Английская Википедия:Fried Green Tomatoes

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:About Шаблон:Use mdy dates Шаблон:Infobox film Fried Green Tomatoes is a 1991 American comedy-drama film directed by Jon Avnet and based on Fannie Flagg's 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Written by Flagg and Carol Sobieski, and starring Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker and Cicely Tyson, the film tells the story of a housewife who, unhappy with her life, befriends an elderly lady in a nursing home and is enthralled by the tales she tells of people she used to know.

The film was released in theaters in the United States on December 27, 1991, garnered positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $119.4 million on a $11 million budget.

Fried Green Tomatoes received nominations for two Academy Awards and two BAFTA awards, as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Guldbagge Award.

Plot

Evelyn Couch is a timid housewife in her 40s in 1980s Birmingham. Her husband, Ed, has an aunt living at an Alabama nursing home, where Evelyn meets elderly Ninny Threadgoode. Over several encounters, Ninny tells Evelyn about the long-abandoned town of Whistle Stop and its residents.Шаблон:Efn

Ninny's tale begins with tomboy Idgie, the youngest member of the Threadgoode family, who later becomes Ninny's sister-in-law. Young Idgie is devastated when her beloved older brother, Buddy, is killed by a train. She remains socially withdrawn well into her adolescence. At the Threadgoode family's request, Buddy's former girlfriend, the straitlaced Ruth Jamison, intervenes.

Idgie initially rebuffs Ruth's attempt at friendship, but over the summer they gradually develop a deep attachment. Ruth eventually moves to Valdosta, Georgia, to marry Frank Bennett. Idgie visits and discovers that Frank habitually abuses a pregnant Ruth. Against Frank's violent attempts to stop her, Idgie and several men rescue Ruth who returns to Whistle Stop with Idgie, where her baby, Buddy Jr., is born. Papa Threadgoode gives Idgie money to start a business and help care for Ruth and Buddy Jr. She and Ruth open the Whistle Stop Cafe, employing the family cook, Sipsey, and her son, Big George, whose excellent barbecue becomes popular with customers.

Frank returns to Whistle Stop to kidnap his infant son, but an unseen assailant thwarts his attempt; Frank is soon reported missing. About five years later, Frank's truck surfaces in a nearby river. Idgie becomes a suspect, having publicly threatened Frank for beating Ruth. Sheriff Grady Kilgore detains both Idgie and Big George. Kilgore offers to release Idgie and pin Frank's supposed murder solely on Big George, but Idgie refuses. During the subsequent trial, Reverend Scroggins provides false testimony that supports both Idgie's and Big George's alibis. Taking into account Frank's reputation for drunkenness and his body never being found, the judge rules his probable death as accidental and drops all charges against Idgie and Big George.

Shortly after the trial, Ruth is diagnosed with terminal cancer and soon dies. When trains stop running through Whistle Stop, the café closes, and the town folk drift away. Ninny's story concludes, but not before Frank's fate is revealed. When Frank attempted to kidnap Buddy Jr., Sipsey hit Frank over the head with a cast-iron skillet, killing him. Frank's truck was pushed into the river, and Idgie convinced Big George to butcher and barbecue Frank's body, which they later served to Sheriff Curtis Smoot, who relentlessly investigated Frank's disappearance. Smoot proclaimed the meal as the best barbecue he ever ate.

Evelyn discovers Ninny was discharged from the nursing home. During her stay there, Ninny's house was condemned and demolished. Evelyn finds Ninny where the house once stood. She wants Ninny to live with her and Ed, to which Ninny agrees. They pass by Ruth's grave which is freshly adorned with a jar containing honey and a honeycomb. A card reads, "I'll always love you, the Bee Charmer". The Bee Charmer was Ruth's nickname for Idgie, and the note reveals that Idgie is still alive.

