Seven years ago, Lionsgate Home Entertainment revived the defunct Vestron Video label for the Vestron Video Collector’s Series of Blu-ray releases, and over the years that series has turned out to be pretty impressive. The list of Vestron Blu-rays includes Chopping Mall, Blood Diner, the Waxwork movies, Return of the Living Dead ///, The Gate, the Wishmaster films, the Warlock films, Slaughter High, Class of 1999, Beyond Re-Animator, Dagon, Maximum Overdrive, Shivers, Little Monsters, The Wraith, Dementia 13, Steel Dawn, Candyman: Day of the Dead, Dream a Little Dream, Extreme Prejudice, Earth Girls Are Easy, the Dentist movies, the Silent Night, Deadly Night sequels, and more. The thirtieth release from the revived Vestron is a Blu-ray of the 1987 horror comedy My Best Friend Is a Vampire – and the street date is next Tuesday, July 25th! Copies can be pre-ordered at This Link.
Directed by Jimmy Huston from a screenplay written by Tab Murphy,...
Directed by Jimmy Huston from a screenplay written by Tab Murphy,...
- 7/18/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: MTV’s The Real World is often cited as pioneering reality TV in America, but credit more properly goes to a much earlier television series: Candid Camera.
The hidden camera show created by Allen Funt premiered on TV in 1948, with various iterations broadcast until 2014. The story of how Funt made one of entertainment’s most enduring hits, and essentially invented a television genre, is told in the documentary Mister Candid Camera, written and directed by Funt’s son, Peter Funt. Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Candid Camera Inc., will premiere the film August 2 on major digital platforms, including Apple TV, Amazon, GooglePlay and YouTube.
Funt’s concept was to secretly film people on the street or other settings unwittingly thrust into strange circumstances—like boarding an elevator that moved sideways instead of up and down, or witnessing a car spontaneously split in half. Funt caught priceless reactions, from terror and surprise to comic befuddlement,...
The hidden camera show created by Allen Funt premiered on TV in 1948, with various iterations broadcast until 2014. The story of how Funt made one of entertainment’s most enduring hits, and essentially invented a television genre, is told in the documentary Mister Candid Camera, written and directed by Funt’s son, Peter Funt. Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Candid Camera Inc., will premiere the film August 2 on major digital platforms, including Apple TV, Amazon, GooglePlay and YouTube.
Funt’s concept was to secretly film people on the street or other settings unwittingly thrust into strange circumstances—like boarding an elevator that moved sideways instead of up and down, or witnessing a car spontaneously split in half. Funt caught priceless reactions, from terror and surprise to comic befuddlement,...
- 7/20/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The fight for women to be recognized for their directorial achievements stretches back for decades, but, too often, the screenwriters aren’t given that same spotlight. However, this year presents a unique situation where female filmmakers have also penned the top awards contenders for adapted screenplay. These leading contenders include Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”), Rebecca Hall (“Passing”) and Siân Heder (“Coda”).
If three of the writer-directors are nominated for best adapted screenplay, it’ll be the most female-written films recognized since 1991, which included “Europa Europa” (Agnieszka Holland), “Fried Green Tomatoes” (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski) and “The Prince of Tides”. If all four manage to receive noms, it would be the most in Academy history, as well as the most that have been directed by women.
Three of the women were recognized by the USC Scripter Awards, whose previous nominees have a solid translation to Academy attention.
If three of the writer-directors are nominated for best adapted screenplay, it’ll be the most female-written films recognized since 1991, which included “Europa Europa” (Agnieszka Holland), “Fried Green Tomatoes” (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski) and “The Prince of Tides”. If all four manage to receive noms, it would be the most in Academy history, as well as the most that have been directed by women.
Three of the women were recognized by the USC Scripter Awards, whose previous nominees have a solid translation to Academy attention.
- 1/23/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flagg’s 1987 novel that became a 1991 Jon Avnet film, is now headed to TV. The legendary Norman Lear is executive producing the series for NBC, and Reba McEntire will star, with Jennifer Cecil attached to write and executive produce. The series is described as a “modernization of the novel and movie that explores […]
The post ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ TV Series From NBC and Norman Lear Will Star Reba McEntire appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ TV Series From NBC and Norman Lear Will Star Reba McEntire appeared first on /Film.
