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I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

One would think that given the title of the film, there would be a sense of fullness and joy that comes with the telling of the story. Instead, this turned out to be one of the more depressing and agonizing pictures one might hope to experience that deals with teenage angst and loneliness. In a way, I was reminded of "Rebel Without a Cause", as young high schoolers are presented, dealing with the emotional detachment of parents too busy with their own lives or having no interest in what their progeny are going through. In that respect, Pat Hingle's character, Ace Stamper turns out to be the most clueless one of the lot here.I'd have to say that Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty turned in virtuoso performances in this film. Both carry their characters through an entire range of emotions dealing with unrequited love and emotional pain, with the requisite happy ending for the couple nowhere to be found. In that respect, this is one of the truly heart rending stories of two people who might have been right for each other, except for the moral and social taboos that thwart their effort to remain together. In a way, I thought Bud's (Beatty) response to Deanie's (Wood) holding out was a bit overwrought; his conversation with the family doctor obviously held no consolation, while his self directed solution to hook up with a loose girl provided no satisfaction.As for Deanie, I thought it tragic that her solid family life didn't offer the kind of foundation she needed to stay grounded in reality over a broken romance. She's dealt another blow to her fragile world view when learning of Bud's marriage and family, and in his own way, it appeared to me that Bud himself never fully recovered from his first romance. Instead of that warm and happy feeling one is left with when people find themselves, this movie explores the consequences of life as it happens when lived, or perhaps more tragically, when life is not lived effectively.

"Splendor in the Grass" has a very high rating of 7.8 on IMDb and most of the reviews are very positive. Well, this is a case where I am out of step with prevailing opinion and I'd like to explain why. Although the plot was interesting and somewhat like the great French film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", the execution of this plot was very problematic to me. Often instead of being reasonable, the actors overact and the director SHOULD have reigned them in...though I am certainly in the minority on this one. The story is about two high school students (Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood) who are desperately in love...but his father wants the son to go off to college and graduate before he considers marrying anyone. But the youngsters are insistent...and eventually the girl inexplicably loses her mind and things DON'T work out as they should.So let's talk about the problems. Beatty and Wood were about 23 each playing 17 year-olds. This was obvious and the parts should have gone to much younger actors. And, the whole going off the deep end because she DIDN'T have sex was truly bizarre--a weird re-working of the rotten film "Sex Madness". In "Sex Madness", premarital sex leads to insanity and here in "Splendor in the Grass" NOT having sex has the same effect!! This is just dumb...as is Wood's overacting when she loses her mind. It was almost laughable. So, despite a lot of great ratings and reviews, I found the film just didn't cut it and seems silly and dated.

I think this might be one of the most overrated films I've ever seen. To begin with, thank goodness nobody hurt themselves trying to make 1961 look like 1929--I think all they did was borrow some old cars.This hypersexualized and ridiculous movie falls into the _Romeo and Juliet_ trap of confusing hormone- and boredom-driven teenaged lust with love. Bud and Deanie aren't loves-of-a-lifetime: They're first infatuations. Bud is handsome but there is nothing in Beatty's portrayal that suggests he actually loves Deanie instead of just being afraid that he might lose his adorable possession to some other dead-eyed high school boy. His adult love for Angelina, who took him in when he was depressed, displaced, and lonely, seems far more believable even though the movie makes it clear we're supposed to think he settled and gave up his true love for something practical.There is nothing emotionally gripping or even interesting in any of the acting, either. Warren Beatty is wooden and expressionless. Natalie wood swings from dim-witted, overwrought, childishness to overwrought hysterics, but after awhile you just want her to be quiet and go away. I suppose this had its place in 1961 but it hasn't aged very well.

This film has at its heart the problem of young people desperately in need of medical knowledge that neither the family doctor nor the parents will provide. It was not considered appropriate. Deanie's mother says, after the stresses of the girl's situation has caused a nervous breakdown, "Deanie, I told you what my mother told me." Bud's family doctor refuses to help him. In Dreiser's An American Tragedy (which became the film A Place in the Sun) the hero, Clive,is similarly not helped by the doctor he consults. His girlfriend becomes pregnant and she then "dies" in a boating accident. The older generation sees the whole subject as Trouble, and doesn't see medical information as important to impart.