White Palace (film)

Last updated
White Palace
White palace movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Luis Mandoki
Screenplay by Ted Tally
Alvin Sargent
Based onWhite Palace
by Glenn Savan
Produced by Griffin Dunne
Amy Robinson
Mark Rosenberg
Starring
Cinematography Lajos Koltai
Edited by Carol Fisher
Carol Littleton
Music by George Fenton
Production
companies
Mirage Enterprises
Double Play
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
October 19, 1990 (1990-10-19)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$17,487,531

White Palace is a 1990 American erotic romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki. It stars Susan Sarandon, James Spader, Jason Alexander, Kathy Bates, Steven Hill, Jeremy Piven, and Renee Taylor. It was written by Ted Tally and Alvin Sargent, based on the novel of the same name by Glenn Savan (who appears in the film as an extra with a small speaking part).

Contents

It centers on the unlikely relationship between a young upper middle class widower (Spader) who falls in love with a middle-aged working class waitress (Sarandon) in St. Louis, Missouri. The original music score was composed by George Fenton. The film is marketed with the tagline "The story of a younger man and a bolder woman".

Plot

Twenty-seven-year-old St. Louis advertising executive Max Baron has completely shut himself off from the world in the two years since the auto accident that killed his wife Janey. On the way to his friend Neil's bachelor party, Max picks up fifty burgers from a diner called White Palace. At the party, he discovers that the order is six burgers short and, to the ridicule of his friends, returns to the restaurant to complain. In a moment that defines his initial character, Max declares, "It's the principle." He is roundly mocked by his friends.

At the White Palace diner, after a heated exchange occurs between Max and a forty-three-year-old waitress, Nora Baker, she exasperatedly refunds him. Max returns to the party but leaves upset and heads to a bar, where he runs into Nora. Drunk, she flirts with him, but he pushes her advances away and starts to leave. She senses he's upset, asks why, and discovers his wife died in a car crash. She discloses that she lost her young son to leukemia. The 'connection' prevents him from leaving. They have a few drinks and eventually he gives her a lift home to the Dogtown neighborhood in St. Louis, but drunkenly crashes his car into her mailbox. She invites him to spend the night at her house, with the couch as his bed. Max starts dreaming about his late wife, then wakes up to find Nora performing fellatio on him. They end up having passionate sex.

After visiting his wife's grave on the second anniversary of her death, Max returns to White Palace to watch a busy Nora from a distance. He visits her at home with the pretext of replacing the broken mailbox, but instead they begin a relationship. Max becomes more relaxed and cheerful around Nora and at his work, but remains reluctant to reveal their relationship to his family and friends. At one point, he gets frustrated that all he and Nora do is sit and watch TV in her house. She firmly reminds him of their differences in age and social backgrounds.

Nora is angry after Max has lied to her about his friend Neil's wedding and that he didn't take her. They argue about how Max keeps their relationship a secret and that he is probably ashamed of being seen with her. Nora's sister, Judy (Eileen Brennan), meets Max the following day and explains to him, in Nora's absence, how they were abandoned as children and that she left a young Nora to fend for herself. Judy also explains that Nora's son drowned.

While at the supermarket with Nora, Max leaves her at the counter and runs into Neil's wife, Rachel, who invites him and his "mystery woman" to Thanksgiving. At Max's apartment, Nora hears a message on his answering machine inviting them to the Horowitzes' home for Thanksgiving. Nora brings up the subject to an initially hesitant Max; however, they resolve to attend as a couple. At the Thanksgiving dinner with Neil, Rachel, Mrs. Baron, Max's friends, and the Horowitz extended family make Nora uncomfortable. Following an argument between Nora and Neil's father, she walks out, Max and his mother following. After the dinner, Nora and Max argue in her house over what happened, and she tells him to leave.