- 10/15/2020
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
NBC could be serving up some Fried Green Tomatoes soon, with the help of Reba McEntire.
A series adaptation of the Oscar-nominated 1991 film — which was itself adapted from the 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe — is in development at the network with McEntire attached to star, per our sister site Variety.
More from TVLineThis Is Us: First Season 5 Footage Teases Kevin-Randall RematchDays of Our Lives Suspends Production for 2 Weeks After Staff Member Tests Positive for Covid-19Mariska Hargitay, This Is Us Cast Implore NBC to Move Trump Town Hall
Described as a “modernization” of the novel and film,...
A series adaptation of the Oscar-nominated 1991 film — which was itself adapted from the 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe — is in development at the network with McEntire attached to star, per our sister site Variety.
More from TVLineThis Is Us: First Season 5 Footage Teases Kevin-Randall RematchDays of Our Lives Suspends Production for 2 Weeks After Staff Member Tests Positive for Covid-19Mariska Hargitay, This Is Us Cast Implore NBC to Move Trump Town Hall
Described as a “modernization” of the novel and film,...
- 10/14/2020
- by Rebecca Iannucci
- TVLine.com
NBC has put in development a drama series based on the novel and movie Fried Green Tomatoes, with Reba McEntire attached to star, and Norman Lear executive producing, Deadline has confirmed.
Written by Jennifer Cecil, the project is described as a modernization of the beloved novel and movie that explores the lives of descendants from the original work. When present-day Idgie Threadgoode (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away, she must wrestle with a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe and life-changing secret.
Cecil and McEntire executive produce with Lear, who was an executive producer on the film, and his producing partner Brent Miller via their Act III Productions banner. Fannie Flagg, author of the Fried Green Tomatoes novel and co-writer of the film’s screenplay, will also executive produce. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
The 1991 film, directed by Jon Avnet and based on Flagg’s novel,...
Written by Jennifer Cecil, the project is described as a modernization of the beloved novel and movie that explores the lives of descendants from the original work. When present-day Idgie Threadgoode (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away, she must wrestle with a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe and life-changing secret.
Cecil and McEntire executive produce with Lear, who was an executive producer on the film, and his producing partner Brent Miller via their Act III Productions banner. Fannie Flagg, author of the Fried Green Tomatoes novel and co-writer of the film’s screenplay, will also executive produce. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
The 1991 film, directed by Jon Avnet and based on Flagg’s novel,...
- 10/14/2020
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
A “modernization” of “Fried Green Tomatoes” is in development at NBC with Reba McEntire set to star and Normal Lear attached as an executive producer.
Here is the logline: A modernization of the beloved novel and movie that explores the lives of descendants from the original work. When present-day Idgie Threadgoode (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away, she must wrestle with a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe and life-changing secret.
The drama from Universal Television and Act III Productions has a script sale commitment.
Jennifer Cecil will write and executive produce. In addition to McEntire and Lear, Fannie Flagg and Brent Miller are other executive producers.
The novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fannie Flagg was originally published in 1987. It followed aging housewife Evelyn Couch and Ninny Threadgoode, an elderly woman living in a nursing home who Evelyn befriends. She visits Ninny...
Here is the logline: A modernization of the beloved novel and movie that explores the lives of descendants from the original work. When present-day Idgie Threadgoode (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away, she must wrestle with a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe and life-changing secret.
The drama from Universal Television and Act III Productions has a script sale commitment.
Jennifer Cecil will write and executive produce. In addition to McEntire and Lear, Fannie Flagg and Brent Miller are other executive producers.
The novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fannie Flagg was originally published in 1987. It followed aging housewife Evelyn Couch and Ninny Threadgoode, an elderly woman living in a nursing home who Evelyn befriends. She visits Ninny...
- 10/14/2020
- by Tony Maglio and Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
A series based on “Fried Green Tomatoes” is in the works at NBC, with Reba McEntire attached to star and with Norman Lear executive producing, Variety has learned exclusively.
The hour-long drama project is described as a modernization of the novel and movie that explores the lives of descendants from the original work. When present-day Idgie Threadgoode (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away, she must wrestle with a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe and life-changing secret.
