Bagdad Cafe


1987 movie

Rating: 14/20

Plot: After leaving her husband, a German lady winds up at a motel in the middle of nowhere. The proprietor is skeptical of her ambitions, but she manages to add some spunk to the place and turn it into an attraction.

On the one hand, there's a metronome tease and an irritating opening song that frustrated me, but seeing Jack Palance with that vest, headband, and belt buckle combination won me over. The quirk is spread all over this like I spread mayonnaise on a ham sandwich, but as a fan of quirk, I'm not going to have any issues with that. The story's slight, and there's really nothing profound about the clash of these characters of different races and backgrounds. That might be part of the appeal though. This doesn't always have a thrust or consistent voice, but there's more than enough individual moments and little details to entertain. And I'm always a sucker for these movies where an Eastern European director shares his or her perspective on America.

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