As with the original play, the film takes place inside a small Woolworth'sfive-and-dime store in a small Texas town, where an all-female fan club for actor James Dean reunites in 1975.[6] According to a 2014 interview with playwright Ed Graczyk the setting of the play is actually an H. L. Kressmont & Co. Five and Dime.[7] Through a series of flashbacks, the six members also reveal secrets dating back to 1955.
Jimmy Dean was the first of several feature adaptations of plays by Altman in the 1980s, after the director's departure from Hollywood. It was screened at various film festivals in North America and Europe, and won the top prize at the 1982 Chicago International Film Festival. It was well received by critics, who praised Altman's direction and the performances by the female cast. This was the first release for New York–based independent outlet Cinecom Pictures, which Altman chose over a major studio "to guarantee a long play" in art house venues.
Plot
On September 30, 1975, a mostly female fan club called the Disciples of James Dean meets inside a Woolworth's five-and-dime store in McCarthy, Texas, to honor the twentieth anniversary of the actor's death. The store is 62 miles away from Marfa, where Dean filmed Giant in 1955. Inside, store owner Juanita prepares for another day on the job while listening to gospel music on the radio, and also calls for Jimmy Dean by name. Meanwhile, one of the Disciples, Sissy, comes in late after helping out at the truck stop. Juanita remarks that more members could arrive soon. Another one, Mona, is taking a late bus.
After Sissy worries about the weather ("118 degrees in the shade"), a flashback to a stormy night in 1955 occurs. Coming inside for shelter, Sissy asks about three friends of hers: Mona, Sydney, and Joseph "Joe" Qualley. Joe is busy stocking up some new issues of Photoplay magazine; Mona arrives late due to the weather. To Juanita's chagrin, Sissy, Mona, and Joe, go up at the counter and begin singing the doo-wop tune "Sincerely", which Juanita opposes, preferring to listen only to gospel music.
Back in 1975, another two Disciples, Stella Mae and Edna Louise, make their way to the five-and-dime, bringing a red jacket that the club used to wear. Mona joins them and explains that the bus she was riding on broke down and had to be repaired. Looking at a group picture with James Dean, she recalls the last time the Disciples, all dressed in jackets, came together. As reunion preparations continue, so does the flashback. Sissy's friends joyfully break the news that Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean, will be visiting Marfa, near McCarthy, to film Giant; auditions will be carried out across that area. This only prompts Mona's desire to play alongside Dean, her idol, in that film. She travels to Marfa with Joe in order to fulfil that desire. In the current day, Mona claims that Dean chose her to be the mother of his son, Jimmy Dean, fathered the night she went to Marfa. Sissy tells her that her attempts to hide Jimmy Dean are "warped and demented"; Mona believes that Jimmy Dean is mentally deficient, and isolates him from the community. Mona then loses her temper and insults Sissy, who goes outside to "cool off".
Mona and Juanita greet a window shopper, Joanne, who drives into town with a Porsche sports car. Joanne has arrived in McCarthy thanks to an old highway sign promoting Dean's son at the store. The Disciples then learn that Joanne was formerly Joe, who had been the only boy in their group. In a flashback, Joanne was scorned by town-dwellers after attending a high school dance in a dress, and got brutally beaten in a graveyard. Hearing that story, Stella wonders whether Joanne is a hermaphrodite—"half-man, half-woman". Joanne explains she had a sex-change operation thirteen years before and is a woman, lifting her skirt to prove it.
Later that day, Juanita tells the Disciples to brace themselves for stormy weather, after thinking she hears thunder. Instead, the loud noise comes from a sports car—Mona's son, Jimmy Dean, has stolen Joanne's car. As Joanne phones the Highway Patrol to have Jimmy Dean returned, another flashback takes root: they hear the radio announcer reveal that a car accident has killed actor James Dean. They decide to hold a vigil.
Among the other secrets and revelations, Mona announces that she almost died from asthma, which is why she cannot leave the town. She also claims she was an extra in Giant. As the reunion winds down, it becomes clear that Joanne is the father of Mona's son, who may not actually have intellectual disabilities. The Disciples make a pact to hold another one in the next twenty years, but Mona refuses. She, Sissy, and Joanne appear in front of the mirrors and sing "Sincerely" again. The film ends with shots of the decaying, abandoned five-and-dime store, while the song fades and the wind blows.
