Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2919 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-01
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 95 minutes

From Amazon.com
Jasmin (Marianne Sägebrecht), a German tourist, has just walked off from her husband at the side of the road in the middle of the Mojave Desert; Brenda (CCH Pounder) has just kicked her husband out of the roadside cafe-motel they operate. When Jasmin arrives at the cafe, the two begin developing a prickly but ultimately rewarding friendship. Many other movies have tried to duplicate Bagdad Cafe's mixture of loose storytelling, off-kilter metaphors, and rich emotions, but most often these imitators leave out the random chaos of life and the awkward pain of change that Bagdad Cafe captures with such a gentle touch. Bagdad Cafe earns both its quirkiness and its sentiment by keeping one foot firmly rooted in reality. Director Percy Adlon teamed with star Sägebrecht in two other similarly offbeat movies, Sugarbaby and Rosalie Goes Shopping; his more recent features without her haven't been as successful. Still, he continues to be noted for his odd but lively use of color filters and jagged editing. Bagdad Cafe also features the great Jack Palance (Shane, Requiem for a Heavyweight, City Slickers) playing an easy-going painter; the opportunity to be an ordinary person, rather than his usual wicked fiends, brings out a delightful mischief in Palance. Pounder, who usually gets small supporting parts, deserves another role like this to take advantage of her remarkable range. All in all, an eccentric and wonderful film. --Bret Fetzer

Review
A cross between an existential European character study and a giddy Hollywood musical, Percy Adlon's desert fantasy introduced the offbeat character actress Marianne S�gebrecht 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, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
Original theatrical trailer

Customer Reviews

My favorite movie of all time
This movie is just perfect. It deserves all the oscars in the world. After watching this movie, you feel good about life....

Different Worlds Harmonize -- Quiet Gem of a Film
When a middle aged Bavarian Tourist lands in a remote, scarcely populated California desert town, she creates not only a stir with the locals, but eventually brightens the spirits of her host family as well as all the "regulars" who pass through the "Bagdad Cafe". What started out as a "big mistake" soon looks like divine providence.

"Miss Jasmin" (the German lady with a matching accent) and "Miss Brenda" (the rough-talking owner of a greasy-spoon restaurant who employs Jasmin and gives her a home) become close friends. An aging "showbusiness man" (brilliantly played by pre-City-Slickers Jack Palance) views Miss Jasmin as his "muse" and is inspired to paint her portrait. When word gets out that her tourist visa had expired, the local Sheriff forces Jasmin to return to Germany. Sadness canvases the place where Jasmin had been embraced as a welcome change of schedule. The life she had brought with her seemed drained away with her departure.

There isn't much plot to stretch the running time (the original German cut runs nearly 2 hours), however there are many bittersweet moments in this simple, but beautiful film. The last few scenes deliver the inevidible (thus predictable) conclusion. A little on the "artsy" side and clearly without a multi-million dollar budget, but still a palatable final product.****

Different
Reviewed and summed up well by others, I'll just add that from a truck enthusiast's perspective, this movie contains bonus footage and sounds of a tidy Barstow Cat-powered peterbilt and GM-powered 4070 International, plus background shots of various highway rigs and freight trains.

A wonderful movie