Some time later, Max finds Nora's house empty and a note explaining to him that she left and that he shouldn't come looking for her. He visits White Palace and is informed that Nora quit. He goes to a brunch with friends and meets Heidi Solomon, but cannot stop thinking about Nora. He then realizes that everyone around him seems stuck-up and obsessed with their "perfect" upper-middle class lives. He travels to New York to find Nora's sister Judy, and is informed that Nora is waitressing in a restaurant. Max finds Nora there and confesses his love to her, revealing that he quit his job and moved to New York to be with her. They reunite, kissing tenderly as patrons of the restaurant look on. Max playfully clears the table of its contents and lays a laughing Nora down on it, climbing on top of her and passionately kissing her, while the whole restaurant cheers and applauds.

Cast

Production

The original title for the film was to have been The White Castle, and the novel even makes reference to a specific real White Castle location at the intersection of S. Grand Blvd. and Gravois Ave. in south St. Louis, [1] but the restaurant chain refused permission to use its trademarked name in either the novel or the film, and also refused permission to allow any of its restaurants for filming locations.

Instead, an independent diner at the intersection of North Eighteenth and Olive Streets [2] just west of downtown St. Louis was used – and that address is even given in the film as a plug for the diner. After the film was released the diner's owners sought permission to permanently rename it "White Palace", but were refused by the studio, so the diner was instead renamed "White Knight".

The movie also features and was shot almost entirely in the St. Louis area, one of the few major movie productions to be filmed and set there, including the Thanksgiving Dinner scenes, which were filmed in a private home off Conway Road located at #2 Frontenac Place [3] in west St. Louis County, and Nora's house, which was in the Dogtown neighborhood of the City of St. Louis northwest of the intersection of Hampton and Manchester Avenues at 1521 W. Billon Avenue. [4]

The film also originally shot scenes which followed a subplot in the film, in which Max (James Spader) and his boss Rosemary (Kathy Bates) start working for a new client at their advertising agency. In the book, this woman is named Stephanie Deluc. Both Max and Rosemary have a difficult relationship with her throughout the novel, culminating in Max losing his temper with her later on and losing his job because of it. Gina Gershon was cast as Stephanie Deluc in the film, and shot many scenes, presumably following this subplot of the novel. However, for reasons unknown, the studio removed all the scenes, which meant that Gershon's entire role ended up on the cutting room floor, and she no longer appears in the film. This also meant that Kathy Bates's role of Rosemary, Max's boss, was greatly reduced, now appearing very briefly in the finished film in a couple of scenes, only one in which she has some dialogue.

In the January 1995 issue of Movieline magazine, Susan Sarandon revealed she was very nervous before doing the infamous oral sex scene with James Spader. [5]

Home media

White Palace was released on VHS on March 21, 1991 & released on Laserdisc in 1993 by MCA/Universal Home Video. GoodTimes Entertainment released the film via DVD on May 1, 2001. The DVD was released on March 1, 2005, from Universal's Studio Collections after the DVD release in UK. The Blu-ray was released on October 30, 2017, in United Kingdom (which was never released in United States) by Fabulous Films Limited. [6]

Reception

White Palace received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 50% approval rating based on 28 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. [7] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Roger Ebert wrote that the film is at its best when exploring the two main leads' "nonconforming relationship" outside of their social circles and suffers when going through the "same sappy romantic clichés as countless other love stories." He concluded: "And yet there's a lot that's good in "White Palace," involving the heart as well as the mind." [8] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "the film manages to avoid the more interesting problem area of what will happen to the couple once they decide to settle down and live openly together. Both principals, however, are good in their limited roles." [9] Entertainment Weekly 's Owen Gleiberman gave the film a "B−" grade, calling it "yet another bogus movie about class differences" that wants its audience to laugh at the characters' "most superficial traits", but praised Spader and Sarandon for bringing "a shaggy sense of fun" to their roles, saying they "make White Palace worth seeing, but too often they're fighting the movie's smugness." [10] Janet Maslin of The New York Times was critical of the "unconvincing" production design of the "nouveau riche" and "squalid" sides of St. Louis and the "badly cast" supporting characters for diminishing the overall plot, but gave praise to Spader and Sarandon for elevating the "many preconceptions and clichés" throughout the material, highlighting the latter for giving "a zesty, spirited, fully formed performance". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Spader</span> American actor (born 1960)

James Todd Spader is an American actor. He is known for often portraying eccentric and morally ambiguous characters. He started his career in critically acclaimed independent films before transitioning into television for which he received numerous awards and acclaim including three Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, and ten Screen Actors Guild Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Kowalski</span> Fictional character

Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandler Bing</span> Fictional character on the television series "Friends"

Chandler Muriel Bing is a fictional character from the NBC sitcom Friends, portrayed by Matthew Perry. Chandler was born to Nora Tyler Bing, an erotic romance novelist, and Charles Bing, a gay female impersonator and star of a Las Vegas drag show called "Viva Las Gay-gas" as Helena Handbasket. Chandler is of Scottish and Swedish descent. He is an only child and is apparently from an affluent family. His parents announced their divorce to him over Thanksgiving dinner when Chandler was nine years old, an event which gave him trauma and now he refuses to celebrate the holiday in his adulthood and led him to develop his notorious sense of humor as a defense mechanism. It is revealed in season 2 that he went to an all-boys high school.

<i>The Night Porter</i> 1974 film by Liliana Cavani

The Night Porter is a 1974 English-language Italian erotic psychological war drama film. Directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, the film stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, with Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti, and Isa Miranda in supporting roles. Set in Vienna in 1957, the film centers on the sadomasochistic relationship between a former Nazi concentration camp officer (Bogarde) and one of his inmates (Rampling).

<i>Husbands and Wives</i> 1992 comedy-drama film by Woody Allen

Husbands and Wives is a 1992 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film stars Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis, Lysette Anthony, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson and Blythe Danner. The film debuted shortly after the end of Allen and Farrow's romantic and professional partnership, and was the last of their 13 films together. The movie is filmed by Carlo Di Palma with a handheld camera style and features documentary-like interviews with the characters interspersed with the story.

<i>What Price Hollywood?</i> 1932 film

What Price Hollywood? is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor and starring Constance Bennett with Lowell Sherman. The screenplay by Gene Fowler, Rowland Brown, Jane Murfin and Ben Markson is based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns and Louis Stevens. The supporting cast features Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff, Brooks Benedict, Louise Beavers and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.

Phileine Says Sorry is a Dutch/American 2003 comedy-drama film directed by Robert Jan Westdijk. It is based on the novel Phileine zegt sorry by Ronald Giphart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Beale</span> Fictional character from EastEnders

Peter Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders and he is played by Thomas Law. Peter makes his first appearance in episode 926, originally broadcast on 16 December 1993. Peter has been played by seven actors since being introduced in 1993. Francis Brittin-Snell portrayed the role from 1993 to 1996, followed by Alex Stevens from 1997 to 1998 and Joseph Shade from 1998 to 2004. James Martin took over and played the role from 2004 to 2006. He was played by Thomas Law from 2006 until 2010, when the character departed the series. In April 2013, it was announced that Peter would return, played by Ben Hardy who made his first appearance on 7 June 2013. Hardy announced his departure from the role in November 2014, making his final on-screen appearance on 24 February 2015.

Bobby Beale (<i>EastEnders</i>) Fictional character from EastEnders

Bobby Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, who made his first appearance in episode 2557, originally broadcast on 24 July 2003. The character was originally played by Kevin Curran as an infant. Prior to his introduction, Bobby's paternity is at the centre of a storyline and is resolved when Ian Beale is revealed as Bobby's father. His mother, Laura Beale, is killed off in 2004 and Bobby's stepmother, Jane Beale, later adopts Bobby. Curran was replaced by Alex Francis in 2007. Following Jane's departure, Bobby finds a mother figure in Mandy Salter and is upset when she leaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beale family</span> Fictional family from EastEnders

The Beales and the Fowlers are a fictional family in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. They were the main family for storylines in early episodes of EastEnders, and remained as such ever since. With at least one member of the family having been a member of the cast from the first episode in February 1985, they are the show's longest serving family. The original Beale/Fowler family consisted of matriarch Lou Beale and her children Pete and Pauline, alongside their families including their children Ian, Mark, Michelle and their spouses Kathy Hills and Arthur Fowler. Additionally, several members of the family have been introduced at a later point, including Pauline and Arthur's son Martin who was the first baby to be born into the show in 1985. The family has been headed with a matriarch first seen with Lou, and over the years, Lou's daughter Pauline, Ian's wife Jane Collins and more recently Pete's wife Kathy, have filled this role.

