At a time when frank discussions of sexual longing were pretty much frowned upon in the world of entertainment, director Elia Kazan was never squeamish about putting the heat on the screen in films like Baby Doll, A Streetcar Named Desire, and, perhaps most notoriously, Splendor in the Grass. This soapy and steamy melodrama earns its place in movie history for giving us two great performances by two young and beautiful actors, Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, whose teenage lust leads literally to madness.

Wilma Deanie Loomis (Wood) is a "good girl" growing up in Kansas in 1928 who develops a frantic crush on Bud Stamper (Beatty), the dashing rich kid from the right side of the tracks. (Trivia note: the role of Kansas was played by Staten Island!) Hopelessly in love, the two really want to get it on in the rumble seat, but parental pressure comes into play and messes them up royally. For her part, Deanie's mother (Audrey Christie) frankly tells her daughter that good girls save themselves for marriage, and if Deanie were to go all the way with Bud, then she wouldn't be marriage material. In Mrs. Loomis's eyes that would be a tragedy because Bud would ultimately be a great catch.

Bud's father (Pat Hingle), on the other hand, warns Bud that if Deanie were to get pregnant, Bud would have to marry her, derailing all his big plans to go to Yale and become someone important. Having watched his older daughter lead a life of debauchery (including an abortion), Mr. Stamper errs on the side of caution, instructing Bud to go find a hooker if he needs to get some thrills.

Mrs. Loomis famously tells her increasingly frantic daughter that, "Your father never laid a hand on me until we were married. And, then, I -- I just gave in because a wife has to. A woman doesn't enjoy those things the way a man does. She just lets her husband come near her in order to have children." Information like that starts to convince Deanie that her sexual longings are signs of insanity, and she starts to go beautifully nuts. In a memorable scene, Wood has a nervous breakdown in the bathtub, shrieking in response to her mother's touchy question, "Did he spoil me? No, Mom! I'm not spoiled! I'm not spoiled, Mom! I'm just as fresh and virginal like the day I was born, Mom!" From the bathtub it's a short trip to the loony bin, where Deanie will spend more than two years recovering from her sexual hysteria while the country plunges into the Great Depression, and when she gets out, nothing, as they say, will ever be the same.

Wood and Beatty are terrific in the film, and their sexual chemistry is electric. You'll feel as frustrated as they do when you're denied the pleasure of seeing a really hot sex scene between them. Kazan's entire cast (including Sandy Dennis and Phyllis Diller, of all people) is strong, and the ultimate message is clear: The kids are going to do it anyway, so don't screw with their minds.



Splendor in the dinner.