''Splendor in the Grass'' is a 1981 American TV movie directed by

Richard C. Sarafian Richard Caspar Sarafian (April 28, 1930 – September 18, 2013) was an Armenian-American film director and actor. He compiled a versatile career that spanned over five decades as a director, actor, and writer. Sarafian is best known as the direct ...

. The movie is a remake of the 1961 film of the same name, written by

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

and starring

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

and

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

Plot

The film begins in 1927-1928 in the pre-Depression era in Kansas when oil is making many landowners wealthy. Deanie Loomis and Bud Stamper are a high school couple. Deanie is a sweet, idealistic girl who idolizes Bud and dreams of marrying him. Her family owns a general store and maintains a middle-class lifestyle, with a few investments in oil. Bud is an athletic, handsome but not academically talented senior whose family is very wealthy from oil investments and pumping on their ranch. Deanie's mother hovers over her and gives her guidance on being "good" in the eyes of society. Bud loves Deanie but is having trouble managing his sexual urges around her. Deanie wants to please him but she holds the line at doing more than kissing. A messy encounter on New Year's Eve 1928 changes the trajectory of their relationship and puts Deanie in a state of deep mental funk. Bud, who has his hands full trying to corral his older, reckless sister, and assert himself in front of his domineering father, is on a mental decline of his own. His father is pressuring him to go to Yale and get a degree before returning to marry Deanie. Between Deanie's constant sexual rebuffs and his father's insistence about going to Yale, Bud puts his dreams aside and tells a friend that Deanie is available to date other boys. Bud has the sexual encounter he's been wanting with another girl from school, Juanita. Deeply hurt, Deanie rallies from her depression and attends a school dance with another boy. What happens at the dance results in Deanie's hospitalization and subsequent commitment to a mental institution for treatment. Bud, saddened by Deanie's condition, reluctantly goes to Yale. At Yale, Bud flunks every class. He meets a waitress, Angelina, at an Italian restaurant and they develop a friendship. His father comes to town to try and talk the dean into letting Bud stay at Yale. Bud and his father stay at a hotel and mostly enjoy an evening at dinner, but his father hasn't changed since Bud left Kansas - he tries to set up Bud with a chorus girl. News then comes that the market is falling, but he refuses to sell his stocks. After learning he is financially ruined, he jumps out the hotel window. Finally rid of the overbearing influence of his father, Bud goes home. At the institution, Deanie spends more than two years ironing out her issues with her parents and life. Her parents come to visit hoping to take her home soon, but she confirms for them that she needs to stay for more treatment. While there, she meets another man in treatment, a physician, who eventually asks her to marry him. However, Deanie wants to see Bud again. When she is well enough to go home two and a half years later, she and her friends drive to Bud's ranch against her mother's wishes. Soon it is apparent that Bud has brought the Italian Angelina with him to Kansas, and they have started a family, but they live a lifestyle that is much poorer that of Bud's childhood. Deanie meets his family and seems to accept that their paths have diverged quite a bit since high school. She tells him she's going to marry the man she met at the institution. Bud seems content doing what he always wanted to do. The film is a coming of age story and parallels the lines in Wordsworth's poem " Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood".

Cast

* Melissa Gilbert as Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis * Cyril O'Reilly as Bud Stamper *

Ned Beatty Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor and comedian. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in ...

as Ace Stamper *

Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American actress of film, theatre and television. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Brit ...

as Mrs. Loomis *

Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and popular sex symbols during the 1980s ...

as Ginny Stamper * Todd Elliot as Bill Brown * Gail Rice as Terry Smith * Macon McCalman as Del Loomis * Richard McKenzie as Doc Smiley * Jim Youngs as Alan 'Toots' Tuttle *

Nicholas Pryor Nicholas Pryor (born Nicholas David Probst; January 28, 1935) is an American actor. He has appeared in various television series, films, and stage productions. Life and career Pryor was born Nicholas David Probst in Baltimore, Maryland, the son ...

as Dr. Judd * Toni Kalem as Angelina *

Graham Jarvis Graham Powley Jarvis (August 25, 1930 – April 16, 2003) was a Canadian character actor in American films and television from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Early years Jarvis was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Margaret Biddulph (Scratche ...

as Dean Pollard *

Doran Clark Doran Clark (born August 8, 1954) is an American actress. Early life and education Clark was born to actress/model Audrey Caire and William Clark. She has two sisters and two brothers, including actress Louise Clark Goddard (of the Harry and L ...

as Juanita Howard * K Callan as Miss Metcalf * Ally Sheedy as Hazel * David James Carroll as Johnnie Masterson *

Peter Jason Peter Edward Ostling (born July 22, 1944), also known as Peter Jason, is an American character actor. He has appeared in over eighty films and a hundred television series. He played Con Stapleton in the series '' Deadwood''. He was a frequent col ...

as Coash *

Gigi Vorgan Gigi Vorgan (born August 3, 1958) is an American writer and producer who appeared in numerous feature films and television projects before joining her husband Dr. Gary Small to cowrite ''iBrain'', ''The Memory Prescription'', ''The Longevity Bi ...

as June * Lenora May as Kay * Richard Young as Brian Stacey *

Gary Dubin Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

as Rusty * David Underwood as Jack *

Merritt Butrick Merritt R. Butrick (September 3, 1959 – March 17, 1989) was an American actor, known for his roles on the teen sitcom ''Square Pegs'' (1982), in two ''Star Trek'' feature films, and a variety of other acting roles in the 1980s. Early life ...

as Glenn

Background

Melissa Gilbert was set to star in the remake of ''

Miracle on 34th Street ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (initially released as ''The Big Heart'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davi ...

'', which also starred

. In 1981, she landed in the role of Deanie Loomis, a remake of a 1961 film, starring Wood. It was one of her first 'meaty roles'. Gilbert, only a 17-year-old by the time, started dating co-star Cyril O'Reilly while filming. She eventually lost her virginity to him on the last day of filming. The movie was received with mixed reviews, and it was much criticized for remaking the film scene for scene. ''The New York Times'' criticized the plot for having no conclusions. The critic praised the performances of both Gilbert and O'Reilly and called the direction of

'sensitively unobtrusive'. The movie also featured a young Michelle Pfeiffer in one of her earliest roles. Gilbert was nominated for a

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

in the category Best Young Actress in a Television Special.Website about Michelle Pfeiffer
Details about the movie - Awards

References

External links

* * * {{Richard C. Sarafian 1981 television films 1981 drama films 1981 films Remakes of American films Films scored by John Morris NBC network original films Films directed by Richard C. Sarafian American drama television films 1980s American films