Robert Altman directed the Broadway and screen versions of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, a pretentious dramedy written Ed Graczyk.
Though well-acted, ultimately it’s minor, trashy psychodrama, which is not really befitting a director of Altman’s caliber.
Grade: B- (**1/2* out of *****)
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Original theatrical poster
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The female-driven ensemble starred Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black, Sudie Bond, and Kathy Bates.
The tale takes place in a Woolworth’s five-and-dime store in a small Texas town, where an all-female fan club for actor James Dean reunites in 1975, commemorating the 20th anniversary of his death.
Through a series of flashbacks, the six members reveal all kinds of secrets, illusions, and delusions, which are dating back to 1955 and continue to affect their present.
In the film’s most sensational (and unintentionally offensive) scene, Stella Mae asks whether Joanne is “half-man, half-woman”—a hermaphrodite, just in case people ask. Joanne then confesses to having had a sex-change operation thirteen years ago. When pressed by Stella, she remarks that she can simply call her ‘a freak,’ as her friends are more likely to understand the term.
Jimmy Dean was the first of several feature adaptations of plays by Altman in the 1980s, after the director’s forced departure from mainstream Hollywood in the wake of such commercial flops as Popeye.
Screened at various festivals, it was well received by critics, who praised the performances of the entire cast, though several pointed oput the shallow nature of the material, and Altman’s hard (not always) successful efforts to conceal that fact and the artifice of the whole enterprise.
This was the first release of the New York–based independent outlet Cinecom Pictures.
Cast
Sandy Dennis as Mona
Cher as Sissy
Karen Black as Joanne
Sudie Bond as Juanita
Marta Heflin as Edna Louise
Kathy Bates as Stella Mae
Mark Patton as Joe Qualley
Caroline Aaron as Martha
Ruth Miller as Clarissa
Gena Ramsel as Sue Ellen
Ann Risley as Phyllis Marie
Dianne Turley Travis as Alice Ann
Credits:
Directed by Robert Altman
Produced by Scott Bushnell
Screenplay by Ed Graczyk, based on his 1976 play, “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”
Cinematography Pierre Mignot
Edited by Jason Rosenfield
Production company: Mark Goodson Productions Viacom Enterprises Sandcastle 5
Distributed by Cinecom International Films
Release date: September 30, 1982 (Chicago); November 12, 1982 (US)
Running time: 109 minutes
Budget $850,000
Box office $2.3 million
