Vitals

Robert Redford as Owen Legate, railroad representative

Mississippi, Summer 1931

Film: This Property Is Condemned
Release Date: August 3, 1966
Director: Sydney Pollack
Costume Designer: Edith Head

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Robert Redford was on the verge of stardom when he was cast as the romantic lead opposite Natalie Wood in This Property is Condemned, released sixty years ago this week on August 3, 1966 and marking the late actor’s first of seven collaborations with director Sydney Pollack.

Set in the fictional Mississippi town of Dodson (but actually filmed in the Gulf Coast city of Bay St. Louis) during the Great Depression, Redford stars as Owen Legate—a representative of the railroad that provides much of Dodson’s economic base. He literally drops into Dodson by the night train, dusting off his trousers and striding up to a raucous boarding house where the owner’s daughter, Willie Starr (Mary Badham), introduces him to rent a room from her mother, Hazel (Kate Reid), during Hazel’s 43rd birthday party. She comments “a buck is a buck” when he pays for a week’s worth in advance, prompting him to quip back “if you’re lucky” to her delight.

His room and board secured, Owen lingers around the periphery of the party, eating fried chicken and eventually meeting Willie’s older sister Alva (Natalie Wood). The popular Miss Alva sets her flirtatious sights on Owen, until he insults her by implying that “if you come with the room, if you’re included with the two meals, then let’s get on with it.” Continue reading →