McEntire will executive produce in addition to starring, with Jennifer Cecil attached to write and executive produce. Lear, who was an executive producer on the “Fried Green Tomatoes” film, and his producing partner Brent Miller will executive produce under their Act III Productions banner. Fannie Flagg, author of the original novel and co-writer of the film’s screenplay, will also executive produce. Universal Television will serve as the studio.
The...
The hour-long drama project is described as a modernization of the novel and movie that explores the lives of descendants from the original work. When present-day Idgie Threadgoode (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away, she must wrestle with a changed town, estranged daughter, faltering cafe and life-changing secret.
McEntire will executive produce in addition to starring, with Jennifer Cecil attached to write and executive produce. Lear, who was an executive producer on the “Fried Green Tomatoes” film, and his producing partner Brent Miller will executive produce under their Act III Productions banner. Fannie Flagg, author of the original novel and co-writer of the film’s screenplay, will also executive produce. Universal Television will serve as the studio.
The...
- 10/14/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Are ’70s auteur pictures liberated and loose, or flaky and undisciplined? Bob Rafelson’s Alabama escapade places Jeff Bridges amid a wide range of choice-quality nuts, with both Sally Field and Arnold Schwarzenegger staking their claim on the big screen. What do the changing face of The South and competition-level body building have to do with each other? You tell us!
Stay Hungry
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, Arnold Schwarzenegger, R.G. Armstrong, Robert Englund, Helena Kallianiotes, Roger E. Mosley, Woodrow Parfrey, Scatman Crothers, Kathleen Miller, Fannie Flagg, Joanna Cassidy, Ed Begley Jr., Joe Spinell.
Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper
Film Editor: John F. Link II
Original Music: Byron Berline, Bruce Langhorne
Written by Bob Rafelson, Charles Gaines from his novel
Produced by Bob Rafelson, Harold Schneider
Directed by Bob Rafelson
Some movies are ahead of their time,...
Stay Hungry
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, Arnold Schwarzenegger, R.G. Armstrong, Robert Englund, Helena Kallianiotes, Roger E. Mosley, Woodrow Parfrey, Scatman Crothers, Kathleen Miller, Fannie Flagg, Joanna Cassidy, Ed Begley Jr., Joe Spinell.
Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper
Film Editor: John F. Link II
Original Music: Byron Berline, Bruce Langhorne
Written by Bob Rafelson, Charles Gaines from his novel
Produced by Bob Rafelson, Harold Schneider
Directed by Bob Rafelson
Some movies are ahead of their time,...
- 12/2/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Meryl Streep, who is officially a genius angel sent from a better dimension, is funding a screenwriting lab for women over 40. The initiative aims to create opportunities for that contingent, and it'll be run by New York Women in Film and Television and Iris, a collective of women filmmakers. Because this idea is so brilliant, we'll toast a bunch of 40+-year-old female screenwriters whose works are available on Netflix now. The Kids are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko) Aside from the fact that "The Kids are All Right" feels like a prime James L. Brooks feature, the 2010 family drama gives you a myriad of irresistible moments and performances. Annette Bening is biting and funny as an alcoholic lesbian mother; Julianne Moore is harried and loving as her conflicted wife. Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, and Josh Hutcherson add perfectly pitched dramedy with their sincere roles. You want to hug this movie, but...
- 4/21/2015
- by Louis Virtel
- Hitfix
Big bucks, expensive vowels, and a million cackling Whammies.
The Daytime Emmys are this Sunday, and for the first time ever, there’s a gay nominee for Best Game Show Host — the marvelous and frightfully funny Billy Eichner. Wahoo! To celebrate, let’s rank the 25 best game shows of all time. Get out your purse and prepare to buy some vowels, gents.
25. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?: Sorry Double Dare, but Carmen Sandiego is the greatest kids’ game ever. It made geography cool while highlighting the glamorous felonies of a femme fatale. I wish more TV shows concluded with the entire cast yelling in unison, “Do it, Rockapella!”
24. Let’s Make a Deal: Carol Merrill and Monty Hall could woo you into anything. Though if you’re already wearing a chicken outfit, you probably don’t need much coercing.
