Splendor in the Grass

A romantic movie that made a real impression on me was “Spendor in the Grass”.  This was a movie made in the early 1960s and was staged in 1920 in Kansas.  I was probably at the most impressionable time of my life being a teenager and it left me feeling very romantic and sad all at the same time.

The movie had deep emotional and romantic feelings.  Another reason this movie left such an impact was because I didn’t go to that many movies, so this stuck with me.  

It’s 1928 in oil-rich southeast Kansas. High school seniors Bud Stamper, played by Warren Beaty, and Deanie Loomis, played by  Natalie Wood, are in love with each other. Bud, the popular football captain, and Deanie, the sensitive soul, are “good” kids who have only gone as far as kissing. Unspoken to each other, they expect to get married to each other one day. But both face pressures within the relationship, Bud has the urges to go further despite knowing in his heart that if they do that Deanie will end up with a reputation like his own sister, known as the loose, immoral party girl, and Deanie who will do anything to hold onto Bud regardless of the consequences. They also face pressure from their parents who have their expectations for their children. Bud’s overbearing father, the local oil baron, does not believe Bud can do wrong and expects him to go to Yale after graduation, which does not fit within Bud’s expectations for himself. The money and image-conscious father of Deanie, just wants her to get married as soon as possible to Bud so that Deanie will have a prosperous life in a rich family. 

It was at a time when it was only proper to be a nice girl setting off a lot of disagreements and frustration between parents and teenagers. She was being pressured to show her love physically and didn’t want to go against her parents and be a “good girl”.  Bud dropped her home after a date when he was pressuring her to have sex if she loved him.  Her unwillingness to succumb to his expectations caused them to break up.  This did not cause them to change their feelings for each other. Deanie felt a lot of pressure from both her parents and Bud.  This caused her to have a mental breakdown and she was sent away to a mental health facility.  While she was gone she lost touch with Bud.

Upon her return, she wanted to go see Bud even though she had been told he had moved on.  Unfortunately, when she went to see him he was married and had a child.  It appeared he lived a rather poor lifestyle, but had gone on with his life, and didn’t wait for her.  It was apparent they still cared deeply for each other, but there was more to consider than just the two of them.

This was not the ending I was hoping for.

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