Customer Reviews

Spitfire Grill [VHS]

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This very touching and rewarding film was brought to prominence thanks in large part to Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. It is a slow and gentle film which is true to life and makes us actually feel its pain. Often described as a small film, it is rather a very large film about the small things in life. The small town of Gilead, Maine is the setting for this tender drama you will never forget once you have seen it.

Alison Elliot gives a quiet yet unforgettable performance as Percy Talbot, a young girl fresh from prison and trying to start her life over. One of the most touching moments in the film comes shortly after Percy reveals the reason she had been incarcerated, with the words: "I thought maybe, in some place small...." It is quiet and heartbreaking, like the entire film.

The day to day life of a small town and its people is perfectly captured as Percy comes to work for Hannah (Ellen Burstyn) at The Spitfire Grill. Hannah is a woman who knows about pain and gives Percy a chance. Marcia Gay Harden gives a fine performance as a shy and sweet soul who befriends Percy. Her husband uses her for a doorstop and hates Percy for being her friend and encouraging her to be herself. It is a hatred which will bring about tragedy.

Many lives are touched in this small town by Percy, who has seemingly found her home at The Spitfire Grill in Gilead, Maine. Percy slowly becomes part of Hannah's life as she leaves food out back of the Grill at Hannah's request that is mysteriously gone the next morning. But there is always an underlying sadness to Percy's past which prevents any kind of permanence. Her deep sadness extends to a young man who wants a life that Percy can not give.

This film reminds us in a sad and deeply moving way that life does not always give us the chance to start over. But there is also redemption and the message that what we do in our lives does affect others and can even change the way they think.

Alison Elliot is magnificent here, giving a Kevin Spacey like performance of so much going on just beneath the surface. A beautiful score from James Horner a year before Titanic matches perfectly the quiet beauty of the story. The supporting cast is equally good in this wonderful and moving film you will remember for a long, long time.....

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This movie depicts the reality of the how cold, hard and unfair life can be - yet gives us hope as well.

I was a little nervous near the latter part of the movie that it was going to have a "Hollywood goofy ending" but a very surprising plot twist left me stunned.

This is a superb story superbly told. This movie is what I would define what an excellent film should be. Film schools should require students to study and consider the methodology of this production.

Here is proof a gazillion dollars and hi-tech hocus pocus effects are not needed to hit a home run. In fact I'd say this movie is more like a grand slam!

This is a story of a young woman with a second chance who picks a small town in Maine to start over. She battles with some small-town minds who are unforgiving but gains the love and support of some. The viewer gets to see lives being changed as each of the main characters struggles with their own issues. Suitable for family viewing although one part of the movie will need to be discussed with pre-teens. If you're looking for a movie with some good, old-fashioned messages of love-one-another, this is it. It's well done and worth more than one look.

The Spitfire Grill is a very well written and acted tear-jerker. A young girl, just released from prison, decides to settle down in the quiet New England village of Gillead. The residents initially are downright unfriendly to her, and their transformation is predictable, but achieved in an unpredictable and pleasing way. The Spitfire Grill is like that: certain outcomes are required in this kind of movie, but the way the story gets to them is surprising and satisfying.

A great cast of characters (and actors) surround Alison Elliott as the young ex-con Percy. But Elliott is the key: she is very, very good in this movie, and her character is one you'll remember for quite a while.

I don't in general care for tear-jerker movies like the Spitfire Grill, but the tragedies and joys presented here are believable and not overdone. I enjoyed the immersion in Gillead and its people, and was both saddened and uplifted (without being manipulated) by this fine movie. Highly recommended.

My husband and I just returned from a long weekend in Vermont. One of the best things which happened during this, our annual visit to this special place, was our visit to a bookstore where the owner suggested "Spitfire Grill" as a wonderful movie filmed in nearby Peacham, VT. Having visited Peacham one of my first priorities on getting home was to rent the video. After watching the film this evening I can only say that it's everything our new friend said it would be when she recommended it. Fictional Gilead, Maine, the story's location, is so typical of a small town's hesitancy to welcome a newcomer, yet Percy's presence changes this little town forever. Its citizens learn through a tragic experience to look beneath the surface appearance of a person to discover the soul within. Watching the film is truly a spiritual experience. The acting is superb, and the beauty of rural Peacham, Vermont is the perfect setting for such a touching story. While I rented the film watching it once is truly not enough. I'm definitely purchasing this one! A wonderful story to watch over and over again and to share with your family and friends.

With what it costs to make movies these days, we seldom get a genuinely tragedy. Seldom is now. The story revolves around a "wounded healer." Those familiar with "The Song of Bernadette" know what I am on about: the "wounded healer" goes about making everybody's life better, healing estrangements, supporting the broken hearted, making the weak to stand on their own two feet. The problem is that her magic cannot work for her. She can't heal herself. And she is the most injured person she knows. Of course, there are those skeptics who are not healed because they refuse to accept her gift. In this case, it is Nahum (played marvelously by Will Patten) who is the heavy. The result is inevitable as the circle closes and Percy's do-gooding manages to heal everybody, but herself. A great movie. A tear jerker that really gives you something to cry about. My only criticism is Alison Elliot is no singer and she doesn't know the tune to "Balm in Gilead."

I like the fact that this movie is made very simple, without a lot of special effects gimmicks or foul language. We are left with the natural beauty of rural Maine, a dose of religious symbolism, and an intriguing newcomer named Percy. She grows on most of the town except for a few people (you'll figure out why). I'd prefer not to give away the ending.

I won't get into any plot details, as several previous reviews have already discussed the character and scene development. I thought the film was a minor masterpiece in its subtle understatement and remarkable artistic achievent. The film seemed to adumbrate several themes; namely, the quest to find peace and harmony in a remote town far away from the hustle and bustle of modern urban stress. As it turns out, however, that there is an undeniable malaise which pervades this small town located in the far away wilderness of Maine. The name implies biblical associations. There are the themes of loss, of alienation, of lack of understanding and communication among the towns people. Despite the undeniable beauty of the place, there emerges a sort of spiritual wasteland which poisons the town. Along comes Percy, a stranger with her own desolate past. As the movie progresses Percy's involvement and commitment to her work and to several of the inhabitants involve the viewer's growing awareness that she is somehow a redeeming force. The scene between Percy and the reclusive, hermetic son near the end fully defines her role as the young woman redeemer of this wasteland. Her death, not unlike the ultimate sacrificial act brings the townspeople together in a sort of final requiem. The town is awakened and is ready to accept the new caretaker of the Spitfire Grill. A wonderful film.

Having lived both in Maine and in northern New York, I can tell you that the Spitfire Grill captures exquisitely the spirit and essence of a small town in both of these places. Characters abound in these parts of the country --just as they do in this excellent movie, "The Spitfire Grill". This is one of those movies that has a little bit of everything. It is good, clean entertainment that even the kids can watch. It is at times thrilling, at other times heart warming; and it may even bring tears to your eyes. Acting is all around superb! The Spitfire Grill is now one of my all time favorites. Its both in full screen and widescreen.

I came upon this film completely by accident years ago. It was being shown on a cable channel and out of sheer boredom, I decided to watch. It is, quite simply, a beautiful story. I couldn't find a fault anywhere. Having grown up in the East Coast, the film depicts New England accurately down to the last fall, colored maple leaf.

We have the small town values and concerns pitted against the dark and mysterious past of a stranger, an outsider. Redemption. Acceptance. Forgiveness. Understanding. The more you need, the harder you'll have to work in order to get it.