Splendor in the Grass

"Bud" (Warren Beatty) is the handsome captain of the American football team at school and has been courting "Deanie" (Natalie Wood) for as long as anyone can remember. So far, they have done little more than kiss - but they expect to, as time goes on. His father (Pat Hingle) is a self-made oil magnate who is determined that his boy is going to aim a lot higher, though, and that might mean Yale and beyond - whether the sceptical "Bud" wants this or not. "Deanie", on the other hand, comes from the more ordinary side of the tracks and her mother (Audrey Christie) has precisely no ambitions for her daughter beyond as advantageous a marrage for her as she can find - and "Bud" will do nicely on that front. His dad genuinely believes that the sun shines from his boy, and perhaps because he has put most of his emotional eggs in that one basket, sister "Ginny" (Barbara Loden) has found her own way to get herself noticed, and consequently has a reputation that "Deanie" is determined to avoid, even though she'd clearly do anything for her "Bud". Then "Ginny" is subject to an appalling attack at a party which unsettles their relationship; there's the Wall Street crash of 1929 which impacts badly on his father and shortly afterwards "Deanie" finds herself in an institution where she encounters student "Johnny" (Charles Robinson) who might offer her some form of psychological salvation. With the reluctant "Bud" unhappily flailing about at university, is there any chance the couple might be reconciled or might things have moved on too much for both of them, now? This benefits from a strong ensemble acting effort across the board and Beatty delivers efficiently here, but for me it is Dingle and Wood who steal the show. The former exudes an almost palpable need for his son to succeed academically in order to legitimise the family's wealth and the latter, well I think this might be as good as Natalie Wood ever gets. Her character vacillates from the happy-go-lucky to the equally desparate with an affecting degree of authenticity. She entirely captures the increasing sense of hoplessness of a young woman bereft of her love and her family but also the determination of her character to climb back out of this mire and to get on with her life stronger and more independent. This is a love story, but not one that sees it's course run straight and smooth and the writing proves just how to tell us a characterful and emotionally charged story without the need for one, single, expletive! There's also an element of a critique of the tendency to institutionalise rather than diagnose and treat mental illnesses and I think it's a testament to Elia Kazan that he has crafted something here that isn't an easy watch at times, but it's well worth a couple of hours.