<i>Human Highway</i> 1982 film by Dean Stockwell

Human Highway is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a collaborative performance of "Hey Hey, My My " by Devo and Young with Booji Boy singing lead vocals and Young playing lead guitar.

"The One with All the Thanksgivings" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of Friends. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on November 19, 1998. In the episode, the main characters spend Thanksgiving at Monica's apartment and begin telling stories about their worst Thanksgivings: Chandler learning of his parents' divorce, Phoebe losing arms in past lives and Joey having his head stuck in a turkey. Rachel reveals Monica's worst Thanksgiving—accidentally cutting off Chandler's toe after he called her "fat" in their first encounter. When Monica begs Chandler to forgive her, he accidentally reveals that he loves her.

"In or Out" is an episode from the dramedy series Ugly Betty, the thirteenth in the series overall, which aired on January 18, 2007. It was written by Myra Jo Martino and directed by Michael Spiller. The episode title itself is an allusion to the film with the similar name.

<i>Empire Falls</i> 2001 novel by Richard Russo

Empire Falls is a 2001 novel written by Richard Russo. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2002, and follows the story of Miles Roby in a fictional, small blue-collar town in Maine and the people, places, and the past surrounding him, as manager of the Empire Grill diner.

<i>Max Dugan Returns</i> 1983 film by Herbert Ross

Max Dugan Returns is a 1983 American comedy-drama film written by Neil Simon and directed by Herbert Ross. Starring Jason Robards in the title role along with Marsha Mason and Donald Sutherland, it marks the film debuts of both Sutherland's son Kiefer and Matthew Broderick, and is both the last of five Simon-Ross collaborations and the last of Simon's films starring Mason.

Neil Steere McCarthy was an American corporate and film industry lawyer, and a Thoroughbred racehorse owner-breeder.

<i>Marry Me!</i> (1949 film) 1949 British film

Marry Me! is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Terence Fisher, and starring Derek Bond, Susan Shaw, Patrick Holt, Carol Marsh and David Tomlinson.

<i>The Death & Life of John F. Donovan</i> 2018 Canadian film

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan is a 2018 Canadian drama film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Xavier Dolan, in his English-language debut. The film stars Kit Harington, Jacob Tremblay, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Thandiwe Newton, Ben Schnetzer, and Jared Keeso. It deals with themes of celebrity, tabloid media in Hollywood, mother-son relationships, and homosexuality.

<i>The Sandman</i> (TV series) Fantasy drama television series

The Sandman is an American fantasy drama television series based on the 1989–1996 comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. The series was developed by Gaiman, David S. Goyer, and Allan Heinberg for the streaming service Netflix and is produced by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. Like the comic, The Sandman tells the story of Dream / Morpheus, the titular Sandman. The series stars Tom Sturridge as the title character, with Boyd Holbrook, Vivienne Acheampong, and Patton Oswalt in supporting roles.

Glenn Savan was an American writer best known for White Palace, his 1987 debut novel. A film adaptation, starring Susan Sarandon and James Spader, was released in 1990.

References

  1. ↑ "Image of White Castle from Google Maps with Street View".
  2. ↑ "Image of White Knight Diner from Google maps with Street View of".
  3. ↑ "Google Maps". Google Maps.
  4. ↑ "Google Maps". Google Maps.
  5. ↑ "Susan Sarandon: On Movies, Men and Motherhood". lebeauleblog.com. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "White Palace on Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. November 1, 2017. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  7. ↑ "White Palace". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on March 13, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  8. ↑ Ebert, Roger (October 19, 1990). "White Palace". Chicago Sun-Times . Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on March 13, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022– via RogerEbert.com.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg
  9. ↑ Siskel, Gene (October 19, 1990). "'Avalon' A Moving Tale of Levinson's Baltimore". Chicago Tribune . Tribune Publishing. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2022.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg
  10. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (October 26, 1990). "White Palace". Entertainment Weekly . Time Inc. Archived from the original on March 13, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  11. ↑ Maslin, Janet (October 19, 1990). "'White Palace': Love And the Class Struggle" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 5, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.