Bagdad Café
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Bagdad Cafe
Plot
This West German film is set in the California Desert. A husband-and-wife pair of Bavarian tourists become stranded when their car breaks down; after a quarrel, the wife, Marianne Sagebrecht, gathers her luggage and stalks off. She stops at the Bagdad Cafe, a fleapit truckstop run by outspoken C.C.H. Pounder, who is also having husband problems. The Cafe has become a magnet for some of truly odd character: temperamental Hispanic cook George Aguilar, tattoo artist Christine Kaufmann, and onetime Hollywood set designer Jack Palance. Despite obvious personality differences, Sagebrecht and Pounder become friends. Bagdad Cafe was later adapted into a short-lived American sitcom starring Jean Stapleton and Whoopi Goldberg. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
A cross between an existential European character study and a giddy Hollywood musical, Percy Adlon's desert fantasy introduced the offbeat character actress Marianne Sägebrecht to English-speaking audiences and revitalized the career of Hollywood veteran Jack Palance. Adlon presents his truck stop as a metaphor for the washed-up hopes of those cast aside by America, whether by discrimination and economic hardship (C.C.H. Pounder's caustic Brenda) or by the times (Palance's cowboy/artist relic Rudi). The variety show that brings the motley crew together and affirms their status as an odd extended family would be embarrassing were it not for the film's arid, deadpan humor. Without resorting to the precious, Bagdad Cafe achieves the kind of elation one can get from a great musical. ~ Michael Hastings, RoviCast
- Marianne Sägebrecht - Jasmin Munchgstettner
- CCH Pounder - Brenda
- Jack Palance - Rudi Cox
- Christine Kaufmann - Debbie
- Monica Calhoun - Phyllis
Credit
Bernt Amadeus Capra - Art Director, Byrnadette di Santo - Art Director, Al Onorato - Casting, Eleonore Adlon - Co-producer, Percy Adlon - Co-producer, Regine Batz - Costume Designer, Liz Warner - Costume Designer, Percy Adlon - Director, Norbert Herzner - Editor, Bob Telson - Composer (Music Score), Lee Breuer - Songwriter, Bob Telson - Songwriter, Lizbeth Williamson - Makeup, Bernt Amadeus Capra - Production Designer, Bernd Heinl - Cinematographer, Percy Adlon - Screen Story, Eleonore Adlon - Screenwriter, Percy Adlon - Screenwriter, Christopher Doherty - Screenwriter, Johann Sebastian Bach - Featured Music| Bagdad (1949 Film), Bagatelle for Willard Maas (1961 Film) | |
| Baggage (1999 Film), Baggage (2009 Film) |
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Bagdad Café
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| Bagdad Café | |
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 French-language film poster |
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| Directed by | Percy Adlon |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Bob Telson |
| Cinematography | Bernd Heinl |
| Editing by | Norbert Herzner |
| Studio |
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| Distributed by | Island Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 12 November 1987 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
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| Language |
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Bagdad Café (also known as Out of Rosenheim) is a 1987 German film directed by Percy Adlon. The film is a comedy set in a remote truck-stop café and motel in the Mojave Desert. It centers around two women who have recently separated from their husbands, and the blossoming friendship which ensues. It runs 95 minutes in the U.S. and 108 minutes in the German version.
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Contents
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Synopsis
The film begins with a fight between German tourist Jasmin Münchgstettner (Sägebrecht) from Rosenheim and her husband whilst they are driving across the desert. She storms out of the car and happens upon the truck stop run by the tough-as-nails and short tempered Brenda (Pounder), whose own husband, after an argument out front, is soon to leave as well. Jasmin takes a room at the adjacent motel. Initially suspicious of the foreigner, Brenda eventually befriends Jasmin and allows her to work at the café.
The café is visited by an assortment of colorful characters, including a strange ex-Hollywood set-painter (Palance) and a glamorous tattoo artist (Kaufmann). The film has a melodious backdrop in the form of J. S. Bach preludes played on piano by Brenda's son (Darron Flagg). With an ability to quietly empathize with everyone she meets at the café, helped by a passion for cleaning and performing magic tricks, Jasmin gradually transforms the café and all the people in it.
Cast
- Marianne Sägebrecht — Jasmin Münchgstettner
- C. C. H. Pounder — Brenda
- Jack Palance — Rudi Coxx
- Christine Kaufmann — Debby
- Monica Calhoun — Phyllis
- Darron Flagg — Salomo
- George Aguilar — Cahuenga
- G. Smokey Campbell — Sal
- Hans Stadlbauer (German) — Herr Münchgstettner
- Alan S. Craig — Eric
- Apesanahkwat — Sheriff Arnie
- Ronald Lee Jarvis — Trucker Ron
- Mark Daneri — Trucker Mark
- Ray Young — Trucker Ray
- Gary Lee Davis — Trucker Gary
Awards and nominations
- 1988: won Bavarian Film Award Best Screenplay (Eleonore & Percy Adlon)
- 1988: won Ernst Lubitsch Award (Percy Adlon)
- 1989: nominated for the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song (Bob Telson for the song "Calling You")
- 1989: won Amanda Best Foreign Feature Film (Percy Adlon)
- 1989: won Artios Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy (Al Onorato and Jerold Franks)
- 1989: won César Best Foreign Film (Percy Adlon)
Television series
Main article: Bagdad Cafe (TV series)
In 1990, the film was turned into a television series starring James Gammon, Whoopi Goldberg, Cleavon Little, and Jean Stapleton, with Stapleton as Jasmin and Goldberg as Brenda. In the TV version, Jasmin was no longer German. The series was shot in the conventional sitcom format, before a studio audience. The show did not obtain a sizable audience, being forced to compete with ABC's Top 30 hit Family Matters and was cancelled after one season.
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Location
Bagdad, California is the original setting (Bagdad, Arizona is an unrelated town). There was an actual Bagdad Cafe that existed in the 1960s when U.S. Route 66 ran through the town; the town has since vanished but the cafe itself is still open for business. The site is marked by a railroad siding and a single tree.
The film was shot at what was then the Sidewinder Cafe in Newberry Springs, California, 50 miles west of the original site of Bagdad on old U.S. 66. Since then, the café has become something of a tourist destination, and has changed its name to the Bagdad Café. A small notice board on the café wall features snapshots of the film's cast and crew.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack has the song "Calling You," by Jevetta Steele, and has a track in which the director narrates the story, including the film's missing scenes.
The two principal piano pieces performed by Darron Flagg are the "C Major Prelude No. 1" and "D Major Prelude No. 5" from Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier.
Film rating
The film was released in the United States with a PG rating. The film is rated M in New Zealand as it contains low level offensive language, and is also rated M in Australia, where it was originally rated PG.
External links
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