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This Property Is Condemned
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Wikipedia article
'This Property Is Condemned' is a 1966 American drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Kate Reid, Charles Bronson, Robert Blake and Mary Badham. The screenplay, inspired by the 1946 one-act play of the same name by Tennessee Williams, was written by Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Coe and Edith Sommer. The film was released by Paramount Pictures.
The Depression-era story takes place in the fictional Mississippi town of Dodson. Owen Legate (Robert Redford), a representative of the railroad that provides much of the economic base for the town, comes to Dodson on an unpopular errand. Natalie Wood plays Alva Starr, a pretty flirt who finds herself stuck in the small town and is attracted to the handsome stranger.
For her performance, Natalie Wood received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama.
The film received mostly mixed to negative reviews.
The film is noted for its memorable song "Wish me a Rainbow", written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, which is heard at the beginning and the ending of the film. Ed Ames, Gilberto Astrudo, and Lawrence Welk have all covered versions of this sentimental melancholia song.
Plot
The film is a frame story in which an unkempt girl, Willie Starr (Mary Badham), tells the story of her sister Alva (Natalie Wood) to Tom, a boy whom she meets on the abandoned railroad tracks of Dodson, Mississippi in the 1930s. The viewer sees this story in flashback.
A stranger, Owen Legate (Robert Redford), arrives in the small town of Dodson and makes his way to the Starr Boarding House, where a loud birthday party is in progress for the landlady, Mrs. Hazel "Mama" Starr (Kate Reid). He meets Willie, the youngest daughter of the house, and rents a room for the week, while remaining mysterious about his motives for being in town. It soon emerges that the eldest daughter, Alva, is the "main attraction" at the party. Mr. Johnson, the oldest and richest railroad station worker, is eagerly awaiting her arrival. When Alva finally appears, many men greet her and try to attract her attention or to dance with her, including Mama's boyfriend J.J. (Bronson). Alva and Owen first meet in the kitchen, where the girl tells a fanciful story about one of the workers taking her dancing at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Willie is entranced, but Owen suspects that the story is fictitious. It becomes obvious that Alva is eager to leave Dodson and dreams of going to New Orleans, from where Owen has come. Later, Alva enters Owen's room on a false pretense and begins confiding in him. He discourages her, suggesting that she is no more than a prostitute, and she leaves in tears. Mama explains to Alva that she must be kind to Mr. Johnson, who has promised to look after her.
The next day, Willie, who is skipping Vacation Bible School, sees Owen on his way to work. The purpose of Owen's visit to Dodson is to lay off several railroad employees as a result of cutbacks made necessary by the Depression. In the evening, Mr. Johnson is waiting again for Alva to get ready for their date, but she is avoiding it. She makes an excuse to get him to go inside, then leads Owen into the garden to show him her father's red-headed scarecrow. Owen confronts Alva about her arrangement with Mama, to which Alva will neither admit nor face. She runs back angrily to Mr. Johnson and invites everyone in the house to go skinny-dipping. J.J. manages to get Alva alone and comes on to her. He tells her Owen has come to lay off most of the town. The workers grow increasingly hostile toward Legate, but Owen and Alva become closer. They visit an abandoned train car decorated by Alva's father and Alva talks once again of her dream to leave the town. When Owen is beaten up by the laid-off men, Alva takes care of him and the two spend the night together.
Meanwhile, Mama has arranged for the family to accompany Mr. Johnson to Memphis, where he will take care of them. She will not let Alva go to New Orleans with Owen. When Alva protests, Mama persuades Owen to believe he has been deceived and that Alva was planning to go to Memphis all along. Mama, J.J., Alva and Mr. Johnson go out to celebrate their new arrangement. Drunk and angered, Alva confronts J.J. and gets him to admit that he stays with Mrs. Starr to be with her. That night, Alva marries J.J., but the next morning she steals his money and their marriage license and runs away to New Orleans.
In New Orleans, Alva eventually finds Owen, and they share happy days together. When Owen is offered a job in Chicago, he proposes marriage to Alva and sends for Willie. But one day, the two come home to find Mama, who wants to take Alva back and involve her in some new scheme. She reveals to Owen that Alva had married J.J., something that Owen finds hard to believe. Alva runs out into the rain, crying.
The film cuts back to Willie and Tom on the railroad tracks. Willie, who now wears her sister's clothes and jewelry, explains that Alva, using a malapropism, died of "lung affection" (possibly tuberculosis) to which several allusions had been made earlier in the film. Mama has gone away with some man and Willie lives on her own in the abandoned boarding house.
Cast
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee
! Result
|-
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
| rowspan="2"| Natalie Wood
|
|-
| Laurel Awards
| Top Female Dramatic Performance
|
|}
See also
*List of American films of 1966
References
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