Overview
See production notesIn 1928 Kansas, teenagers Wilma Dean "Deanie" Loomis and her boyfriend, Bud Stamper, want a more physically intimate relationship, but heed the advice of their parents not to become more involved for the sake of Deanie's reputation and Bud's future plans for college. Bud's sister, Ginny, a flapper, is more worldly, having returned from Chicago after an annulment and rumors of an abortion to the disappointment and shame of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ace Stamper. Soon, Bud rescues Ginny from an attempted rape at a New Year's Eve party. Disturbed by what he has seen, he tells Deanie they should stop fooling around, and they break up. Bud has a liaison with a friend, Juanita. Shortly afterward, Deanie explodes in anger when her mother asks if she is still a virgin. Allen "Toots" Tuttle takes Deanie to a school dance where she sees Bud, and tries to entice him into having sex. Bud rebuffs her and Deanie runs back to Toots, who drives her to a private spot. While there, Deanie realizes that she can't go through with sex, at which point she is almost raped. Escaping from Toots and driven close to madness, she attempts suicide by jumping in the pond, but is rescued just before reaching the waterfalls. Her parents sell their oil stock to pay for her institutionalization, and fortuitously turn a profit prior to the Crash of 1929 that leads to the Great Depression. While Deanie is in the institution, she meets patient Johnny Masterson, who has anger issues targeted at his parents, who want him to be a surgeon. The two form a bond. Meanwhile, Bud is sent to Yale, where he fails practically all his courses but meets Angelina, the daughter of Italian immigrants who run a local restaurant in New Haven. In October 1929, Bud's father Ace travels to New Haven in an attempt to persuade the dean not to expel Bud from school. Bud tells the dean he only aspires to own a ranch. The stock market crashes while Ace is in New Haven, and he loses almost everything. He takes Bud to New York for a weekend, including to a cabaret nightclub, and has a prostitute sent to Bud's room. Bud rebuffs her. Ace commits suicide by jumping from a building – something he was joking about a short time earlier. Deanie returns from the asylum after two years and six months, "almost to the day." Ace's widow has gone to live with relatives, and Bud's sister has died in a car crash. Deanie's mother wants to shield her from any potential anguish from meeting Bud, so she pretends to not know where he is. When Deanie's friends from high school come over, her mother gets them to agree to feign ignorance about Bud's whereabouts. However, Deanie's father refuses to coddle his daughter and tells her that Bud has taken up ranching and lives on the old family farm. Her friends drive Deanie to meet Bud at an old farmhouse. He is dressed in plain clothes and married to Angelina; they have an infant son named Bud Jr. and another child on the way. Deanie lets Bud know she is going to marry John (who is now a doctor in Cincinnati). During their brief reunion, Deanie and Bud realize that both must accept what life has thrown at them. Bud says, "What's the point? You gotta take what comes." They each relate that they "don't think about happiness very much anymore." As Deanie leaves with her friends, Bud only seems partially satisfied by the direction his life has taken. After the others are gone, he reassures Angelina, who has realized that Deanie was once the love of his life. Driving away, Deanie's friends ask her if she is still in love with Bud. She does not answer them, but her voice is heard reciting four lines from Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality":
Plot from Splendor in the GrassCC BY-SA 4.0
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See all quotesMrs. Loomis: What were you and Bud doing all this time, for Heaven's sake? Deanie: We were stu—udying together. [Awkward, suspicious pause.] I'm going to bed, Mom; I'm awful tired. Mrs. Loomis: Deanie. Now, Wilma Dean. Mrs. Loomis: Deanie. I want to talk to you. Now, Wilma Dean, Bud Stamper could get you into a whole lot of trouble—and you know how I mean. Boys don't respect a girl they can go all the way with: boys want a nice girl for a wife. Wilma Dean, you and Bud haven't gone too far already, have you? Deanie: No, Mother. Mrs. Loomis: Tell me the truth, Wilma Dean. Deanie: No, Mom; we haven't gone too far. Mrs. Loomis: That's a relief. Deanie: Mom. Mrs. Loomis: Mhm? Deanie: Is it so terrible to have those feelings about a boy? Mrs. Loomis: No nice girl does. Deanie: Doesn't she? Mrs. Loomis: No. No nice girl. Deanie: But, Mom, didn't—didn't you ever—well, I mean didn't you ever feel that way about Dad? Mrs. Loomis: Your father never laid a hand on me until we were married. And, th
Splendor in the Grass, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mr. Stamper: Been out with that little Loomis girl? Bud: Yes, Sir. I—I'm— Mr. Stamper: She's watchin' herself with you now, ain't she, Son? You—you're not doin' anything, Boy, you're gonna be ashamed of, are you? Bud: Oh; no, Sir. I—I tell you, what I— Mr. Stamper: Oh, she's a nice kid, Son; she's a good-looker. I known her folks ever since—well, old Dell and I were boys together. I got nothin' against 'em, Bud, 'cause they're poor; I'm not a snob or anything like that: the only difference between me and Dell is that I got ambition. Mr. Stamper: But, if— Bud: Well, Dad I— Mr. Stamper: —if anything was to happen, you'd have to marry her. You—you'd have to marry her, Son; you realize that, don't you? Bud: Uh— Mr. Stamper: You get a girl in trouble and you gotta take the consequences.
