Customer Reviews

Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The film is based on the stage play "Come Back To The Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" The playwright also penned the screenplay
The story revolves around the 20th reunion of "The diciples of James Dean" Beginning in 1975 each character arrives for the reunion. The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks to 1955 we see what James Dean meant to each person and the impact his death had on their lives. At the reunion each lady has a shocking revelation about how their lives have turned out. The soundtrack is almost haunting in a way. The music moves the the story along as it is part of the story. Be warned, there is no typical Hollywood happy ending. The film ends as it should, just like real life.
This is Perhaps one of the best american films ever made! Robert Altman has crafted the film in such a way the viewer feels as if they are part of the action. You can't help but to get emotionally involved in the lives of these characters. The most impressive aspect of the film in the way Mr. Altman moves the story from 1975 back to 1955 and back again. This technique had not been used in movies before 1982 when this film was made and hasn't been used since. As for the performances, all I can say is flawless! Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Mark Patton all deserved Oscar nominations! Solid support is provided by Kathy Bates, Martha Heflin and Sudie Bond. This is a rare case where great acting, beautiful direction, brilliant script and artistic filmmaking provide us with A+ entertainment. If you've never seen this film, do yourself a favor and watch it with an open mind, a big bowl of popcorn and a box of tissues! If you don't have icewater running through your veins, you'll need em'.
Please note: If someone out there has the power and the resources to release this on DVD with audio commentary by director Robert Altman, Please do! My Life would be complete!

This film comes from a time when Hollywood was not afraid to tell character-driven stories that touch the heart in strange and deep ways. Other reviews summarize the premise and plot of this excellent film quite well. So I'll just add my plea that someone, PLEASE remaster this and release it on DVD. It's too excellent a film to lose to tape decay.

I just watched this movie again the other night for what MUST have been about the 25th time. No matter the number of viewings, this is one of those productions that doesn't lose its edge over the years - still quite a mesmerizing project. It is indeed just as timely today as Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On?"

The simple plot revolves around a 25-year reunion of a high school James Dean fan club. An unusually clever way to navigate between their high school years and the actual reunion is that the "flashbacks" utizlized the actual actors as opposed to looking for younger versions. To see certain emotional growths (as well as missteps) within the same character is nothing short of devastating.

In terms of gay cinema, I suggest this ranks right up there with "The Childrens' Hour" by Lillian Hellman. This film is just as powerful, thought-provoking, startling, uncomfortable, DEFINITELY liberating, and ultimately is a classic example of theatrical orgasm of the highest order.

The ensemble is quite simply impeccable. This was the first dramatic role I had EVER seen Cher in and to say I was blown away is a masterpiece of understatement. After this performance, it is most obivous that Cher is a consummate actress. Accompanied by the likes of Sandy Dennis, Cathy Bates, and the positively breath-taking performance of Karen Black and this gives you a very good idea of the caliber of the ensemble, all of whom were positively wonderful in bringing such a powerful play to the screen. Credit/kudos certainly goes to director Robert Altman for having the foresight to assemble such a powerful cast to create an unforgettable viewing experience.

I HIGHLY recommend as one of Altman's best projects as well as a profoundly important film. This most certainly should be on DVD by now!!!!

After watching this incredibly moving film I had the honour of meeting Ms. Dennis when she was performing in a local supper club doing the lead in "84 Charing Cross Road." Backstage she regaled us with the antics and pressure that came in making "Jimmy Dean" in just a matter of days. Most of the cast in the movie were reprising the roles they played on Broadway. She also talked about how Mr. Altman constructed an exact duplicate of the set on the other side of the mirror, reversing everything, right down to the printed signs. When the lights were lowered on the "70's" set, the reverse set appeared which is where the actors performed the "Flashback" portion of the film. In fact, if you watch closely in the reverse set you will see where Mona, upon returning to the 5 & Dime from the school she was supposedly going to attend reaches to open the screen door into the 5 & Dime, but she reaches for the wrong side for the handle. She quickly corrects herself and carries on with her performance and I remember how she laughed when she told me about that little error. I have totally lost count as to how many times I have watched this film. In fact a bunch of us friends get together on a weekend and play a trivia game using "Jimmy Dean". For instance, "What was the amount of money that was displayed on the cash register in the store?" We have a great time trying to trip each other up.
I pray for the day when someone, ANYONE!, puts this film onto DVD where it belongs. Not doing so is just wrong!

