Splendor in the Grass

Set in rural Kansas in the 1920s, Splendor in the Grass centres on Deanie Loomis, a teenager who follows the rules her parents and town expect of her, and Bud Stamper, the son of the area's wealthiest and most powerful man. The two are in love, but their families and the social expectations around them push them apart, and the pressure of holding back their feelings takes a heavy toll on them both.

Elia Kazan directed and produced the film, working from an original screenplay by William Inge. It was released in October 1961, arriving between Wild River in 1960 and The Last Tycoon in 1976 in Kazan's filmography. Natalie Wood plays Deanie and Warren Beatty plays Bud, with Pat Hingle as Bud's father, Audrey Christie as Deanie's mother, and Barbara Loden and Zohra Lampert among the supporting cast. It runs 124 minutes and took about 9 million dollars worldwide.

Audience scores place the film in similar territory: it holds a 7.7 rating on IMDb from roughly 24,000 votes and a 7.5 on TMDB from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 7.3 from 29 reviews sits close to those figures, indicating a film that has been received consistently across audiences and critics over the decades.