2024 Blind Spot Series: Splendor in the Grass

 

Directed by Elia Kazan and written by William Inge, Splendor in the Grass is the story of a young woman’s love for a young man from a rich family in Kansas has them wanting to take a big step as they deal with a lot of things in its aftermath. The film is a coming-of-age romantic film that explores two high school sweethearts who fall in love and embark on new places into their relationship as it would delve into chaos and heartbreak. Starring Natalie Wood, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden, Zohra Lampert, Joanna Roos, and introducing Warren Beatty. Splendor in the Grass is a rich and ravishing film from Elia Kazan.

Set in 1928 Kansas, the film revolves around a relationship between a working class girl and a young rich boy who fall in love and want to take the next step into their relationship yet expectations and pressures from their parents about their individual futures and such would drive the couple apart and into chaos. It is a film that explores young love between two high school kids who are devoted to each other yet both of them are from different social statuses despite attending the same high school as well as their parents wanting to do something for their futures as well as wanting to keep them together. William Inge’s screenplay is largely straightforward as it opens with Wilma Dean “Deanie” Loomis (Natalie Wood) and Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) making out in his car as the latter wants to go forward but the former is reluctant for the relationship to be sexual. Still, the two want to maintain a relationship with Stamper wanting to marry Deanie in the future yet his father Ace Stamper (Pat Hingle) has plans for him to take over the family business even though Bud knows he doesn’t have the grades to go to Yale.

While Deanie lives comfortably despite her being over-protected by her mother (Audrey Christie), she is eager to become Stamper’s wife though is still reluctant to lose her virginity while also having to watch the dysfunctional world that is Stamper’s family. Notably as his older sister Ginny (Barbara Loden) has returned home from Chicago from an annulled marriage as well as a getting an abortion done, which was illegal at the time, where she becomes a source of discord for the family. Even as her behavior would create gossip with Ace wanting to focus more on Bud’s future where he convinces Bud to break up Deanie temporarily as the result would be chaotic with Deanie becoming erratic over its break-up. The two would endure their own separate journeys where Stamper deals with the futility of expectations while Deanie goes on her own journey to discover herself.

Elia Kazan’s direction is evocative in not just the richness of its compositions but also in its overall presentation as it plays into a world where parents are expecting this great future emerging just a year before the Crash of 1929 that lead to the Great Depression. Shot largely at the Filmways Studios in New York City with exterior locations shot on Staten Island and High Falls, New York, Kazan creates a film that plays into a period in time where Prohibition was still happening though the rich were able to get alcohol through some illegal means and get away with it. Even as Kazan shows how Ace Stamper is able to get alcohol in those times as he is a rich man with oil wells and cattle ranches where he wants Bud to run these things in the future though Bud is more interested in just wanting to run a ranch. Kazan plays into this sense of generational gap involving Deanie and Bud against the expectations of their parents as Kazan’s unique compositions in his close-ups and medium shots play into the melodrama and dramatic suspense.

There are some wide shots in Kazan’s direction in the way he films scenes in Kansas including this waterfall area for the film’s first scene as well as a couple of key moments that would play into the Deanie and Bud’s dissolution. Kazan also maintains this air of sexual innuendo in the way Ginny presents herself as well as a scene of Deanie in a bathtub as she is talking to her mother as she would act erratically over what happened with Bud. It would play into this third act of Bud and Deanie living separate lives but also confront their own issues with themselves but also gain an understanding of what their parents want. Notably as Bud’s time in Yale produces poor results in a scene with him, his father, and Yale’s dean (Kermit Murdock) where Kazan definitely shows who is running the conversation as that person is starting to unravel with Bud caught in the middle. Its ending refers to a poem by William Wordsmith that Deanie struggled to read and comprehend in its second act as it would return as a way to express what she and Bud had endured but also the choices they would make as adults. Overall, Kazan crafts an intoxicating and exhilarating film about high school sweethearts whose love life is disrupted by the demands of adulthood and the expectations of their families.

