To begin with, this was the first of seven films directed by Sydney Pollack and featuring Robert Redford; it’s also the eleventh cinematic adaptation I’ve watched of Tennessee Williams’ work. Pollack may seem like a surprising choice to handle this type of hot-house melodrama; however, he does a fairly good job of it – even if the end result is among the least regarded films derived from Williams (which the author himself reportedly disliked to the point of wanting to disown it!). Incidentally, the script was co-written by two film-makers in their own right – namely Francis Ford Coppola(!) and Fred Coe (whose best-regarded work, A THOUSAND CLOWNS [1965], I’ve just recorded off local Cable TV).
Typically, the plot is a tale of decadence and redemption: Natalie Wood is a Southern belle whose lascivious nature her mother (Kate Reid) doesn’t mind exploiting since it means business for the boarding-house she runs (it’s the time of The Great Depression), which is mainly populated by railway workers. In fact, clean-cut Redford turns up unexpectedly amidst this environment – and it transpires that he’s an itinerant railway agent in charge of diminishing the ranks; this obviously makes him unpopular in town, but it’s through his subsequent relationship with Wood (after the two had started off on the wrong foot) that he gets into trouble – and, as often happens to the heroes in Tennessee Williams’ work, he gets beaten up. Events get more complicated when Wood and Redford fall out anew (due to Reid’s bossiness); contemptuous of the whole atmosphere, he backs out – and, while drunk, Wood accepts the marriage proposal coming from her mother’s boyfriend (Charles Bronson)! However, she leaves soon after to join Redford in New Orleans…but even here Reid appears to make their life hell.
The narrative is recounted by Wood’s younger sister – played by Mary Badham from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) who, once again, shines as the naïve but rebellious precocious type; the supporting cast also includes Robert Blake – with whom Redford would have another face-off (more central to the plot this time around) in the well-regarded Western TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (1969). By the way, Wood and Redford had already been paired for INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1965); they make a very handsome couple indeed – and, incidentally, both had earlier appeared in similar exposes of sordid small-town life with SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961) and THE CHASE (1966) respectively. Interestingly, Wood would name Vivien Leigh as her favorite actress: the latter starred in two Williams adaptations herself – and, in fact, the initially overbearing quality of Wood’s character here owes a lot to Britisher Leigh’s two best-known roles (both Oscar-winning performances playing Southerners!) i.e. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) and Tennessee Williams’ own A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951). Another less felicitous trivia connected to Wood and this film is that the actress is said to have attempted suicide during its making!
While the John Houseman and Ray Stark-produced film is good-looking (with cinematography by veteran James Wong Howe – who had won an Oscar for another Williams adaptation, the monochromatic THE ROSE TATTOO [1955]), contains a pleasant score by Kenyon Hopkins (not to mention a recurring song, “Wish Me a Rainbow”, by the popular team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans) and, undeniably, a fair number of effective dramatic and tender sequences along the way, it’s basically a matter of “we’ve been here before” – so that, ultimately, what one’s getting is a succession of events that are wholly predictable and which take a needlessly long time to unfold (the piece having originated as a mere one-act play in the first place!)…
Typically, the plot is a tale of decadence and redemption: Natalie Wood is a Southern belle whose lascivious nature her mother (Kate Reid) doesn’t mind exploiting since it means business for the boarding-house she runs (it’s the time of The Great Depression), which is mainly populated by railway workers. In fact, clean-cut Redford turns up unexpectedly amidst this environment – and it transpires that he’s an itinerant railway agent in charge of diminishing the ranks; this obviously makes him unpopular in town, but it’s through his subsequent relationship with Wood (after the two had started off on the wrong foot) that he gets into trouble – and, as often happens to the heroes in Tennessee Williams’ work, he gets beaten up. Events get more complicated when Wood and Redford fall out anew (due to Reid’s bossiness); contemptuous of the whole atmosphere, he backs out – and, while drunk, Wood accepts the marriage proposal coming from her mother’s boyfriend (Charles Bronson)! However, she leaves soon after to join Redford in New Orleans…but even here Reid appears to make their life hell.
The narrative is recounted by Wood’s younger sister – played by Mary Badham from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) who, once again, shines as the naïve but rebellious precocious type; the supporting cast also includes Robert Blake – with whom Redford would have another face-off (more central to the plot this time around) in the well-regarded Western TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (1969). By the way, Wood and Redford had already been paired for INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1965); they make a very handsome couple indeed – and, incidentally, both had earlier appeared in similar exposes of sordid small-town life with SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961) and THE CHASE (1966) respectively. Interestingly, Wood would name Vivien Leigh as her favorite actress: the latter starred in two Williams adaptations herself – and, in fact, the initially overbearing quality of Wood’s character here owes a lot to Britisher Leigh’s two best-known roles (both Oscar-winning performances playing Southerners!) i.e. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) and Tennessee Williams’ own A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951). Another less felicitous trivia connected to Wood and this film is that the actress is said to have attempted suicide during its making!
While the John Houseman and Ray Stark-produced film is good-looking (with cinematography by veteran James Wong Howe – who had won an Oscar for another Williams adaptation, the monochromatic THE ROSE TATTOO [1955]), contains a pleasant score by Kenyon Hopkins (not to mention a recurring song, “Wish Me a Rainbow”, by the popular team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans) and, undeniably, a fair number of effective dramatic and tender sequences along the way, it’s basically a matter of “we’ve been here before” – so that, ultimately, what one’s getting is a succession of events that are wholly predictable and which take a needlessly long time to unfold (the piece having originated as a mere one-act play in the first place!)…