Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

Directed by Robert Altman. Starring Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black, Sudie Bond, Marta Heflin, Kathy Bates, Mark Patton. [PG]

Talky, flashback-laden slices of life at a five-and-dime store in a Texas small town, witnessing the twenty-year reunion of a James Dean fan club (not the country music singer and “sausage tycoon” Jimmy). Screen adaptation of an Ed Graczyk play, comfortable in director Altman’s hands, but he can’t give it much more shape or meaning than what’s in the dialogue, which ranges from the poetic to the banal. Since Altman’s no stylistic or narrative autocrat, and his influence goes so often unseen without study, the absence of an engine in the locomotive encourages attention spans to wander (a mirrored set is used to fluidly transition between time periods, but this effect only emphasizes the artificiality of the entire setup). Bates’ first substantial film role, and the first period for Cher since 1969, but even though all of the Dean “Disciples” are in fine form when not overtaken by theatricality, only Black holds interest with any consistency because her character has dimensions the others lack. Altman and the same cast also did a Broadway version of the show the same year as the film’s release.

55/100