天涯何處覓知音

Two teenagers falling in love in Kansas 1928, Deanie and Bud (Wood and Beatty) are the ne plus ultra of high school sweethearts, he is a jockey born with a silver spoon, she is as lovely as a storybook princess, both parents are quite content with their pairing, then why, in Kazan’s SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, apart from the fallout of the imminent and fateful Crash of 1929, their lives will be permanently scarred, and both opt for a settling-for-less middle ground.

As incisive as Kazan’s brand constantly boasts, here the bane is sexual repression and the bigotry from the moral majority, Bud is eager to marry Deanie as he can barely keep his libidinous urge in check, while Deanie, dinned into behaving like a “good girl” by her mother (Christie, giving the performance of her lifetime here, brings so much deeper pathos and affection from a conventional mother figure, and completely subverts our usual question: is she a good or bad mother? Her quiddities can be applied to more than a generation of women and then some, and her insularity is a sign of the times), is fretted by whether or not she should “go all the way” with the boy she madly loves. Also, the prevailing double standard between different sexes plays a crucial role to drive them apart, as a male, Bud has an easier solution to his problem, all he needs is the help of a different kind of girl, but his self-seeking conduct terminally disturbs Deanie, pushing herself to the extreme and she is sent away to a psychiatric institution.

Since then, their paths only converge in the end, and Inge’s Oscar-winning script considerately conceives a more auspicious direction for Deanie, albeit the mental distress, she recovers and finally can make her peace with Bud, and her family fares much better in the aftermath of the financial catastrophe than Bud’s. Also Wood unequivocally delivers her best performance ever, Deanie’s vulnerability and anguish are elicited to an electrifying effect through her all-pouring commitment, though Wood still feels insecure to deglamorize her screen persona, however, under the tutelage of Kazan, that sense of insecurity becomes a bonanza which pointedly characterizes Deanie’s own plight. Wood looks particularly heartbreaking during the treacherous drowning scenes, we all know her blamed tragedy, that really casts a pall here.

Beatty, in his film debut, already struts his stuffs which will make him a movie star, his Bud is virile, seductive, but also unpretentious, a quality soon will desert him as he matures and his star is rising. Here, Beatty’s most astounding act is actually neither with Deanie, nor with Bud’s overbearing and paternalistic father (played by a gimpy Hingle blasting every line into our cochlea with maximal volume, a pyrrhic victory of acting for my money, though I would appreciate someone who could be less forceful), but the dramatic charge between Bud and his promiscuous sister Ginny (Loden), the black sheep of the family, who rebels in the most radical, tactless, self-destructive way. But being the member of the weaker sex, Ginny can never win, she is the victim of a phallocratic society, which makes the scene where she slaps Bud in the face such an instance of emotion-packed effusion, Loden, who was romantically involved with Kazan at that time, is also uncompromisingly baring it all to audience’s utter amazement.

Festooned by David Amram’s richly boisterous jazz soundtrack, and albeit the eye-rolling adults-playing-teens factitiousness, Kazan’s SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS is a searing social drama full of hearts, theatrics and delectation, it potently reminds us the fight against human bigotry, sexism and paternalism is a never-ending battle, and we shall never let up.

referential entries: Kazan’s WILD RIVER (1960, 7.5/10); Robert Mulligan’s LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1963, 7.7/10).

1.開會的時候，主講人提到了這個電影，好奇，于是下載下來看。

2.整體感覺不怎么地，原來外國也拍爛片。

3.女主長得真美。到現在才發現大眼睛的姑娘都那么好看。男主很帥氣，雖然有點眉壓眼，但是我喜歡他雕塑般的臉。

4.這個悲劇是怎么造成的呢？我認為是父母的錯。青春期的孩子身體心理都在急劇變化著，青春期是孩子從少年走向成年的關鍵時期。這時候的父母應該多關心孩子，和孩子敞開心扉的交談，了解孩子的所思所想，而不是總是關注著自己的事業；多傾聽少教導，傾聽孩子的心聲，了解孩子的煩惱，為孩子排憂解難，而不是一味地無意識地給孩子壓力，逼迫孩子；從小培養孩子的抗壓能力。寫到這兒，才發現這是一個教育片。

5.這個悲劇發生在美國經濟大蕭條時期，這個電影側面表現出了當時人們的經濟生活。

6.電影最后女主從精神病院返回家中，母親向女兒間接道歉那個橋段，特別煽情，感動，但是女兒精神病很大一部分原因是父母對孩子缺乏關心導致的，煽情也掩蓋不了父母的責任。人都不是生下來就會做父母的，但是這不是理由，你可以看書，可以學習提升自己啊。

7.結尾，這么好的一對璧人，最后卻沒有在一起，讓人唏噓。這種令人感傷的結尾，更能深化父母要多關注孩子心理成長的主題，引人深思，也襯托出女主可憐可悲的性格，男主無情冷酷的性格（為什么娶了別人）。

8.這個電影很色，總是親啊親，不喜歡。青春期就總想這個嗎？不學習不生活了嗎？

9.為什么男主想上耶魯大學就能上，他學習也沒多好啊，因為是體育特長生嗎？

10.他父親大男子主義，經受不了挫折，股票跌了，就跳樓自殺，真慶幸他死了，要不這個兒子也會和姐姐一樣淪落至死。

如題。電影主要描述了兩個家庭。男主的家庭是暴發戶，父親整天像打雞血一樣亢奮，一心把兒子送進耶魯大學，然后再培養成家族企業接班人。兒子比較樸實，只想安靜地做個美男子，對資本主義不太感興趣，反倒是受到“廣闊天地大有作為”的影響，一心想去農村種地。另外還有個女兒未婚先孕，性格越發叛逆。女主的家庭則是個普通家庭，母親是個老封建，熱衷于給女兒洗腦。兩人的愛情故事就發生在這樣的背景下。

哦對了，女主還有個綠茶同學，雖然是60年代老茶但比起最近兩年新茶味道一點不差。和男主睡到了一起。基本就是這么個韓劇的關系。