Splendor In The Grass (1961) ****

"I guess when we get born, we just all have to take our chances."

Elia Kazan's Splendor In The Grass (1961) plays like a teen-centric cross between Tennessee Williams (somehow even hornier) and John Steinbeck. This was a rewatch, but SITG is one of those films that still manages to be shocking and moving. The melodrama is turned up to 11 and the performances are electric. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty (in his feature debut) are impossibly attractive and impassioned, Kazan's direction is air tight and assured, and Boris Kaufman's cinematography is evocative and engaging.

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind

Elia Kazan Feature Films Ranked