Fried Green Tomatoes *** (1991, Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker) – Classic Movie Review 8268

Director Jon Avnet’s very nice and sweet 1991 nostalgic drama Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café [Fried Green Tomatoes] stars Kathy Bates as Evelyn Couch, a middle-aged glutton housewife who bumps into a jolly old party unfortunately called ‘Old Ninny’ (Jessica Tandy) at the nursing home.

Then Tandy’s Old Ninny Threadgoode starts her week-by-week tale of the friendship between two girls in the Thirties, the spunky, tomboy Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the more easily led Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker).

There begins a lengthy, mild, sentimental saga told in an irritating back and forward motion, in a movie redeemed by the careful film making, its good-natured attitudes and above all the intelligent, charismatic performances.

Oscar-nominated Tandy is the stand-out as the elderly eccentric, with Bates seeming rather less sure of herself in a warmhearted role as the plump frump who embraces life, and sadly there seems to be little real rapport between the women. The two younger actresses are quietly winning in their much less showy roles.

A plus is that it is a film about women with the men enjoyably sidelined for a change. But there is a strong feeling of being manipulated that keeps the tear ducts entirely dry, and there is a surprising lack of humour and even emotional uplift, which must be the main target.

Fried Green Tomatoes is pleasant and watchable, but it is a bit of a missed opportunity. Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski’s screenplay is based on the novel by Fannie Flagg.

Also in the cast are Cicely Tyson, Gailard Sartain, Stan Shaw, Chris O’Donnell, Lois Smith, Grace Zabriskie, Raynor Scheine, Gary Basaraba, Timothy Scott, Jo Harvey Allen, Macon McCalman, and Richard Riehle.

It runs 130 minutes, or 137 minutes (extended).

It was nominated for two Oscars: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jessica Tandy) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski). Sobieski’s nomination was posthumous as she died from liver disease the year before the film’s release.

Fannie Flagg is also an actress, appearing in Five Easy Pieces, Stay Hungry, Grease and Crazy in Alabama, as well as Teacher (uncredited) in Fried Green Tomatoes. She tells a classroom of disaffected women: ‘You can get that spark back into your marriage!’

Avnet and the producers decided to excise the romance between Ruth and Idgie and just make them friends, though the two actresses and Flagg were all strong advocates for depicting the lesbian relationship. Avnet lamely says he considered Idgie and Ruth’s food fight scene as an analogy for a love scene.

The inspiration for the Whistle Stop Cafe is the Irondale Cafe in the north-eastern Birmingham, Alabama, town of Irondale where Flagg grew up and fried green tomatoes are a popular dish. There really is a Whistle Stop Cafe serving fried green tomatoes just north of Macon Georgia, an area where many of the scenes were filmed. The Whistle Stop Cafe set was turned into an actual restaurant, and its surrounding area into a tourist attraction.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8268

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