Cinematographer Boris Kaufman does amazing work with the film’s cinematography in the richness of the daytime exterior locations as well as the usage of lights for some of the interior scenes at night along with an emphasis on low-key lighting for the exterior scenes at night. Editor Gene Milford does excellent work with the editing as it is largely straightforward with some rhythmic cuts to play into the melodrama as well as some lighthearted moments in the film. Production designer Richard Sylbert and set decorator Gene Callahan do brilliant work with the interiors of the Loomis family home in its simple yet classy style that is a sharp contrast to the way more refined world of the Stamper family estate with all of its bigger rooms and such. Costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone does fantastic work with the costumes with the dresses that the women wear being a highlight including some of the clothes that Deanie would wear later in her life as well as the raunchy clothes that Ginny wears.

Hairdresser Willis Hanchett and makeup artist Robert Jiras do terrific work with the hairstyles that the women wear at the time including Deanie’s hairstyle in the film’s first and second act as well as a more refined look in the third act. Sound editor Frank Lewin does superb work with the sound in the way waterfall sounds from its location up-close and from afar as well as the way a room is presented in its location. The film’s music by David Amram is incredible for its jazz-like score that features some saxophone and piano to play into the melodrama and romance that includes some orchestral flourishes with a soundtrack filled with the music of the times.

The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small roles and appearances from Ivor Francis as Deanie’s psychiatrist Dr. Judd, screenwriter William Inge as the local pastor Reverend Whitman, Kermit Murdock as the dean of Yale in Dean Pollard, Phyllis Diller in her film debut as the famed performer Texas Guinan, Martine Bartlett as the school literature teacher Miss Metcalf, the duo of Sandy Dennis and Crystal Field as two of Deanie’s friends in Kay and Hazel, Charles Robinson in an un-credited performance as a young man that Deanie meets in a hospital in John, Gary Lockwood as a friend/teammate of Bud in Toots, Jan Norris as a slutty classmate of Deanie in Juanita Howard, and John McGovern as Doc Smiley who becomes concerned for Bud’s health following a collapse at a basketball game while also believing that Bud is being put into a lot of pressure from his father. Joanna Roos is wonderful as Bud and Ginny’s mother who is supportive of Bud’s relationship with Deanie though she has great concerns over her husband’s ambitions and the pressure he put on their son. Fred Stewart is superb as Deanie’s father Del Loomis as a man who runs a small shop next to the house as he is this low-key person that doesn’t try to cause trouble while is also doing what he can to make Deanie feel happy as he would also feel that his wife is smothering her.

Zohra Lampert is fantastic as Angelina as this young Italian immigrant that Bud meets in Yale as she would help him see things differently as well as be an important person to him later in his life. Audrey Christie is excellent as Deanie’s mother who is protective of Deanie as she also sees her as a young girl as she unknowingly would smother her as it would add to Deanie’s emotional and mental troubles. Barbara Loden is brilliant as Bud’s older sister Ginny as this young woman who likes to push her father’s buttons as well as be this ultimate rebel though it would also put her in danger including an attempted rape on her as she’s also gained notoriety for all of the wrong reasons. Pat Hingle is amazing as Bud’s father Ace Stamper as this rich oilman who expects so much from Bud to succeed him as he talks a lot while also making some bad suggestions as he would help play a role in Bud and Deanie’s break-up as he is really a complex man that is severely flawed and tries to control so many things in his life.

Finally, there’s the duo of Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood in tremendous performances in their respective roles as Bud Stamper and Deanie Loomis. Beatty in his debut performance has all of the attributes of a high school sports star in terms of its physiques and looks yet it is Beatty’s vulnerability that makes Bud compelling to watch as someone who is aware of his flaws and shortcomings as well as the fact that he doesn’t have his father’s ambitions. Wood exudes a radiance in her performance as a young woman that has an air of innocence but is also someone who had been too sheltered leading to an emotional breakdown and issues that would allow her to act out where Wood brings in that intensity to a young woman that is unraveling. Beatty and Wood together have this amazing chemistry as a young couple in love but one of them wants to get more physical but other isn’t willing as it causes problems with Ace getting involved as it adds to the drama as the two are a major highlight to watch.

