AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Cortechba Overrated

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

amosduncan_2000 While a modest hit and the bringer of a career Oscar for Inge, "Splendor In The Gas" in fifties social relevance drama running on fumes; a picture that labors mightily to be a little moving. Beatty is fine in his first film, it was probably enough to make him a star. Natalie Wood is caught straining, too little is given her wild mood swings in the way motivation. Pat Hingle is method hammy in the most one dimensional of the film's characters. The films last quarter, where the cliche's are given some balance (though we learn the two worst have predictably perished by their own folly) and the pain is reconciled, is probably it's best. The poetic coda is too trite but does not offend. Kazan would never find his way into the sixties, and while some misbegotten projects would follow, he was finished as a creative force. His capitulation with HUAC left him something of a pariah in Hollywood, but he never found a real handle on the medium beyond brilliantly executing the written word, and the medium was going beyond that.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Elia Kazan, here are a few random and rambling thoughts on your film. Splendor in the Grass was mainly an intense and adult romantic drama about the love between two teenagers from different classes of American society. It also told the social history of America what with the stock market crash and the prohibition forming an important part of the film. The film reflects the attitudes of American society towards women in the 1920's. John Huston said that "Half of directing is casting the right actors". Well, you couldn't have asked for a better lead pair than Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. Wood was in full bloom in this film as a lower class girl who is eager to please her upper class boyfriend while being intensely aware of society's reactions to her love affair. Beatty was intense and dreamy as an upper class boy who is struggling with his father's expectations that are in direct conflict with his own aspirations. William Inge writes many beautiful scenes - the best being the one in the classroom when a sad and distracted Natalie Wood (after being dumped by Beatty) is pulled up by her teacher for not being able to explain the meaning of a poem. It is a heartbreaking scene as Natalie struggles to hide her despair and actually comes up with an interesting explanation. I am usually not a fan of romantic dramas but this one was sad, memorable and affecting.Best Regards, Pimpin. (8/10)

TheLittleSongbird Splendor in the Grass is my fourth Elia Kazan film, the other three being A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and East of Eden. All three of those are wonderful films, On the Waterfront even being one of the best films of the 50s, and-apart from it being a little too long and psychologically simplistic in places-so is Splendor in the Grass. It looks absolutely beautiful and is technically accomplished, with the 20s setting actually looking like the 20s, and David Amram's score is romantic, lyrical and emotionally searing while allowing the drama to speak for itself. The script rightly won an Oscar, it is a very intelligently written film with no padding, it's both thought-provoking and poignant and it draws and develops the characters remarkably- bringing humanity and flesh-and-blood-quality to potential stereotypes- the most interesting being Deanie. The story takes its time to unfold but it's all worth it, it is done so gracefully, the romantic elements are sweet without being cloyingly so and it is also one of the most moving films I've seen. Especially the ending which is heart-breaking. Kazan's direction is remarkably sensitive, more so than his occasionally heavy-handed direction in East of Eden. The powerful performances in Splendor in the Grass also help, the standouts being Pat Hingle and especially Natalie Wood. Hingle is quite terrifying as the formidable father figure and Wood has never been more tender and it is a contender for her best performance(the bath-tub breakdown was another truly moving moment in the film, and the emotion felt genuine and not forced). Warren Beatty makes a most credible feature debut, acting with understated poise, while Audrey Christie dominates the screen while giving her maternal character depth and Barbara Lodon relishes her role too. All in all, a splendid film that is beautifully made and really tugging at the heart-strings. 9/10 Bethany Cox

dougdoepke An innocent young couple (Wood & Beatty) experience a painful break-up because of repressive norms and insensitive parents in 1920's Kansas, after which the girl goes mad.After about an hour of Pat Hingel shouting his lines, plus heavy emotions spread on like a dump truck, I was ready to chuck the movie. But then when Deanie (Wood) starts to go a little haywire, Wood's extraordinary talents come to the fore, so I stuck around. I'm glad I did. The movie is really a Wood showcase. Catch her subtle and not so subtle facial expressions, certainly one of the most expressive actresses in the business. I just wish Beatty (Bud) could register something besides a deadpan. I know he's supposed to be over-awed by his tyrannical father (Hingle), still it's hard to know what he's thinking at any point.Playwright Inge clearly bore a lifetime stamp of his Mid-West upbringing. And judging from some of his works, his regard for the period is not very favorable. Here the problem, for Deanie especially, is sexual repression, a not unknown factor for that time (1920's) and place (Kansas). The conflicted Deanie reacts to the stifling norm in one way; Bud's sister (Loden) reacts in another by becoming a loud and uncaring tramp. Either way, they're both reacting, but in different ways, to the same social norm. Then there's the young man, Bud (Beatty), who reacts by becoming a good obedient son, likely because of his scandalous sister's shenanigans. Trouble is he's not sensitive enough to Deanie to realize the effect their heated make-out sessions are having on her. After all, if he were to do what he wants instead of what Dad wants, they would marry and settle down on Dad's neglected farm. But he only gets a will of his own once he's freed of his family's influence, (and so much for Mid-Western family values among the Stampers). Dad Stamper (Hingle) is quite a case. He acts like he's god and everybody else is hard of hearing. But his quick riches from oil have given him power that his unrefined ways haven't prepared him for. So he rides roughshod over everyone else, including his son. But like many newly rich he wants his son to rise on the social scale. So he insists that Bud go to Yale and meet the right people. Naturally, that means dropping Deanie who's just a local girl from an ordinary Kansas family. Dad's advice to Bud is that if his hormones are acting up, there's a type woman who'll take care of that. Dad really doesn't care what Bud wants. After all, Dad's newly-found riches prove he's a man of superior judgment.In Deanie's case, it's not a tyrannical father that plagues her; instead, it's a foolish mother who can't seem to get past her own need for a "little girl" and realize that her daughter has her own needs and feelings. Mom's just too consumed by her own needs to recognize Deanie's, who cares nothing about social climbing and only wants to marry her true love, Bud. So what if they have a little premarital sex; they are going to marry, she thinks. Dad Loomis recognizes the problem, but is too passive to challenge his insensitive wife. So a difficult situation for Deanie goes from bad to worse, also because of a selfish family.To me, the ending is one of the more challenging on record. Is the story finally a tragedy or simply an expression of "splendor in the grass". It's hard to tell which, since both can be argued from what appears on screen. Either way, it's one of the more wrenching closings of that period or any period. Class and sex, two of America's most consuming factors, enter crucially into the outcome, showing that Inge was indeed a master of his Mid-Western background. Anyway, if you can put up with a sometimes dawdling pace and Hingle's egregious over-acting, the payoff is an unusually thoughtful one, and a showcase for the fabulous but ill-fated Natalie Wood.