After directing 1980's critically panned Popeye and selling his Lion's Gate studio (not to be confused with Lionsgate), Altman turned his attention to the stage.[10] One of his first tasks in this field was acquiring and directing Ed Graczyk's Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,[11][10] a drama originally performed in Columbus, Ohio in 1976.[12] Altman's work on the play, despite its bad reviews and short run, convinced him that a film version was imminent.[13] "On stage it was humorous and bawdy," he commented. "On film it's more emotional."[14]Jimmy Dean was his first feature adaptation of a play; he followed this effort with 1983's Streamers and 1987's Beyond Therapy, among others.[15]
Altman then made a deal with the play's production executive, Peter Newman, and retained the original cast members.[3] The filmmaker received over US$800,000 from Viacom Enterprises, through game show company Mark Goodson Productions,[1] almost as much money as the play had cost him.[16] It was his intention to shoot Jimmy Dean for the cinema; "the initial press report that it was made for cable is not true," he said.[1]
Of his preparations for Jimmy Dean, Altman added, "I didn't do what they told me I had to do, I hired the people I wanted."[1] The production was his first to involve Pierre Mignot, a Canadian cinematographer;[17][18] they would collaborate on five more films.[17] Filming took place on just one set:[3] a "redressed" version of its Broadway counterpart.[1] Altman used Super 16 equipment[1] during the nineteen-day shoot;[19] this was later converted to 35mm stock for the first answer print.[1] For the film's flashbacks, he built a double set with two-way mirrors that were controlled by computerized lighting techniques—which became problematic for both him and the film's critics.[6]
Release
Robert Altman took Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean to the Montreal and Toronto film festivals in Canada, as well as those in Belgium, Venice and Deauville.[20] The film received its U.S. premiere on September 30, 1982 (the 27th anniversary of the late actor's death) at the Chicago International Film Festival, where it received a ten-minute standing ovation. After this screening, Altman discussed various aspects of the production during a question-and-answer session.[1]
The filmmaker refused to let any major U.S. studio handle Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, due to the problems he had with 20th Century-Fox over his 1979 production HealtH.[1] Instead, he let Cinecom Pictures, an independent distributor in New York City, open it in arthouse theaters "to guarantee a long play";[1] it became the first release for that company.[21] The film opened on a limited basis in just two theaters on November 12, 1982, grossing US$22,298 and placing 18th at the North American box office that weekend.[2] By its fourth week, it made US$177,500 after going to four venues;[2] during its entire run, it grossed US$840,958.[4]
Jimmy Dean aired on the Showtime cable network in May 1983.[22]Embassy Home Entertainment released it on VHS that same year,[23] and on laserdisc in 1984;[24] a video re-issue from Virgin Vision followed in June 1989.[25] It was released on Blu-ray on November 18, 2014, by Olive Films, under license from Paramount Pictures.[26]
The new print was made “from the original Super-16mm color negative, a 35mm CRI, a 35mm print, and the original ½ inch analog discreet mono D-M-E track.”[28]
The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation on March 3, 2011[28][29] and was screened at other North American cities in 2011 including New York City,[30] Chicago,[31][32] and Vancouver.[33]
Critical reception
On its original release, The Boston Globe's Michael Blowen hailed Jimmy Dean as "[Altman's] best film since Nashville". He added, "[The director] is having fun again. He seems more comfortable in a desolate Woolworth's than he did on the frozen tundra of Quintet. In contrast with A Wedding, in which Altman cynically patronized his characters, he seems to love these three women. And why not?"[34] The Associated Press' Bob Thomas said, "The film is a heartening example of how good writing ..., gifted direction and solid acting can produce something worthwhile on a tiny (under $1 million) budget."[35]
The New York Times'Vincent Canby gave Jimmy Dean a mixed review. "There are some interesting things about [the film]," he observed, "but they have less to do with anything on the screen than with the manner in which the film was produced and with Mr. Altman's unflagging if misguided faith in the project." He complained that "The actresses are not treated kindly, either by the material or by the camera," and noted that Sandy Dennis' character, Mona, received most of the close-ups. "The only person in the film who comes off well," he said, "is Miss [Sudie] Bond."[9]New York's David Denby wrote: "Altman uses cinema to celebrate theater, and his technique is so fluidly self-assured that he almost makes you forget the rubbishy situations and lines created by playwright Ed Graczyk. Almost, but not quite."[36]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four and wrote: "This is not a great drama, but two things make the movie worth seeing: Altman's visual inventiveness and the interesting performances given by everyone in the cast."[37]Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that "only the Karen Black character develops any appealing substance, and Altman must share the credit for that with Black herself, who turns in the film's best performance. Cher's role is nothing more than a country-western sketch. Surprisingly, she isn't bad, and I suspect that this explains the plaudits her performance has earned."[38]
