Splendor in the Grass

1961 • 123 minutes

About this movie

Screen legends Warren Beatty, in an auspicious debut, and Natalie Wood are perfectly cast in this sensual, sentimental and romantic drama set in rural Kansas. At the end of the Roaring '20s, Wood and Beatty are teens in love, torn apart by family and sexual and peer pressures. At the beginning of the Great Depression, Wood is an emotionally broken young woman who revisits her past while trying to rebuild her life. Oscar-winner Elia Kazan ("On the Waterfront," "East of Eden") directed, and the screenplay by William Inge ("Picnic," "Bus Stop") won an Oscar, with a nomination for Wood. Recently selected by the prestigious American Film Institute as one of the 400 greatest American films of all time.