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This Property Is Condemned | Year: 1966 Classification: Drama Directed: - Sydney Pollack Actors/Actresses: - Robert Blake - Robert Redford You Must Scratch Beneath the Surface This largely misunderstood film, based on the Tennessee Williams play and co-screen written by Francis Ford Coppola, paints the stark portrait of a dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship that is doomed to end in tragedy. Natalie Wood (Alva) continues to demonstrate her unusual knack for deep psychological roles. To this she adds her own blossoming to full womanhood with a beauty that is at once mezmarizing and perfectly wedded to her seductively meschievous character. Kate Reid excels as the "toxic parent" whose ruthless possessiveness and manipulation form a trap from which Alva only escapes through fantasy. Robert Redford (railroad exec Own Legate) delivers as her unlikely would be savior, while at the same time sounding the death knell for the small Depression Era railroad town that sustains her. And Carles Bronson adds a surprisingly fit performance as the roughneck who courts the mother only to get close to the daughter, but instead unwittingly plays a role in her destruction. Critics panned this film that clearly goes against the grain of what was considered tasteful for the times, but that deftly describes the destructive patterns of co-dependency and toxic parenting before they were understood in those terms. Indeed, this movie offers much to the discerning viewer who can crack its promiscuous surface. Sandra D Rates The Classics I loved this movie. The acting done by Natalie Wood and Robert Redford shows why they are movie star legends. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you must see it soon. I am one of the fortunate ones who owns this classic film. I just can't say enough about it. It deserves five stars. Sydney Pollack is one of my favorite directors. Everyone in this movie should have received academy awards for their brilliant performances. So Much Talent Natalie Wood just never seemed to get a break. For an actress with an obvious talent, one that can usually carry a picture, her later career seems saddled with pictures that could have been good yet just do not come off. An excellent example is This Property is Condemned. Just a glance at the credits will convince you that the result of so many talents, (Tennessee Williams, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Kate Reid, Francis Coppola, John Houseman, Ray Stark, James Wong Howe), the picture has got to be a classic. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. The result of so much talent ends up a mishmash of patched together themes, uneven editing and reactions that do not fit the characters. One problem is the fleshing out of the original one act play, pulling in additional material that does not seem to match the first half of the film. Laden with long drawn out pans of Wood wandering New Orleans, the movie stumbles to a clumsy ending made only worse by the "let's take care of all those loose ends" epilogue with Mary Badham as Wood's younger sister. What could have been a taut and emotionally devastating film results instead with the viewer wondering how could so many great talents create something so flat and lifeless? Natalie Wood however is wonderful and a joy to watch and makes the best of the poor script handed her. Equally good is Mary Badham, a special treat to watch in what I believe is the only film she made other than her amazing turn as Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. If I had to pick just one thing that condemned the movie all together-the music. Some of the sappiest and inappropriate background soundtrack I have ever heard in my life. When the film cries out for a subtle dramatic score the viewer is presented instead with calliope tunes better suited for a circus themed comedy. Buy This Property Is Condemned at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on This Property Is Condemned Search with the Priority Search Engine on This Property Is Condemned This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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