23. Sale of the Century: Jim Perry...
The Daytime Emmys are this Sunday, and for the first time ever, there’s a gay nominee for Best Game Show Host — the marvelous and frightfully funny Billy Eichner. Wahoo! To celebrate, let’s rank the 25 best game shows of all time. Get out your purse and prepare to buy some vowels, gents.
25. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?: Sorry Double Dare, but Carmen Sandiego is the greatest kids’ game ever. It made geography cool while highlighting the glamorous felonies of a femme fatale. I wish more TV shows concluded with the entire cast yelling in unison, “Do it, Rockapella!”
24. Let’s Make a Deal: Carol Merrill and Monty Hall could woo you into anything. Though if you’re already wearing a chicken outfit, you probably don’t need much coercing.
23. Sale of the Century: Jim Perry...
- 6/14/2013
- by Louis Virtel
- The Backlot
Dear gays born after 1990: Longtime Companion is on Netflix Instant, so please click there now, watch this seminal 1989 mainstream film for the first time, and wonder why it wasn't taught to you in high school. Seriously, you probably watched Glory and Schindler's List (which is fiiiiine), but this week's Best Movie Ever? candidate Longtime Companion is a pretty great tool for teaching you about other historical essentials such as:
1) The first decade of the AIDS crisis, which could be missing from your social studies textbook
2) Credible camaraderie among Lgbt characters on film
3) The flyness of oversized khakis, the hotness of Campbell Scott and Dermot Mulroney, and the scorching, red-hot melodrama of '80s soap operas
World AIDS Day is on December 1st. In time for that, let's review five reasons this rewatchable, but devastating film about how a group of gay friends are changed by the AIDS epidemic must be seen today.
1) The first decade of the AIDS crisis, which could be missing from your social studies textbook
2) Credible camaraderie among Lgbt characters on film
3) The flyness of oversized khakis, the hotness of Campbell Scott and Dermot Mulroney, and the scorching, red-hot melodrama of '80s soap operas
World AIDS Day is on December 1st. In time for that, let's review five reasons this rewatchable, but devastating film about how a group of gay friends are changed by the AIDS epidemic must be seen today.
- 11/27/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
Bacon and leers and bottles of beers, that's what dudes are made of. Amirite? Well that certainly appears to be what Michael Bay is banking on. You macho, straight dudes only like loose cars and fast women. . .or something like that. But, come on, be honest, in the in the deep recesses of your bacony hearts don't you long to turn off the explosions, the greasy babes and endless sh*tty dialoge and put on something cute for a change? A movie that smells nice, has some sweet moments, a little romance and, if you play your cards right, endless sh*tty dialogue? It's okay, you can tell us. This is a safe space. Last week some of the ladies shared which movies they loved against their will and this week it's gentlemen's choice. So here with a few of their favorite "chick flicks" are the men of Pajiba. Feel...
- 6/30/2011
- by Joanna Robinson
A couple of weeks ago, I sent the following message to this year's Cannonballers:
Now that summer is here (yes, I know not technically, but as far as I'm concerned summer begins when June does), I am thinking that it would be good to have a theme for some of the Cbr posts this summer: Summer Reads. I don't know about you, but summer vacations-especially when I go to the beach-are when I have some of my best opportunities to finally make a dent in my reading list. And I often make a trip to the library before heading out on vacation. I'd like to be able to give the Pajibans a bunch of recommendations as they may be looking to add to their summer reading lists.
Of course to do this, I need your help. I would like you to send me links to any reviews you've written for...
Now that summer is here (yes, I know not technically, but as far as I'm concerned summer begins when June does), I am thinking that it would be good to have a theme for some of the Cbr posts this summer: Summer Reads. I don't know about you, but summer vacations-especially when I go to the beach-are when I have some of my best opportunities to finally make a dent in my reading list. And I often make a trip to the library before heading out on vacation. I'd like to be able to give the Pajibans a bunch of recommendations as they may be looking to add to their summer reading lists.
Of course to do this, I need your help. I would like you to send me links to any reviews you've written for...
- 6/27/2011
- by Tamatha Uhmelmahaye
The Secret In Their Eyes (18)
(Juan José Campanella, 2009, Argentina/Spain) Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago. 129 mins.