Splendor in the Grass is an outstanding film from Elia Kazan that features great leading performances from Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. Along with its supporting ensemble cast, wondrous visuals, a fiery music score, and a story of young love and the expectations of adulthood. It is a film that explores two young people wanting to devote their love for one another only to cope with life changes and the move into adulthood as well as the demanding hopes of their parents. In the end, Splendor in the Grass is magnificent film from Elia Kazan.

Elia Kazan Films: (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) – (The Sea of Grass) – (Boomerang!) – (Gentleman’s Agreement) – (Pinky) – (Panic in the Streets) – A Streetcar Named Desire - (Viva Zapata!) – (Man on a Tightrope) – On the Waterfront - East of Eden – (Baby Doll) – (A Face in the Crowd) – (Wild River) – (America America) – (The Arrangement) – (The Visitors (1972 film)) – (The Last Tycoon)

© thevoid99 2024

Model Shop

Written and directed by Jacques Demy, Model Shop is the story of an unemployed architect who falls for a Frenchwoman in Los Angeles as he copes with his mortality and the direction of his life. The film is a sequel of sorts to Demy’s 1961 film Lola as it’s more about a man dealing with drawbacks in his life. Starring Gary Lockwood, Anouk Aimee, and Alexandra Hay. Model Shop is a fascinating though flawed film from Jacques Demy.

The film follows a day in the life of an architect who owes money over his car as he deals with being unemployed and becoming estranged with his girlfriend as he would follow a Frenchwoman around Los Angeles where she works at a model shop. It’s a film that doesn’t have much of a plot as it explores a man coping with his own existence as well as the direction in his life where he would get news that he’s being drafted for the army. The film’s script, which would feature English dialogue by Carol Eastman, doesn’t just follow the sense of ennui that the film’s protagonist George Matthews (Gary Lockwood) is dealing with but also the fact that he is going through a lot and the recent news that’s being drafted just makes things worse. It’s when he goes to a friend asking for money, despite the fact that he already owes the guy $50, is where he first encounters this Frenchwoman named Lola (Anouk Aimee).

In Lola, she’s someone who is living in Los Angeles trying to make ends meet as she befriends George and confides in him about wanting to return to France. Yet, she also talks about aspects of her own life which would reference a few of the films that Jacques Demy did including the 1961 film named after Lola as well as characters from another Demy film in Bay of Angels. She would appear in brief instances for the first two acts yet would really come into play for its third act where she meets George again after he had photographed her at the model shop. Especially as she, like George, is going through a phase of her life unsure of what to do next as well as the fact that they’re also struggling financially.

Demy’s direction is definitely ravishing in the way he shoots and frames everything around in the city of Los Angeles as it’s a major character in the film. Avoiding many of the known landmarks of the city, Demy’s direction focuses on some of the more urban areas as well as parts of the hippie communities at the time as well as bits of the posh side during the sequence in which George follows Lola as they’re driving to a posh resident. There’s a shot during that sequence in which George gets a look of Los Angeles in this beautiful view as it displays the world that George wants to be in but couldn’t conform to the expectations of the corporate world as his friends are from the hippie community. Demy’s compositions have this sense of precise framing in the way he views Los Angeles as well as the intimacy in the scenes at the model shop and at the homes of George and Lola. Demy doesn’t emphasize too much on style as he’s more concerned with George’ sense of ennui and lack of direction where it does meander the film at times in its pacing. Still, Demy does manage to focus on the story as well as create a wonderment of two people lost in Los Angeles. Overall, Demy creates an evocative film about a directionless man who meets and falls for a visiting Frenchwoman.

