Set in a depression era railroad town, director Sydney Pollack creates a southern scorcher in the Tennessee Williams adaptation This Property is Condemned. Natalie Wood gives a stunning turn as Alva Starr, playfully toying with the men in her small town who fall under the spell of her seductive sexuality – including Charles Bronson as J.J. – the boyfriend of Alva’s mother Hazel (Kate Reid), who uses her daughter’s desirability in a pimp-like fashion as a currency to set her up with the wealthy Mr. Johnson (John Harding). When newcomer Owen Legate (Robert Redford) threatens to destroy Hazel’s plan when he comes to town under mysterious railroad business and stays in the Starr’s boarding house, Alva begins to fall for the handsome stranger that could take her away from the life she desperately wants to leave behind. After Hazel sabotages Alva’s budding romance with Owen, Alva’s twisted revenge involves her mother’s boyfriend J.J., whose passion for her has reached a boiling point.
“The production is adult without being sensational, touching without being maudlin.” – Variety