Pauline Kael wrote in 5001 Nights at the Movies: "When Robert Altman gives a project everything he's got, his skills are such that he can make poetry out of fake poetry and magic out of fake magic. Moving in apparent freedom, the principal actresses ... go at their roles so creatively that they find some kind of acting truth in what they're doing. They bring conviction to their looneytunes characters."[39] Film critic Leonard Maltin gave Jimmy Dean two and a half stars out of four in his Movie Guide, writing, "Strong performances, and Altman's lively approach to filming [Graczyk's] Broadway play can't completely hide the fact that this is second-rate material."[40]Halliwell's Film Guide stated "[Jimmy Dean] descends from cynicism through gloom to hysteria and is never very revealing."[41]
At the Chicago premiere of Jimmy Dean, Altman spoke of its festival acclaim to his audience: "I never have had a film of mine received as well as this film—I don't understand it, but I like it!"[20] In a January 1983 interview with the Boston Globe, he stated that "The critical reaction doesn't surprise me. Nothing surprises me any more. I take that back. One thing surprised me when I showed Jimmy Dean at film festivals—no one walked out."[6]
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean currently holds an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on five reviews.[44]
Themes and criticism
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean has been noted to address the subject of feminism.[45][17][46] In Robert Altman: Hollywood Survivor, Daniel O'Brien wrote that "[Jimmy Dean] is in part an attempt to explore the way women are forced to suppress their emotions and personalities in order to be accepted by the male-dominated society around them".[17] In his 1980 book A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Kubrick, Coppola, Scorsese, Altman, film historian and critic Robert P. Kolker noted that Come Back to the 5 & Dime dealt with the "crisis of women confronting the oppression of patriarchy by dissolving them into neuroses. Unable to struggle, these figures first collapse within themselves and then extrapolate their delusions as protections against the world that surrounds them."[47]
On the film's sexuality issues, Robin Wood said: "What is especially interesting about Come Back to the Five and Dime is the connection it makes between the oppression of women and patriarchy's dread of sexual deviation and gender ambiguity. Joe (the only male character to appear in the film, in flashback) is clearly (and sympathetically) presented as feminine (as opposed to the stereotypically effeminate), woman-identified, and gay; as Don Short has perceptively shown, the film implies that he has become a transsexual ... because his society had no place for a gay male."[46]
In his 1985 book on Altman, Gerard Plecki wrote: "The reference to the James Dean myth is a clue to Altman's pervasive film message. Altman knows that James Dean had the kind of screen presence and magic that caused people to 'give in' to cinema." He added that "In each film [the director] strives to reinforce and respond to that essential need—to give in to cinema." Plecki observed that "It is fascinating that, after The James Dean Story, Altman would select another project touching upon the life of [the late actor]."[45]
O'Brien criticized the character development of the supporting roles,[17] while Plecki said that, compared to those in previous Altman films, none of the characters "are immediately likable".[48] "The reasons for the limited appeal of the characters are quite complex," Plecki wrote. "Most of the women's problems are physical or sexual ones."[48]
In Jimmy Dean, Altman frequently uses mirrors as a device to seamlessly connect scenes between the present and the past. Reflections in mirrors are part of many of the film's frame compositions.[6][49] As noted by Daniel O'Brien in Robert Altman: Hollywood Survivor, they "[become] a window into 1955, enabling the characters to gaze into the past".[49]
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era.
Karen Blanche Black was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, and established herself as a figure of New Hollywood. Her career spanned over 50 years and includes nearly 200 credits in both independent and mainstream films. Black received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Golden Globe Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Sandra Dale Dennis was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama Splendor in the Grass (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
O.C. and Stiggs is a 1987 American teen comedy film directed by Robert Altman, based on two characters that were originally featured in a series of stories published in National Lampoon magazine. The film stars Daniel H. Jenkins and Neill Barry as the title characters. Other members of the cast include Paul Dooley, Jane Curtin, Martin Mull, Dennis Hopper, Ray Walston, Louis Nye, Melvin Van Peebles, Tina Louise, Cynthia Nixon, Jon Cryer and Bob Uecker.
