Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistlestop Cafe

• Cat.no: VCD 0007
• Cert: PG
• Running time: 125 minutes
• Year: 1991
• Pressing: 1999
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 25 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Surround (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: None
• Widescreen: 16:9
• 16:9-enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Featurette.
  

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  Director:

  Jon Avnet

  (Up Close And Personal)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski

Music:

Cast:

Evelyn Couch: Kathy Bates (Amy Foster, Dolores Claiborne, Misery, Prelude To A Kiss, Titanic, White Palace)
Idgie Threadgoode: Mary Stuart Masterson (Bad Girls, Bed Of Roses, Benny And Joon, Catholic Boys, Heaven’s Prisoners, Some Kind Of Wonderful)
Ruth: Mary-Louise Parker (Boys On The Side, Bullets Over Broadway, The Client, Grand Canyon, Portrait Of A Lady)
Ninny Threadgoode: Jessica Tandy (The Birds, Camilla, Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy)
Big George: Stan Shaw (Cutthroat Island, TV: “Roots”)
Sipsey: Cicely Tyson (Acceptable Risks, House Of Secrets, TV: “Roots”)
Buddy: Chris O’Donnell (Batman And Robin, Batman Forever, The Chamber, Circle Of Friends, In Love And War, Scent Of A Woman, The Three Musketeers (1994))

Fried Green Tomatoes… is the coming together of two worlds, one belonging to middle-aged Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) who feels that life is passing her by and whose marriage is in a rut; and Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) an elderly hospital patient. A chance meeting leads to a unexpected friendship and Ninny’s recollections of her own life give Evelyn the chance to realise that there is time to put the spark back into her life.

Ninny tells an absorbing story of two very different women who lived half a century ago in the town of Whistle Stop, Alabama: the dare-devilish tomboy Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the demure and good-hearted Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker). Together they ran the Whistle Stop Cafe – a railside eatery serving good old southern food, as well as a good helping of friendship and laughter, although things turned sour when Ruth’s violent estranged husband returned to take away their child. The events that followed led to his death and Idgie was the prime suspect, but always remember that the secret’s in the sauce…

The picture quality is mostly very good on this disc although it’s a little grainy in places although the average bitrate is a high 7.84Mb/s. On the plus side, the widescreen 16:9 transfer is anamorphic, thus allowing for extra resolution on widescreen televisions.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround) sound doesn’t get used for anything that will make you jump out of your seat, but the score is pleasing and there’s a good surround-sound moment in chapter 5 when Idgie steals some honey from a beehive.

Extras :

Chapters/Trailer : There are 25 chapters spread throughout the film, which is fine although most are used in the second hour. For some reason, the chapter selection menu lists chapters 2-25 as 1-24, as it omits the start of the film. The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer.

Languages/Subtitles :

There’s just the one language on this disc – English – and there are no subtitles, nor is there a commentary track.

Other extras : Just a four-minute ‘featurette’ graces this title which is a shame given the amount of extras on the Region 1 (USA) Special Edition which not only features a commentary track from the director, but a documentary entitled, “Moments of Discovery”, a music highlights section, Jon Avnet’s scene specific notes, production photographs, production notes, cast and crew biographies and a DVD-Rom section with 20 recipes.

Menu :

The interactive menu is fine with a small amount of background animation. Note that on playing the disc you can’t skip past the VCI logo and copyright info.

Overall, this is a fine film to have on DVD and quite an entertaining one at that as you watch the friendship grow between the two female leads. It’s a shame that there wasn’t much else in the way of extras and it’s confusing why the disc box states “Extra features – 4:3”, indicating that there is a fullscreen version of the film, as there isn’t…not that that’s a particular minus.

What I’d really like to know is what was cut to get this film down from its original theatrical 12-certificate to the PG-certificate version that has already been released on video, albeit in pan-and-scan form. FILM : **** PICTURE QUALITY: **** SOUND QUALITY: *** EXTRAS: ** ——————————- OVERALL: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.