Splendor in the Grass, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bud: You're nuts about me, aren't you? You're nuts about me....[After making out a while, he begins to touch her below the waist] Deanie: No, Bud... Bud: [He pushes her down to her knees in front of him.] At my feet, slave. Deanie: Bud, don't. Bud: Tell me you love me. Deanie: Bud, you're hurting me. Bud: Tell me you can't live without me. Say it. Deanie: I do. Bud: You do what? Deanie: I do love you. Bud: And you can't live without me...And you'd do anything I'd ever ask you, anything. Deanie: [fearfully] I-I'd do anything for you. Bud: Deanie, I didn't mean to hurt you. Deanie, Deanie! Deanie, I was just kidding. Look, I'm the one who should go down on his knees to you, Deanie. Deanie, I was just kidding. I thought you knew that. Deanie: I can't kid about these things. Because I am nuts about you, and I would go down on my knees to worship you if you really wanted me to. Bud, I can't get along without you. And I would do anything you'd ask me to. I would! I would! Anything!
Splendor in the Grass, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bud: Dad, I'm gonna marry Deanie. Mr. Stamper: Whoa now, Son. Bud: I don't really want to go to Yale. I'm not a very good student. Mr. Stamper: What do you mean you're not a good student? Boy, you can do anything you set your mind to do. Bud: I'd like to go away to a good agricultural college for a couple of years. I'd really like to do that, Dad. I could come right back here and I could take over your ranch just south of town. Mr. Stamper: Ranching's no life. Bud: I could marry Deanie. I could take her off to college with me. That's what I really want. She'd be a big help to me, Dad. Mr. Stamper: I spent my life trying to create a place of importance for you in this world then you come home telling me you want to marry some little girl! Bud: It's what I want that counts. Mr. Stamper: Son, a boy your age doesn't even know what he wants. After you've had a college education, then you might change your mind. Bud: A college education will take me four years. Mr. Stamper: Trust me. Bud: I
Splendor in the Grass, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ginny: Why don't you quit trying to pretend you're so pure and righteous? Bud: If you weren't my sister-- Ginny: If I weren't your sister, you wouldn't do anything. You never do anything except what Dad tells you. Isn't that right, Deanie? You been finding that out, haven't you? He just lets things torment him inside and make him miserable and he never does anything about them. He never does anything.
Splendor in the Grass, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bud: I'm pretty nuts about Deanie Loomis. Doc Smiley: I don't blame you. Bud: I mean, I love her. And she loves me. But it's no fun to be in love. It hurts. Every time that we're together I have to remember things. You know what I mean? Doc Smiley: Oh, yes. Bud: I just can't go back to seeing her again. Not like the way we were doing. We'd go out every night and I'd hold her and I'd kiss her and...I'd just go home. I mean, a guy can go nuts that way. Doc Smiley: I don't know how to advise you, Bud. BUd: My dad said that I should get another kind of a girl. But when you don't really want another girl...I don't know.
Splendor in the Grass, CC BY-SA 4.0
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