Having elbowed aside the favourite (Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon) and the stalking horse (Jacques Audiard's A Prophet) to win last year's Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Campanella's relatively unlauded entry has a lot to live up to. But thankfully it delivers, being a handsome, smart, adult mystery, in which a retired legal counsellor (Darín) delves into the past to deal with an unresolved murder case. The surprise is not so much that it won the Oscar but how much it resembles the classy, sexually charged Hollywood thrillers of the 70s and 80s, from Klute to Sea Of Love. Maybe if Tom Cruise made films like this instead of the gormless Knight And Day he might reconnect with his grown-up fanbase. But then, the studios are too busy kowtowing to the...
(Juan José Campanella, 2009, Argentina/Spain) Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago. 129 mins.
Having elbowed aside the favourite (Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon) and the stalking horse (Jacques Audiard's A Prophet) to win last year's Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Campanella's relatively unlauded entry has a lot to live up to. But thankfully it delivers, being a handsome, smart, adult mystery, in which a retired legal counsellor (Darín) delves into the past to deal with an unresolved murder case. The surprise is not so much that it won the Oscar but how much it resembles the classy, sexually charged Hollywood thrillers of the 70s and 80s, from Klute to Sea Of Love. Maybe if Tom Cruise made films like this instead of the gormless Knight And Day he might reconnect with his grown-up fanbase. But then, the studios are too busy kowtowing to the...
- 8/13/2010
- by Damon Wise
- The Guardian - Film News
Mary-Louise Parker begged the director of Fried Green Tomatoes not to censor the film's lesbian plotline, believing it to be a crucial part of the story.
Parker starred in the 1991 movie with Mary Stuart Masterson playing her best friend, but in the original story - from Fannie Flagg's 1987 novel - their characters were lovers.
Movie bosses were determined to downplay the relationship and portray the couple as just close pals - despite Parker's desperate pleas to filmmaker Jon Avnet.
She explains, "I tried to make it (the homosexual connection) more articulated at the time, but they didn't really want to go that way. And in some ways I wish that it was... Because I tried - I really tried to push it at the time, and they didn't want to go there with me. Mary Stuart did, Fannie Flagg did, but not the director, not the producer, nobody else."...
Parker starred in the 1991 movie with Mary Stuart Masterson playing her best friend, but in the original story - from Fannie Flagg's 1987 novel - their characters were lovers.
Movie bosses were determined to downplay the relationship and portray the couple as just close pals - despite Parker's desperate pleas to filmmaker Jon Avnet.
She explains, "I tried to make it (the homosexual connection) more articulated at the time, but they didn't really want to go that way. And in some ways I wish that it was... Because I tried - I really tried to push it at the time, and they didn't want to go there with me. Mary Stuart did, Fannie Flagg did, but not the director, not the producer, nobody else."...
- 7/31/2008
- WENN
Move over Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers -- a new Match Game is coming to town! An updated version of the classic fill-in-the-blank game show is being prepared for the TBS network.
Match Game debuted back in 1962 and ran for seven years with genial Rayburn as host. A slightly different version of the game show started in 1973 with Rayburn returning as host. The revival wasn't very popular with viewers until the usually dull questions were replaced with those that suggested double-entendre humor.
While some star panelists changed week to week, regulars included outrageous Nelson Reilly, caustic Somers, and debonair Richard Dawson (Hogan's Heroes). Recurring panelists included Orson Bean (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman), Fannie Flagg, Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show), Nipsey Russell, McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H), and Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show). This popular version ran until 1979 and is currently a mainstay of the Gsn schedule in reruns.
Match Game debuted back in 1962 and ran for seven years with genial Rayburn as host. A slightly different version of the game show started in 1973 with Rayburn returning as host. The revival wasn't very popular with viewers until the usually dull questions were replaced with those that suggested double-entendre humor.
While some star panelists changed week to week, regulars included outrageous Nelson Reilly, caustic Somers, and debonair Richard Dawson (Hogan's Heroes). Recurring panelists included Orson Bean (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman), Fannie Flagg, Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show), Nipsey Russell, McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H), and Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show). This popular version ran until 1979 and is currently a mainstay of the Gsn schedule in reruns.