Cinematographer Michel Hugo does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it play into the gorgeous look of the locations in Los Angeles for the scenes in the day and nighttime exteriors. Editor Walter Thompson does nice work with the editing as it is largely straightforward with some jump-cuts in some parts of the film. Production designer Kenneth A. Reid and set decorator Antony Mondello do fantastic work with the look of the homes that the characters live in as well as the interiors of the model shop. Costume designers Gene Ashman and Rita Riggs do terrific work with the costumes from the casual look of George to the stylish white dress of Lola. The sound work of Les Fresholtz, Arthur Piantadosi, and Charles J. Rice is superb as it captures the way airplanes sound flying by as well as the raucous world of the hippie community and the locations in Los Angeles. The film’s music by the band Spirit is amazing for its mixture of low-key folk rock music with bits of psychedelia that play into George’s journey as the soundtrack also include some classical music pieces.

The film’s wonderful cast feature some notable small roles from Carol Cole as Lola’s roommate Barbara, Tom Holland (as Tom Fielding) as Gloria’s friend Gerry, Severn Darden as a camera shop owner, the band Spirit as themselves, and Alexandra Hay as George’s model girlfriend Gloria who is frustrated with his lack of progress in life. Gary Lockwood is alright as George as this man who copes with his impending draft notice as well as lack of direction where it’s not a bad performance but not a very engaging one as it’s a major flaw of the film. Especially as he wasn’t the original choice for the role as Demy wanted a then-unknown actor by the name of Harrison Ford for the role which would’ve made it more interesting. Finally, there’s Anouk Aimee in an incredible performance as Lola as a Frenchwoman who is trying to make ends meet working at a model shop as she tries to return home to be with her son as she is intrigued by George while lamenting her own situation in life.

Model Shop is a stellar though somewhat lackluster film from Jacques Demy. Despite Gary Lockwood’s somewhat bland performance, the film still offers something intriguing in terms of its visuals, music soundtrack, and Anouk Aimee’s radiant performance. In the end, Model Shop is a fine film from Jacques Demy.

Jacques Demy Films: (Lola (1961 film)) - Bay of Angels - The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - The Young Girls of Rochefort - Donkey Skin - (The Pied Piper (1972 film)) - A Slightly Pregnant Man - (Lady Oscar) - (La Naissance du Jour) – Une chambre en ville - (Parking (1985 film)) - (Three Places for the 26th) - (Turning Table)

© thevoid99 2017

2001: A Space Odyssey

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 7/5/08 w/ Additional Edits.

When science fiction emerged to the cinema, it's often done with a sense of paranoia or sometimes, propaganda. By the 1950s, the genre had gone into camp with cheesy special effects and such. Even as the 1960s arrived with the dawn of space exploration from NASA, science fiction was still not being taken seriously. Even as the decade was starting to close with the idea of man landing on the moon coming into fruition. Then in 1968, one film changed everything. Not just for the genre but cinema itself as it came from the mind of novelist Arthur C. Clarke and one of cinema's finest auteurs in Stanley Kubrick. The film tells the story of life in outer space as astronauts explore a new world while finding themselves fighting the machines they built entitled 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick with a script written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke based on the latter's novel. 2001: A Space Odyssey is about the future where people are exploring space and the world beyond it. During the explorations, things get strange with ideas of alien life while a computer starts to take control of a space ship. A film with complex themes and huge ideas, it was a film that broke a lot of ground in terms of visual effects, production design, and such as Stanley Kubrick took the science fiction genre to new heights. Starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Leonard Rossiter. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a groundbreaking yet haunting film from Stanley Kubrick.

It's 2001 as a scientist named Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (William Sylvester) is traveling to a spaceship to investigate something mysterious on the moon. Upon his arrival to the space station, he calls his daughter (Vivian Kubrick) about her upcoming birthday while chatting up with a Russian scientist named Dr. Smyslov (Leonard Rossiter). Smyslov reveals to Floyd about the incident that Floyd is investigating as he wishes him luck. Floyd departs for the moon where he takes part on a press conference about this possible epidemic. He arrives along with several astronauts to discover the phenomenon that's on the moon where all of a sudden, something goes wrong.

