I never liked Warren Beatty, in fact I actively disliked him. I am not sure actually that I have really seen any of his movies other than Dick Tracy, and had no desire to. I have seen him interviewed and he always seemed so odd, cocky and distant.
I knew little about him other than a bit of his vast history with women. Last year though I remember reading about his child who was transgendered, and wondered how the legendary Lothario was dealing with is eldest daughter transitioning into being a boy. Then, last week I watched my DVR recording of 1961's Splendor In The Grass.
I got it. As Bud Stamper, Beatty was brimming with sexual energy and I loved how although the character was not written as especially likable, was still like a magnet of sexuality, pulling everyone around him in. Beatty never looked better, the curve of his nose and chin, his beautiful lips. I guess they were always there, but took watching him in Splendor to have me actually see it.
What though the radiance
which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass,
of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind
William Wordsworth
Just Because: Beatty in Shampoo (1975)