- 6/24/2008
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Hollywood veteran Patricia Neal has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Nashville Film Festival.
The 82-year-old Nashville, Tennessee-born star began her career on Broadway, but later graduated to the big screen, winning a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 1963's Hud alongside Paul Newman.
Neal - who was married to legendary British author Roald Dahl - was presented with the prize at a ceremony on Tuesday night by fellow actor Lyle Lovett, her co-star in Robert Altman's 1999 film Cookie's Fortune.
Neal is currently filming forthcoming movie Flying By with Billy Ray Cyrus.
The 82-year-old Nashville, Tennessee-born star began her career on Broadway, but later graduated to the big screen, winning a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 1963's Hud alongside Paul Newman.
Neal - who was married to legendary British author Roald Dahl - was presented with the prize at a ceremony on Tuesday night by fellow actor Lyle Lovett, her co-star in Robert Altman's 1999 film Cookie's Fortune.
Neal is currently filming forthcoming movie Flying By with Billy Ray Cyrus.
- 4/23/2008
- WENN
Brenda Hampton, creator and executive producer of the WB Network stalwart 7th Heaven, is looking to get into the Fannie Flagg business. Hampton has optioned Flagg's new novel Standing in the Rainbow and is developing a family-friendly hourlong dramedy series based on its retro-Americana tales of a Martha Stewart-esque radio personality, Neighbor Dorothy, in the post-World War II era. "Like Mark Twain, Fannie is such a brilliant storyteller," Hampton said. "Her style is so seemingly simple but it's a commentary on the morals and values of that time period. When I read it, I saw it immediately as a TV series for our time."...
- 7/16/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
An anecdotal film that settles for being gently sad, sweet and uplifting, ''Fried Green Tomatoes'' plants tantalizing hints around its periphery of subjects amd relationships that are intriguing and touchy. However, it backs off those potential controversies and relies on its talented female cast to save it from the generic routine of blighted Southern blossoms.
They do so often enough that this saga of Alabama womanhood could turn into a satisfactory performer with longlasting boxoffice wind.
The action unfolds as a series of flashbacks narrated to overweight and emotionally cowed housewife Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) by Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), an elderly stranger Evelyn accidently meets on a family visit to a nursing home. The lonely Ninny, who insists she's at the home just to look after a friend, immediately sizes up the unhappy Evelyn, and begins telling her tales of her youth in the local countryside back in the '20s and '30s.
These stories focus on the friendship between Idgie Threadgoode Mary Stuart Masterson), a devoted tomboy, and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), a classic good girl who is initially presented to Idgie as an example of proper femininity. However, no sooner do they meet than it is Idgie who is transforming Ruth, first bringing out her new friend's assertiveness and eventually rescuing her from an unhappy marriage and going partners with her on a trainstop restaurant, the Whistlestop Cafe (which is where the fried green tomatoes come in).
As Ninny relates these vignettes of independent womanhood, Evelyn is slowly inspired to take more control of her own life. The shy housewife wends her way through a series of trendy self-actualization fads that perturb her corpulent husband Ed (Gailard Sartain) and provide the film with broad comedy, until, by film's end, she is ready to confront life on her own terms.
The Idgie-Ruth portions are both more emotional and much darker, with accidental deaths, domestic violence, retaliatory murder and the like adorning a story of romantic friendship. Just how romantic is not clear, since the relationship between the mannishly dressed Idgie and the excessively feminine Ruth suddenly veers away from a sexual component it seems to be heading for early on.
Director Jon Avnet, who has lingered on an affectionate kiss or a clasped hand, becomes more and more perfunctory with the scenes between the two, waiting until the very end to reveal the two have separate sleeping quarters.
The film's strengths are mostly in its screenplay (by director Avnet and Fannie Flagg, who wrote the source novel) and performances, particularly from Tandy, who provides the film's moral center with soothing effervescence.
Cicely Tyson, as a family employee in the Idgie-Ruth sections, is briefly memorable but shunted to the foreground only when dramatically required, a treatment symptomatic of the film's uncertain handling of its supporting chracters; Big George (Stan Shaw), another important black character, as well as Grady Kilgore (Gary Basarba), a local lout who undergoes a major transformation into a nice-guy sheriff, are relegated to mere plot utility, despite their putative importance.
Cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson has lent the film a nice burnished quality, although someone has decided to make Masterson look like a figure in a shampoo ad every time she comes into range, her golden locks and fresh-scrubbed looks making for a peculiarly well turned-out scamp.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
Universal
Director Jon Avnet
Producers Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner
Screenplay Fannie Flagg, Jon Avnet
Based on the novel ''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe'' by Fannie Flagg
Director of photography Geoffrey Simpson, A.C.S.
Production designer Barbara Ling
Editor Debra Neil
Music Thomas Newman
Casting David Rubin, C.S.A.
Color/Dolby
Cast:
Evelyn Couch Kathy Bates
Idgie Threadgoode Mary Stuart Masterson
Ruth Jamison Mary-Louise Parker
Ninny Threadgoode Jessica Tandy
Sipsey Cicely Tyson
Big George Stan Shaw
Ed Couch Gailard Sartain
Running time -- 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
They do so often enough that this saga of Alabama womanhood could turn into a satisfactory performer with longlasting boxoffice wind.
The action unfolds as a series of flashbacks narrated to overweight and emotionally cowed housewife Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) by Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), an elderly stranger Evelyn accidently meets on a family visit to a nursing home. The lonely Ninny, who insists she's at the home just to look after a friend, immediately sizes up the unhappy Evelyn, and begins telling her tales of her youth in the local countryside back in the '20s and '30s.
These stories focus on the friendship between Idgie Threadgoode Mary Stuart Masterson), a devoted tomboy, and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), a classic good girl who is initially presented to Idgie as an example of proper femininity. However, no sooner do they meet than it is Idgie who is transforming Ruth, first bringing out her new friend's assertiveness and eventually rescuing her from an unhappy marriage and going partners with her on a trainstop restaurant, the Whistlestop Cafe (which is where the fried green tomatoes come in).
As Ninny relates these vignettes of independent womanhood, Evelyn is slowly inspired to take more control of her own life. The shy housewife wends her way through a series of trendy self-actualization fads that perturb her corpulent husband Ed (Gailard Sartain) and provide the film with broad comedy, until, by film's end, she is ready to confront life on her own terms.
The Idgie-Ruth portions are both more emotional and much darker, with accidental deaths, domestic violence, retaliatory murder and the like adorning a story of romantic friendship. Just how romantic is not clear, since the relationship between the mannishly dressed Idgie and the excessively feminine Ruth suddenly veers away from a sexual component it seems to be heading for early on.
Director Jon Avnet, who has lingered on an affectionate kiss or a clasped hand, becomes more and more perfunctory with the scenes between the two, waiting until the very end to reveal the two have separate sleeping quarters.
The film's strengths are mostly in its screenplay (by director Avnet and Fannie Flagg, who wrote the source novel) and performances, particularly from Tandy, who provides the film's moral center with soothing effervescence.
Cicely Tyson, as a family employee in the Idgie-Ruth sections, is briefly memorable but shunted to the foreground only when dramatically required, a treatment symptomatic of the film's uncertain handling of its supporting chracters; Big George (Stan Shaw), another important black character, as well as Grady Kilgore (Gary Basarba), a local lout who undergoes a major transformation into a nice-guy sheriff, are relegated to mere plot utility, despite their putative importance.
Cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson has lent the film a nice burnished quality, although someone has decided to make Masterson look like a figure in a shampoo ad every time she comes into range, her golden locks and fresh-scrubbed looks making for a peculiarly well turned-out scamp.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
Universal
Director Jon Avnet
Producers Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner
Screenplay Fannie Flagg, Jon Avnet
Based on the novel ''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe'' by Fannie Flagg
Director of photography Geoffrey Simpson, A.C.S.
Production designer Barbara Ling
Editor Debra Neil
Music Thomas Newman
Casting David Rubin, C.S.A.
Color/Dolby
Cast:
Evelyn Couch Kathy Bates
Idgie Threadgoode Mary Stuart Masterson
Ruth Jamison Mary-Louise Parker
Ninny Threadgoode Jessica Tandy
Sipsey Cicely Tyson
Big George Stan Shaw
Ed Couch Gailard Sartain
Running time -- 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 12/20/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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