for Bud and certainly wants him to go to Yale in the fall. However, Ace gives Bud some advice - If you absolutely can't repress your urges, then find a girl who isn't so "good". Bud puts his relationship with Deanie on the back burner and begins to mingle with the school whore, in an effort to "cool himself down". Ultimately, this action makes Bud unhappier and sends Deanie over the edge.

SPOILER ALERT!

Man, it was wild seeing such a young Warren Beatty and realizing how much he resembled Montgomery Clift. As far as the cast goes, you really couldn't ask for better performances from the stars on parade here. My personal favorite was Pat Hingle, who, with careful delivery and an boisterous performance, knocked one out of the park as Ace Stamper. The screen seemed to glow a little bit brighter when Natalie Wood was on it, though I can't say I necesarilly cared for her character too much, although it was clear that Wood was giving it her all. Beatty burst onto the scene with vigor as Bud Stamp, playing his character cool, but also getting the most out of him. When you look at the characters themselves, you find that me and the book seem to differ in opinion a bit. The "1001..." book states, and I quote, "...a film in which the characters register as authentic individuals, acting and reacting in a register that is far from the Hollywood cliche." In my opinion, that doesn't really ring true. Do teenage girls often times end up in mental institutions for three years when their sweethearts break it off with them? Do they go on a rampage, screaming and jumping into the middle of a lake? To me, these performances were very Hollywood cliche, maybe straying a little here and there, but never venturing too far outside the lines of very dramatic performances.

As far as the story itself goes, they had me hooked well into the halfway point of the movie. I was very interested in these kids and what would happen to them and how their lives would ultimately be effected. Then, Deanie has her meltdown, jumps into the lake and she's carted off to the mental hospital. Bud ends up going to Yale and falling for an Italian waitress and from that point on we're basically on auto pilot as we cruise through the rest of this two hour and some odd minute film. It's a film that could have used some trimming. The climax comes way too early and then we're left to wade through the rest of the movie, as our characters do unimportant things. I get where they were going though. The overall message of the film, as I understood it, had to do with dealing with what life hands you. Though you may be popular and happy while you're in high school, it can all change at the drop of a dime. Boyfriends and girlfriends can go astray. Life may not hand you the hand you were expecting, but you don't grieve. You take the good with the bad and you find the strength to soldier on and whatever comes, you make the most of it. It's a nice message and it's one where they needed that lengthy final act to show what happens to these characters and how far from they end up, from where they thought they would. But it does drag at the end, and I think the message could have been conveyed a little bit quicker.

RATING: 6.5/10 Not a BAD film and hell, Pat Hingle's performance and Natalie Wood's radiance are enough to see it alone. I was just expecting something better, maybe.

MOVIES WATCHED: 332
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 669

October 16, 2011 11:09pm