Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Sporting one of the longest titles in movie history, this strange offering is available for the first time on DVD, giving Robert Altman fans a look at what the master could do despite unusual restrictions. Altman had directed “Jimmy Dean” on the New York stage and doesn’t so much adapt that production for the big screen as lift it as is. Like the play, the movie is restricted to one room, a Woolworth’s 5 & Dime in a small Texas town, circa 1975. The reason was partly monetary — Altman was always short on funds — and partly to challenge himself as a director famous for a fluid camera and broad strokes. Fortunately he populated the dime store with four wonderful actresses — Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Kathy Bates, all of whom had been in the stage version. The movie is worth watching if only to see Cher with her original face, and a thin Bates. They play high school buddies and former members of a James Dean fan club. Their 20-year reunion is planned to coincide with the anniversary of Dean’s death in a car accident in 1955. As they reminisce about their affection for the mercurial star, Altman uses flashbacks to show the way they looked and sounded as teenagers. Each, it turns out, has a distinct connection to Dean. To the film’s detriment, it largely follows the play by Ed Graczyk. There is a lot of creaky dialogue and situations bound to raise eyebrows. But the cast performs miracles, drawing you into the story with lines that make little sense. Dennis and Black particularly are standouts. How sad both are gone. — Ruthe Stein