This Property Is Condemned (1966)

Set during the Great Depression, a stranger (Robert Redford) comes to a small southern Mississippi town dependent on the railroad for its existence. He stays at a boarding house owned by a woman (Kate Reid in a strong performance) whose pretty daughter (Natalie Wood) is the main attraction. "Suggested" by the one act play by Tennessee Williams and directed by Sydney Pollack (OUT OF AFRICA). Williams' one act play is basically a monologue by the younger sister (played by Mary Badham of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in the film) of the character Wood plays in the movie. The screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola was one of three credited writers) uses this as a framing device while the story proper is an invention of the screenwriters and nothing to do with Williams. It's a pity because the film could have used some of that Tennessee Williams poetry. The dialogue we get is pretty tepid. Natalie Wood is very good so it's a shame that it's wasted on inferior material. Ten years later, Wood would prove she could handle Tennessee Williams very well when she did CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF with Laurence Olivier as Big Daddy. Worth seeing for Wood's performance and James Wong Howe's handsome cinematography. There's a terrible score by Kenyon Hopkins. With Charles Bronson, Robert Blake and Jon Provost.