The earlier reviews have already talked about the overall plot of the movie, so I just wanted to add a few additional thoughts: Early in the movie, Sandy Dennis (Mona) takes a trip to Martha, where she appeared in "Giant" 20 years ago with James Dean. She mentioned that the house they used in the film, "Riatta," was just a front, that it wasn't a real house, that it was "deceiving to the eye." That is the underlying premise of each character in the movie. Every character is putting up a front of some kind, and trying to maintain their illusion at all costs. I also want to mention the last line by Sudie Bond (Juanita). As she walks out of the store for the last time, she turns to Karen Black (the transsexual, "Joe" or "Joanne") and says, "I hope you found what you came here looking for." That was the line that encapsulated the whole movie, because she came looking for the truth, and she suceeded in shattering everybody's front, especially Mona's. The final ending is one of the most chilling that I have ever seen. This is a fantastic movie and an insightful character analysis on how life and experience changes people and shatters illusions, bringing on a new, sometimes painful, reality. I just wish that they would bring this movie to DVD. I highly recommend it!

Another masterpiece from the period when Altman was doing what he wanted & not making money. A female cast - yet not a chick flick, as the jeep runs over the flower garden too often. All the actors are wonderful. Cher with her "retreads" & Kathy Bates laughing her ass off...great theater.Karen Black's gender bender role is killer, and proof of the axiom "less is more." As an actor, she is holding four aces the whole game. Lastly, musicians would die for a way to end their piece equivalent to the tumbleweed blowing by the door after everybody's gone.

Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean is a film for theatre lovers. It is doubtful that a typical film lover will find it nearly as enjoyable as those of us who enjoy stage productions.

This is an odd little drama that has a neat little twist at the end which provides some needed mystery to an otherwise slow moving character study. I find it very annoying that some reviewers here have felt it necessary to give away that mystery in the form of a spoiler and I will not (and have not in any of my other reviews) do the same.

The plot revolves around the 20th reunion of the Disciples of James Dean in the year 1975. The action takes place in an old five and dime in a run down town just this side of being a ghost town. It's been several years since all the women have gathered together and the ones who have remained aren't sure just who will show up - no invitations are sent as everyone is supposed to remember the date.

Sandy Dennis plays the pivotal, although not quite lead character whose life has literally revolved around James Dean since she appeared in Giant over twenty years earlier. You see she shared a one night stand with James Dean those twenty years earlier and gave birth to his love child. She is convinced he is mentally retarded and makes sure that everyone in town knows the same. Her mousy personnae is befitting of her character and that is saying a lot for me, since I personally have never cared for her as an actress. She delivers a fine performance.

Cher is firing on all cylinders as she portrays a woman who was once the belle of all the balls. Once the easiest girl and most sought after girl in town, the bloom has begun to fade on her character and she is not taking it lightly. Cher springboarded her acting career from this film (in fact it was in the stage version that she made her acting debut).

Sudie Bond plays the ornery five and dime owner who is quick with both a fly swatter and a Bible verse.

Mark Patton is the handy man who works for the store and is devoted to Sandy Dennis' character.

A young Kathy Bates plays one of the reunion attendees who just couldn't be more annoying.

And finally, Karen Black as another of the reunion attendees. Black has always had a spotty career and this is one of her hits.

This is not a film of the typical nature. This is a play filmed for the screen. It is very "talky" as a result. The plot is thick with character development as plays are wont to be, but the dialogue is such that it draws you in and gets you involved. If you enjoy such dramas, you'll love this movie. It is one of my favorites. I just like to be careful to temper my praise when I know that it is for something that may not be up everyone's alley.

I highly recommend this film and hope you have a great time watching it.

Everyone else on this forum has said it all... a SUPERB movie with an amazing cast. With all the CRAP out there being shoved down our throats on DVD, WHY is this GEM not released?!?!? It boggles my mind. I hope somebody wakes up pretty soon and gets this movie out to the massses and preserves it properly... but it seems odd, after all this time that this is, like, the ONLY movie EVER made not out on DVD... ;-)

there must be some DRAMA somewhere (translation: Lawyers fighting over screen rights, etc.) Sigh.... too bad. BB

This is an amazing piece of theatrical perfection. The story is so bittersweet, so true and the actors are so good that you wish you were in NYC in 1982, for the Broadway version of the movie(it was originally performed on stage). The emporio is the women world, it's a universe that encloses past,present and future, the places where six lives meet and share their secrets. This movie creates a sense of intimacy and magic you can hardly find elsewhere. Cher and the other actress are simply extraordinary.

A group of women, members of a Jimmy Dean fan club near Odessa, Texas (near to where Dean made the film GIANT), hold a 20th year reunion. Lies and illusions are slowly stripped away: Joanne (Karen Black) has had a sex change, Sissy (Cher) a massectomy, and Mona (Sandy Dennis) the 20-year illusion that she has mothered Dean's child. All the performances are first rate, and the material is engaging throughout. It's very stagey, however; the camera never once leaves the store, the movie's setting. This couldn't be helped, I guess: the same characters appeared together in it on Broadway. (The use of flashbacks is also well done, but stagey.) Although it was filmed in just 19 days, it's a powerful multi-character study. Worth a watch.