Anna F. "Ann" Risley is a retired American actress and comedian. She was a cast member of the TV series Saturday Night Live for the 12 episodes of the 1980–1981 season. These 12 broadcasts were the first episodes after producer Lorne Michaels left the show.
The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal Theatre, staged its first production at the Alliance in 1968. The following year the company became the Alliance Theatre Company.
HealtH is a 1980 American ensemble comedy film, the fifteenth feature project from director Robert Altman. It stars Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, James Garner, Lauren Bacall, and Paul Dooley, and was written by Altman, Dooley and Frank Barhydt. The film's title is an acronym for "Happiness, Energy, and Longevity through Health".
The 8th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best filmmaking of 1982, were announced on 11 December 1982.
That Championship Season is a 1982 American sports drama film based on the play of the same name. It stars Robert Mitchum, Martin Sheen, Bruce Dern, Stacy Keach and Paul Sorvino, who had also appeared in the play and was the only cast member who appeared in the play.
Prêt-à-Porter, released in the United States as Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter), is a 1994 American satirical comedy-drama film co-written, directed, and produced by Robert Altman and shot on location during the Paris Fashion Week with a host of international stars, models, and designers.
Throughout her acting career, Cher has mainly starred in comedy, drama, and romance films. She has appeared in eighteen films, including two as a cameo. She has also appeared in one starring theater role, one video game role, numerous television commercials and directed a piece of the motion picture If These Walls Could Talk in 1996 and some of her music videos of the Geffen-era in late 1980s and in early 1990s. Cher has starred in various international television commercials, as well as high-profile print advertising for Lori Davis (1992). Before she started her film career, she had a couple of hits in the 1960s, as a solo artist, and with her ex-husband Sonny Bono as the couple Sonny & Cher.
Robert Reed Altman is an American cinematographer. He has served as a camera operator and director of photography on feature films and television series since the 1970s. He is the son of filmmaker Robert Altman and Kathryn Reed.
Cinecom Pictures was an independent film company founded in 1982 by Ira Deutchman, Amir Malin and John Ives. Its first release was Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
James Byron Dean was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955) and surly ranch hand Jett Rink in Giant (1956).
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean may refer to:
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is a 1976 play by Ed Graczyk, originally performed at the Players Theatre Columbus in Columbus, Ohio. Despite the interpretation of the name in the title, it refers to the legendary "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean, as opposed to Jimmy Dean, the country-western singer who had a hit in 1961 with Big Bad John. The play, in fact, revolves around a James Dean fan club that reunites at a Texas five-and-dime store.
Edward Graczyk is a playwright originally from Ohio. He wrote several children's plays early in his career, but became better known as the author of 1976's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. In 1982, Graczyk won the Best Screenplay Award at the Belgium International Film Festival for Robert Altman's motion picture adaptation.
Marta Heflin was an American actress who appeared in several Robert Altman films, including Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and A Perfect Couple. Known for her waifish appearance, Heflin also acted in various New York stage musicals prior to her film career, such as Fiddler on the Roof, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Ross Lipman is an American restorationist, independent filmmaker and essayist. He is best known for his 2015 documentary Notfilm, his work with the Bruce Conner Family Trust and as Senior Film Restorationist at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, where he restored numerous independent and avant-garde works.
Jesse Walsh is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He was created by David Chaskin and portrayed by Mark Patton. Making his debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge in 1985, Jesse became the first male protagonist of the series. In Freddy's Revenge, Freddy enacts a plan to possess Jesse, using his body to kill in the real world, slowly gaining the strength to manifest his form physically. Outside of the films, Jesse has a main role in the novels. Because of the LGBT representation in a mainstream film, Jesse has developed a large fan base in the gay community and has been called a gay icon. Jesse has been observed by some scholars as a variation of the "final girl" slasher film archetype, and instead a "final boy".
↑ Altman, Robert (director) (1982). Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Motion picture). Cinecom International Films (distributor) / Mark Goodson Productions / Viacom Enterprises / Sandcastle 5.
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