Cast

• Kathy Bates as Evelyn Couch
• Mary Stuart Masterson as Imogene "Idgie" Threadgoode
  • Nancy Moore Atchison as Young Idgie Threadgoode
• Mary-Louise Parker as Ruth Jamison
• Jessica Tandy as Ninny Threadgoode
• Cicely Tyson as Sipsey
• Chris O'Donnell as Buddy Threadgoode
• Stan Shaw as Big George
• Gailard Sartain as Ed Couch
• Tim Scott as Smokey Lonesome
• Gary Basaraba as Grady Kilgore
• Lois Smith as Mama Threadgoode
• Danny Nelson as Papa Threadgoode
• Jo Harvey Allen as Women's Awareness Teacher
• Macon McCalman as Prosecutor
• Richard Riehle as Reverend Scroggins
• Raynor Scheine as Curtis Smoot
• Grace Zabriskie as Eva Bates
• Nick Searcy as Frank Bennett
• Constance Shulman as Missy

Production

Development

Jon Avnet first read the novel in 1987. He was introduced to it by producer Lisa Lindstrom, with whom he worked on television films Heat Wave and Breaking Point. Although he wanted her to give him a synopsis of the story, she insisted he read the book and like her, he loved it. He decided to turn the story into a film and pitched the idea to Norman Lear's company, Act III Communications, who were interested and gave him a small budget for a screenwriter. He hired Carol Sobieski who had written the screenplay for 1982's Annie. She wrote a draft for it as a musical, which he was unhappy with. Sobieski left the project and he hired Flagg, who had been surprised that anyone would want to turn the novel into a film, to develop the script. Although she had some screenwriting experience, she found the process of turning her own novel into a script a strange one. The job was made somewhat easier by the work done by Sobieski and Avnet in choosing which characters from the book were going to be featured, but she found it difficult and also left the project, after writing 70 pages of the screenplay. With no money left to hire another writer, Avnet took the script over himself and spent the next 2–3 years developing it. Flagg gave her blessing to the final draft.

Avnet wrote the film with Jessica Tandy in mind; she expressed excitement about making the film. He had worked with Kathy Bates and Chris O'Donnell on the 1990 film Men Don't Leave before offering them the roles of Evelyn Couch and Buddy Threadgoode respectively. When Bates read the script she loved the characters and was particularly keen to work with Tandy. Mary-Louise Parker was casting director David Rubin's first choice for the role of Ruth Jamison. She read for the part several times, initially unhappy with her own tests. When she read along with Mary Stuart Masterson, theyШаблон:Spndand the producersШаблон:Spndagreed that they had good chemistry.

Location and filming

Avnet hired Barbara Ling as production designer. Scouting for a location, she found Juliette, Georgia, a town that was, according to Avnet, nearly deserted. The building chosen to be the Whistle Stop Café was formerly an antique and hardware store. It was redesigned as a cafe, with a horseshoe-shaped counter to allow for optimal camera angles.

The scene where Idgie goes to collect honey from a tree stump for Ruth was originally intended to be performed by a stunt double. However, after the latter backed out at the last minute, Masterson volunteered to do it herself. The footage of her covered in a swarm of live bees is seen in the final version of the film.

Flagg based the Whistle Stop restaurant on the real-life Irondale Café in Irondale, Alabama. She was a frequent visitor and it was formerly owned by her great-aunt.

Differences between the film and novel

Unlike the novel, the film does not make the lesbian romance between the two central characters explicit, instead leaving the relationship between Idgie and Ruth ambiguous. The DVD contains an audio commentary by Avnet in which he points out that a scene between Idgie and Ruth engaging in a food fight was intended as a "love scene".

At the time of the film's debut, it was criticized by reviewers and activists for what was seen as "glossing over" the lesbian relationship. But it won an award in 1992 from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for best feature film with lesbian content.

Although in the book Idgie and Ninny are two distinctly separate characters, at the end of the film it is largely hinted that they are one and the same. This runs counter to Ninny's earlier comment that "I was practically adopted by the Threadgoodes; I married her Шаблон:Bracket brother, Cleo". Additionally, the film has Ruth being in love with Buddy Threadgoode, Idgie's brother.

Release

Fried Green Tomatoes was given a limited release in the United States on December 27, 1991, opening in five theaters. It got a wide release four weeks later on January 24, 1992, in 673 theaters. It ran for 19 weeks in total, with its widest release having been 1,331 theaters.

