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Natalie Wood ,giving one of her best performances ,portrays a typical Williams heroine.Alva is an innocent sinner.She knows she's attractive,she teases every man around,but she has kept her childhood's dream,she's an immature character.she's akin to the girl of "the glass menagerie".Alva hides her dream in a convert rail car which bears her own name,like the latter dreams her life away with her frail animals.All right,Laura is a pure young girl,Alva is not,by a long shot,but it does not make a big difference.Innocence ,for Tennessee Williams is only a matter of heart.Alva might have been some kind of Blanche Du Bois too.Both are victims,both have a romantic dream,both pretend (Natalie's red dress,Blanche's schlock jewels).I think Alma's arrival in New Orleans is a tribute to Kazan's "streetcar named desire":as she gets out of the train,there's some smoke around.

The over -possessive mother is also a constant in Williams' universe.Alma's mother (a magnificent Kate Reid) recalls Mrs Venable in "suddenly last summer".If Alma does not realize she's some kind of prostitute-Redford tells her so while they are hiding behind the bushes-,her mother resembles a madam in a brothel(the boarding-house).

It's Redford's character who will spoil the party.By revealing Alma who she really is,by telling her he's got no dream,by his social status,he's a man who lives in the material world.Many users noticed it was an ambiguous character:after all he comes to lay off railroad workers in this one-horse town which Alma longs to leave for broader horizons.

The boarding-house and the tiny railway station are certainly a dead end for the heroine.And this car named "Alma" symbolizes a land where time stands still.When Alma leaves for New Orleans ,James Wong Howe's wonderful camera becomes aerial with breathtaking high angle shots on the train.

This is a rather talky movie,and it loses steam in the third part in New Orleans,but it sure did not deserve such a poor rating when so many talents are involved(outside the already mentioned people,there's also Bronson and Ford Coppola -script writer-).It's the beginning of Pollack's heyday,when he was a genuine artist who gave us such major works as "Jeremiah Johnson" and "they shoot horses don't they?".A far cry from "Tootsie" or "the firm".

I agree with the recent user comments praising this film. It does really portray the Old South well and puts the viewer right there. If you focus on the characters as the plot develops, it does bring on some intense emotions as you root for this poor girl to get free from her Mother and all the forces pulling at her.

I disagree with the comments regarding a lack of character development in Dobson. There was no need to develop these characters further. Also, the scenes in New Orleans are integral to the whole point of the story and the film itself, I don' understand the negative feedback about the scenes filmed in New Orleans.

Natalie Wood was gorgeous as usual and I think this is one of Robert Redford's best roles. I highly recommend this classic film. I gave it a 9 out of 10.

The film is a beautiful and enjoyable story and narrates upon a family formed by one mother and two daughters proprietaries a hotel of a small town of the United States . Film with five characters move in different interest , the mother (Kate Reid) is an egoistic person who thinks in economic interest and utilizes her daughter Alba (Natalie Wood) for the hotel business . She no interest on her daughters , neither their sentimental life.

Natalie Wood , principal protagonist , plays Alba and realizes a formidable interpretation , she is attractive and beautiful interpreting an innocent and no malice young . She is enamored of an attractive young named Owen , feeling the first love desires . Owen , Robert Redford , the ultimate character in scene comes to the town to close a company causing the anger of workers and he falls in love for Alba . Redford realizes an excellent acting . Mary Badhan is the small daughter , the role is represented in the film narration on the initiation and the final . Charles Bronson in a secondary role interprets a cold man , an unscrupulous person , he is the mother's lover and pursues to her daughter Alba . The film is based on Tenesse Williams' novel . The interesting writings by a young Francis Ford Coppola . The film was well directed by Sidney Pollack.

The movie is little known and the cinematographic value is elevated and is very agreeable for the young public who'll like the enormous sexual attractive of Natalie Wood . Rating : Very good and entertaining.

This was the last of the big Hollywood movies of Tennessee Williams plays, a series of masterpieces which started with 'The Glass Menagerie' (1950) and went on for 16 unforgettable years. And this is certainly one of the best. It is simply packed with talent in every department, directed by Sydney Pollack, script by Francis Ford Coppola, and Oscar-level performances from at least four members of the cast: Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Kate Reid, and Mary Badham. It is such a tragedy that Mary Badham gave up acting after this, as she was pure magic. Of all Natalie Wood's performances, this is probably the best. What an entrancing and magical creature! I never knew her but I had the great treat of sitting across from her at an adjoining dinner table in the Oak Room of the Plaza one night, and was just as dazzled as could be, and against all protocol and etiquette, simply could not take my eyes off her. She was dining with Lauren Bacall, whom I barely noticed in the penumbra of Natalie Wood's supernatural glow, and as a Bacall admirer that really does say something. Robert Redford has to portray a very quiet, contained character, so has little opportunity for 'big acting' in this film, but he triumphs at understatement, which was always one of his strengths. Another of the knockouts is Kate Reid as the most ravening, selfish, exploitative mother you can imagine. Well, I can, as I have met some like that, and believe me, she is spot on, to make your skin crawl. The Natalie Wood character is a revisiting of the girl in 'The Glass Menagerie', someone trapped, taking refuge in her dreams. She throws herself around, from man to man, basking in admiration because there seems to be nothing else. The motif of the cruelty and violence of a gang of men recurs here, reminding us of 'Suddenly, Last Summer'. This setting is a nowhere town in Mississippi, where the railroad is about to close. These are classic Tennessee Williams themes, but deeply felt and genuine, from the heart. By this time, Tennessee himself was as trapped as Natalie Wood, not in the state of Mississippi, but in another state, one of the mind. Seeing him bleary-eyed at a bar in the 1960s was a sad sight, and his gentle but tragic smalltalk as he sipped whiskey lacked focus. He was in what he knew was His Decline. But he must have been thrilled that this whopping realisation of one of his shorter plays came out just when he most needed a boost to his sagging morale. What a pity that after that, there was only television, what Newton Minnow at the time aptly called 'the Vast Wasteland'. The sadness in the Williams plays, and in the play which he himself lived, called his Life, are truly unbearable. Tennessee was a Great Soul. This film deserves to be on the list of everybody's classics, as it has something that will never die about it.

It is hard to decide what is most outstanding: the atmospheric story and script by Tennessee Williams and Francis Ford Coppola, the gorgeous cinematography by James Wong Howe, the smooth direction by Sidney Pollack, or the dazzling performance by Natalie Wood.

Elizabeth Taylor won the Academy Award for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe," that year and certainly deserved it, but Natalie's performance was as fine as the other nominees: Lynn Redgrave in "Georgy Girl," Vanessa Redgrave in "Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment," Ida Kaminska in "The Shop on Main Street" and Anouk Aimee in "Un homme et une femme" She did receive a Golden Globe best actress nomination for the film.

Robert Redford is laid back here and it works perfectly. He just has to be charming and adorable and he is. In the four great romantic movies he did, "Barefoot in the Park" with Jane Fonda, "The Way We Were," with Barbara Streisand, "Out of Africa," with Meryl Steep, and this one, Redford basically allows his leading actresses to be the focus of every scene. He is at his best when underplaying and interacting and that is what we get here.

Mary Badham, who was nominated as a child for her performance in "To Kill a Mockingbird" shows that she was perhaps the most natural child actress of the 1960's. It is also fun watching Robert Blake and Charles Bronson is small supporting roles.

The movie is absorbing with the type of wonderfully drawn lonely, sexy, and ordinary people with grand illusions that make all of Tennessee Williams works so wonderful.

Don't miss it if you haven't seen it, and see it again if you haven't seen it in a while. It hasn't aged at all.