18 months later around Jupiter, another mission involving the planet is underway led by two astronauts named Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood). They're joined by three scientists who are currently cryogenically sleeping and a super computer known as the HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain). Things seem to go well as the two astronauts and HAL watch a BBC interview. Then during a conversation with Dave, HAL discusses about the incident about the moon and its strangeness. Then HAL notices an error on a satellite where Dave checks it out. Nothing goes wrong at all as HAL is questioned whether he made a mistake when he's not supposed to. Frank and Dave begin to discuss about HAL's behavior as they decide whether to disconnect him.

When Frank decides to get the satellite working again, something goes wrong when HAL takes control of Frank's pod and something happens. Dave, back in the main ship goes into his pod to retrieve Frank but on his way back, HAL has managed to kill the three scientists who were cryogenically sleeping. Forgetting his space helmet, Dave tries to re-enter the ship to disconnect HAL after a conversation about what HAL overheard and read, through their lips, about the conversation between Dave and Frank. Dave decides to disconnect HAL where during this moment, a report from Dr. Floyd appears about the moon mission 18 months before and the Jupiter mission that's going on now that concerns a black monolith that's orbiting the planet. In a pod, Dave goes there to investigate where he suddenly travels into a place between space and time.

What makes a film like 2001 so compelling is the fact that director and co-screenwriter Stanley Kubrick decided to create a realistic portrait of outer space and such that doesn't pertain to what the genre expected. Instead, he reinvented the genre by creating something that demands more not just from a scientific level but also from a human perspective. With co-writer and novelist Arthur C. Clarke, the two men created a film that wants to ask questions rather than give answers about the idea of intelligent life beyond Earth and the planets surrounding them. What does it all mean? Well, neither Kubrick nor Clarke have any idea and has Clarke stated, if there was meaning to what the film had, he failed on what he set out to do.

The film's screenplay has a unique structure where it begins at the dawn of man, men in the form of gorillas and monkeys, performed by mimes, as they emphasize the evolution of man as they explore survival and at one moment, encounter the black monolith where afterwards, violence ensues. The film then segues into the future where it turns to the story of Dr. Floyd and his investigation of the second monolith in the moon. The film's structure of the script is definitely mesmerizing consider that there's not much dialogue but also, a lack of a plot. Instead, it's a story that unfolds on the events that happens concerning the monolith and the errors that HAL has made. HAL isn't exactly a villain but a machine with human emotions that is trying to grasp on the concept of errors as he becomes much colder as the film develops. The script is really just a blueprint of what Kubrick needed in order to tell the story.

Then there's Kubrick's direction and if the ambitions he had made in his previous film Dr. Strangelove were big. There were nothing to how he envisioned 2001 where he created a film that is truly sprawling and epic in its imagery, compositions, and imagination. From the look of the space stations, ships, moon bases, and such. Kubrick created a look that definitely seems realistic but also futuristic as if the idea of what the future could be. Even the camera movements that Kubrick has created and presented is unique from the way stewardesses and such are walking on gravity shoes to from one floor to another upside down. To even the movement of the spaceship that Dave and Frank are where it's all rounded and such.

The way Kubrick used the camera is unlike anything before in cinema where he uses all of the tricks to not create something gimmicky but rather astonish the audience in every image they seen. A lot of the images Kubrick has created is due to the film's special effects that he created with the help of Douglas Trumbull, who helped create some of the visual images of the moon, the movements of the spaceships, and the famous traveling scene of Dave through space and time with all of these flourishing, colorful images. Then there's last image of the film itself is definitely one of the film's greatest images as it represents the idea of evolution. One of the themes Kubrick seems to be exploring from the first scene of the man-monkeys to the world of space. What Kubrick creates is purely phenomenal as he raised the bar for not just science fiction but also cinema itself.

Cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth does a superb job with the film's interior lighting from the bright white lights of the film's early scenes in the space station to the red lights for the film's Jupiter mission scenes. Though the film throughout was shot on a soundstage, the exterior sets creates are wonderful with the lights for the dawn of man scene to the moon scene where the lights convey a sense of suspense. Editor Ray Lovejoy does a superb job with the film's cutting with stylized uses of transitions, jump-cuts, freeze-frames, and such while most of the time, it's all done traditionally yet smoothly as the film's 140-minute running time doesn't feel slow or languid. Instead, Lovejoy's approach to the pacing is unique while the famous space-speed travel works to the use of coloring with help from Kubrick and Douglas Trumbull.

Production designers Ernest Archer, Harry Lange, and Anthony Masters along with set decorator Robert Cartwright and art director John Hoesli all do a superb job in creating the look of the interiors for the space stations and ships that are made to create a futuristic look. Even in the design of some of the film's circular sets that are truly phenomenal in how they're created and how the camera moves without them going upside down and such. The film's costumes, Hardy Aimes created the film's clothes that looks contemporary but also futuristic from the look of the stewardesses clothing to the spacesuits worn. Sound editor Winston Ryder along with mixer H.L. Bird and supervisor A.W. Watkins do an amazing job with the layering of sounds and noises that goes on while some scenes have no sound. The work that Ryder, Bird, and Watkins create is absolutely phenomenal in creating an atmosphere and suspense to the scenes that are on display.

The soundtrack is truly amazing and sprawling with Kubrick's choice of music that is truly unique. From Richard Strauss' classic Also Sprach Zarathustra in some of the film's big, climatic moments to The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss for some of the film's interior space sequences as well as the background music for the final credits. Other musical pieces such as Aram Khachaturyan's Gayane, Ballet Style is wonderful but the film's main score pieces come from Gyorgy Ligeti that are truly haunting and mesmerizing to convey the sense of horror and wonderment that goes on throughout the film. The soundtrack overall is truly one of cinema's most memorable soundtracks that are often used in other tributes to the film.

The cast, assembled by James Liggat, are excellent as they all manage to give straightforward performances while no one really stood out in the film. Small but memorable performances from Sean Sullivan and Robert Beatty as two of Dr. Floyd's fellow associates, Alan Gifford and Ann Gillis as Frank's parents, Margaret Tyzack as a colleague of Dr. Smyslov, and Kubrick's own daughter Vivian as Dr. Floyd's daughter. Douglas Rain does a superb job with the voice of HAL as he brings a cold yet robotic-like tone that is definitely memorable.

Leonard Rossiter is excellent as Dr. Smyslov, a Russian scientist who warns Floyd about the strange phenomenons that goes on in the moon. William Sylvester is also excellent as Dr. Floyd, the scientist who goes to the moon to investigate the monolith in the film's first half while his only appearance in the film's second half is very startling. Gary Lockwood is good as Frank Poole, the astronaut who is trying to figure out the error HAL had made. Yet, Keir Dullea is the actor that really stands out as Dave Bowman, the astronaut who sees all that is happening with HAL's involvement as he goes into new regions into outer space.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a sprawling yet astonishing film from Stanley Kubrick and company. With great suspense, an amazing soundtrack, and spectacular visual effects and set designs, it's easily one of the greatest movies ever made. Those looking for a starting place in both the science fiction genre and Stanley Kubrick will use this film as a great place to start. In the end, for a film that has no idea on what it's about, except for its dazzling visuals, great music, and Stanley Kubrick's amazing direction, 2001: A Space Odyssey is the film to go see.

Stanley Kubrick Films: Fear & Desire - Killer's Kiss - The Killing - Paths of Glory - Spartacus - Lolita - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - A Clockwork Orange - Barry Lyndon - The Shining - Full Metal Jacket - Eyes Wide Shut

Related: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures - The Auteurs #18: Stanley Kubrick

(C) thevoid99 2012