Box office

Fried Green Tomatoes grossed $82.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $37 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $119.4 million, against a budget of $11 million. In its opening weekend it earned $105,317, and at its wide release opening weekend it earned $5,235,940, which was 6.4 percent of its total gross. According to Box Office Mojo, it ranked at no.Шаблон:Nbsp11 for all films released in the US in 1991, and no.Шаблон:Nbsp5 for PG‑13 rated films released that year.Шаблон:Citation needed

Home media

The VHS was released by MCA/Universal Home Video in North America on August 20, 1992.

The 137-minute "extended" collector's edition DVD for Region 1 was released by Universal Studios on April 18, 2000. The DVD features a documentary about the making of the film, commentary by Jon Avnet, original theatrical trailer, and the film poster campaign. The region free Blu-ray was released March 4, 2014.

In the United Kingdom, the VHS was released as Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Columbia Tristar Home Video on October 2, 1992. The DVD for Region 2 was released by Carlton Visual Entertainment on September 9, 2002.

Critical reception

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 6.70/10. The critical consensus reads, "Fried Green TomatoesШаблон:' tearjerking drama is undeniably manipulative, but in the hands of a skilled cast that includes Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates, it's also powerfully effective." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Critics enjoyed the narrative, but found it conventional and predictable. The adaptation of the separate narrative of book to the screen was criticized by Time Out as "clumsy", Roger Ebert praised the performances, Janet Maslin praised the costume and production design and Emanuel Levy praised the cinematography and score. The cast drew praise for their performances, particularly Masterson and Tandy.

In 2005, Fried Green Tomatoes was nominated by the American Film Institute for its "AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers" list of most inspiring movies.

Accolades

Award	Date	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Шаблон:Abbreviation
Academy Awards	Шаблон:Center	Best Supporting Actress	Jessica Tandy	Шаблон:Nom
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Fannie Flagg, Carol Sobieski	Шаблон:Nom
BMI Awards	May 19, 1993	Motion Picture Composer Award	Thomas Newman	Шаблон:Won
British Academy Film Awards	Шаблон:Center	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Jessica Tandy	Шаблон:Nom
		Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Kathy Bates	Шаблон:Nom
GLAAD Media Award	April 11, 1992	GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release	Fried Green Tomatoes	Шаблон:Won
Golden Globe Awards	Шаблон:Center	Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Fried Green Tomatoes	Шаблон:Nom
		Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Kathy Bates	Шаблон:Nom
		Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Jessica Tandy	Шаблон:Nom
Guldbagge Awards	Шаблон:Center	Best Foreign Film	Fried Green Tomatoes	Шаблон:Nom
Writers Guild of America Awards	Шаблон:Center	Best Adapted Screenplay	Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski	Шаблон:Nom

Soundtrack

Шаблон:Infobox album The Fried Green Tomatoes: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was supervised by Arthur Baker, who also produced several of the songs. Baker and American singer-songwriter Grayson Hugh co-arranged and recorded Bob Dylan's song "I'll Remember You" for the end-title song. British singer-songwriter Paul Young appears with the song "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1992. The soundtrack featured Patti LaBelle performing Bessie Jackson's 1933 blues song, "Barbecue Bess".

The original score, composed by Thomas Newman, was released as Fried Green Tomatoes in June 1992.

Legacy

Файл:Window at the Whistlestop.760.jpg

Inside the Whistle Stop Cafe, Juliette, Georgia.

After the release of Fried Green Tomatoes, the town of Juliette saw an influx of tourists and, with Jon Avnet's encouragement, locals opened the Whistle Stop Café, recreated to mirror the film set. Although "Whistle Stop Café" is a registered trademark, other establishments have appeared using that name.

The film caused the fried green tomatoes food dish to be known as a delicacy of the Southern United States, when it previously did not have such a status.

External links

• Шаблон:IMDb title
• Fried Green Tomatoes at AFI Catalog of Feature Films, American Film Institute
• Шаблон:AllMovie title