Bagdad Cafe
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Many elements [in Bagdad Cafe] connoting "Germanness" however, surface repeatedly. Jasmin's husband, for instance, stops at the Bagdad Cafe after abandoning his wife, and before she arrives there herself. He enters and asks for a beer, but once he finds out there is none to be had, he orders coffee. This feeds into a two-pronged running gag involving coffee ..."--When Heimat Meets Hollywood (2007) by Christine Haase A desert road from Vegas to nowhere --"Calling You" (1987) |
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Bagdad Cafe (1987) is an English-language West German film directed by Percy Adlon.
It is a comedy-drama set in a remote truck stop and motel in the Mojave Desert in the U.S. state of California.
Inspired by Carson McCullers' novella The Ballad of the Sad Café (1951), the film centers on two women who have recently separated from their husbands, and the blossoming friendship that ensues.
The song "Calling You", sung by Jevetta Steele has become famous in its own right.
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Plot
German tourists Jasmin Münchgstettner (Sägebrecht) from Rosenheim and her husband quarrel while driving across the American southwest desert. She storms out of the car and makes her way to an isolated truck stop cafe, which is 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 cafe.
The cafe is visited by an assortment of colorful characters, including a strange ex-Hollywood set-painter (Palance) and a glamorous tattoo artist (Kaufmann). Brenda's son (Darron Flagg) plays J. S. Bach preludes on the piano. With an ability to quietly empathize with everyone she meets at the cafe, helped by a passion for cleaning and performing magic tricks, Jasmin gradually transforms the cafe and all the people in it.
Soundtrack
1. Calling You 2. Blues Harp 3. Zweifach 4. Brenda, Brenda 5. C-Major Prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier 6. Calliope 7. Calling You
Jevetta Steele, William Galison, Deininger Blasmusik, Jearlyn Steele-Battle, Marianne Sägebrecht., Tommy Joe White, Darron Flagg, Bob Telson
Cast
- Marianne Sägebrecht as Jasmin Münchgstettner
- CCH Pounder as Brenda
- Jack Palance as Rudi Cox
- Christine Kaufmann as Debby
- Monica Calhoun as Phyllis
- Darron Flagg as Salomo
- George Aguilar as Cahuenga
- G. Smokey Campbell as Sal
- Hans Stadlbauer as Herr Münchgstettner
- Alan S. Craig as Eric
- Apesanahkwat as Sheriff Arnie
See also
- Boiling white people in a pot
- Coffee
- Thermos
- Southwestern United States
- White savior
- Compulsive decluttering
- Boomerang
- Lederhosen
- Death in Venice
