Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Ed Graczyk from his play
1982/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube (free)
Juanita: Believin’ is so funny, isn’t it? When what you believe in doesn’t even know you exist.
A kinder, gentler version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” features an excellent mostly all-woman cast.
The setting is a 5 and dime store/diner in a godforsaken Texas town. The year is 1975. A group of women are members of a James Dean fan club gathering on the 20th anniversary of his death. James Dean has a special meeting for them as they were around when he filmed Giant (1956) nearby. Three of them are still employed at the store. They are proprietress Juanita (Sudie Bond), and waitresses Sissy (Cher) and Mona (Sandy Dennis). Mona is proud to htave been chosen as the mother of Dean’s son, Jimmy.
Stella Mae (Kathy Bates) arrives from the big city with the perpetually pregnant Edna Louise (Marta Heflin) in tow. Then an obviously rich and successful woman, Joanne (Karen Black) comes to call and puzzles the guests as to her identity. I will leave it at that since the story relies on drunken revelations.
This is a one-set adaptation of a stage play and it shows despite Alman’s talent. The acting is excellent. Bates and Cher were the standouts for me, perhaps because they had the least angst to portray. It is one of those productions where people get together and proceed to tear each other apart, shattering delusions and dreams in the process. It goes a little too far for my taste. One aspect requires quite a bit of suspension of the old disbelief.
Actual theme song
