Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (1991)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Introduction Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	1991
Running Time	124:40
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (63:09)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jon Avnet
Studio Distributor	MRA Entertainment	Starring	Kathy Bates Jessica Tandy Mary-Louise Parker Mary Stuart Masterson
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Thomas Newman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a very good adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel. The film and the novel touch on many things - lifestyle in rural Alabama in the 1920s, the social status and conventions of Southern women, social issues such as racism, wife abuse, female emancipation, dealing with tragedy and loss of loved ones, the treatment of old people, and even a murder mystery and a courtroom drama thrown in! But above all, the story celebrates the importance and joy of friendships that bond women together.

    Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) is a frustrated housewife trapped within the bounds of society's expectations of how a "nice" modern Southern American woman is supposed to behave. Destined and taught by life to be timid, dutiful, caring, mild-mannered and to yield to her husband, Evelyn senses that her world is crumbling on her. Now that her children have grown up and left home, she feels lonely and there is no 'sparkle' left in her marriage - her husband Ed (Gailard Sartain) takes her for granted and the younger generation has no respect for her. In desperation, she has resorted to over-eating and attending classes on everything from how to save her marriage to discovering her sexuality.

    One day, whilst visiting Ed's recalcitrant aunt, she meets octogenarian Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) at the nursing home. Ninny starts telling her stories about her youth at a small town called Whistle Stop in the 1920s, in particular stories revolving around a rebellious tomboy called Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson). Gradually, over the course of several visits and many stories, Evelyn builds a strong bond of friendship with Ninny and is inspired by those stories to assert her own independence and take control over her life.

    Idgie's stories are told as a series of flashbacks. Idgie is an adventurous and rebellious tomboy who goes completely out of control when her beloved brother Buddy (Chris O'Donnell) dies after being run over by a train when his foot got stuck in the rail tracks. Her mother (Lois Smith) decides to persuade pretty, demure Ruth Jameson (Mary-Louise Parker) - who is every inch a proper and respectable Southern belle - to try and befriend Idgie in order to exert a positive influence on her.

    Idgie is contemptuous of Ruth at first, but Ruth soon wins Idgie's trust through sheer determination and soon they are the best of friends. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, Ruth's good manners and feminine behaviour don't quite rub off on Idgie - indeed the influencing seems more the other way round. Idgie soon has Ruth joining her in playing poker, baseball and drinking alcohol.

    Idgie is disappointed when Ruth gets married to Frank Bennett (Nick Searcy) and vows never to see her again. However, curiosity soon gets the better of Idgie and she decides to pay Ruth a visit. She is shocked to discover that Frank has been beating his new wife and Ruth is desperately unhappy. When Ruth gets pregnant, Idgie and her friends manage to persuade Ruth to leave her husband before his temper endangers her life and that of her unborn child.

    The two friends decide to become business partners and open a cafe at the small town of Whistle Stop serving great Southern food, including fried green tomatoes. Their policy of never refusing service even to the poor, the destitute and the coloured soon attracts the attention of the Ku Klux Klan - whose members include none other than Ruth's ex-husband Frank. When Ruth gives birth to a son, Frank tries to kidnap him but mysteriously disappears. When his truck is dredged up from the river five years later, foul play is suspected and Idgie and her Negro friend Big George (Stan Shaw) are prime suspects (given that Idgie had threatened to kill Frank if he dare approach Ruth and Big George had been abused at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan).

    This is a poignant story, yet full of drama and surprises, and is exquisitely told and acted. The ending has a twist and a revelation that you will either hate or love - and some of you will have seen it coming since the start of the film.

    Many people have pointed out to me what they perceive as a "lesbian" aspect of the story - the true nature of the relationship between Idgie and Ruth - in particular Ruth kissing Idgie in one scene and the declaration of her "love" for Idgie in the courtroom. However, I don't think the film necessarily implies that their friendship is anything more than platonic - I know from personal experience that it is very possible for two females to form lifelong and deep friendships that have no sexual connotations whatsoever and these friendships can be deeper than romantic or even family ties. And clearly the "mirror" friendship between Evelyn and Ninny cannot be anything other than non-sexual (unless of course your mind travels along unusual paths indeed!).

    In particular, I think the casting of the two Marys as Idgie and Ruth is perfect - I dare say many a female would recognise or have encountered their very own Idgies and Ruths in their schooldays! Which of us have not envied and perhaps even secretly admired a pretty, demure and proper "Ruth" whom the adults will always praise? How many of us have befriended a naughty, boisterous "Idgie" who has led us to experience things we would never have been brave enough to try on our own? Three cheers for the cast and crew - in particular director Jon Avnet and screenwriters Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski - for a sensitive and moving film that is worth watching again and again.

Video

    Unfortunately, we get a 1.33:1 transfer instead of the intended aspect ratio of 1.85:1 - as opposed to Regions 1 and 2 who get a 16x9 enhanced widescreen transfer.

    However, judging by the framing of most scenes, the transfer appears to be full frame (open matte) rather than pan & scan. If you have a widescreen video display that can "mask" the top and bottom of the frame I would urge you to do so and you will be rewarded with a much tighter and aesthetically pleasing viewing experience - although you will have to put up with the loss of resolution.

    Fairly high transfer rates are used throughout the film resulting in a rather pleasing video transfer with minimal artefacts (I can detect minor and rare instances of shimmering and moire patterns as the only faults). The film quality is also acceptable - there is a minor amount of grain but fortunately due to the high transfer rate the grain is not compounded by MPEG compression artefacts such as ringing.

    A moderate amount of edge enhancement has been applied, resulting in some ringing around titles. Detail levels are generally good, although the overall look of the transfer is a touch on the soft side, although I suspect this is due to the film stock rather than a problem with the transfer. Similarly, colour saturation levels are good given the age of the film but probably not as bright as a recent release print.

    This is a single sided dual layered disc (RSDL). The transfer is broken into several DVD titles of durations 19:34, 33:39, 37:16 and 34:11 respectively. I suspect these correspond to the length of the film reels. On my DVD player, this resulted in several minor pauses as the player switched between titles.

    I suspect the layer change occurs at Title 6 Chapter 3 around 9:56 (around 63:09 minutes into the film) as for some reason my DVD player freezes at this point (although the disc plays fine on a PC with a DVD-ROM drive). This is the second disc that I have experienced this freeze on, and I suspect it's either a player bug or a fault in the DVD mastering.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this disc: English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded (448Kb/s).

    The high transfer rate has benefited the audio transfer quality and it sounds quite pleasant and full-bodied, though don't expect lots of low frequencies or extreme high frequencies in the audio track.

    Even though the audio track is fairly dialogue focused, I noticed that some care has been taken in terms of positioning the Foley effects. I noticed, for example, that train and automobile sounds in particular are consistently panned across the front speakers or from front to rear speakers. Speaking of which, the rear speakers are well-engaged in the soundtrack either for Foley effects or reproducing ambience from the music score.

    Dialogue was reasonably clear (which is just as well as the disc does not contain a subtitle track) and synced. The original music score by Thomas Newman is suitably lush and suits the mood of the film well.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Compared to the Region 1 Collector's Edition disc, the extras on this disc are somewhat disappointing.

Menu

    The menu is full frame and mostly static, apart from an animated introduction and an animated transition into the "Features" sub-menu.

Theatrical Trailer (2:34)

    This is also presented in full frame (open matte) together with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded audio track.

Photo Gallery

    This is a collection of 15 colour stills of the cast taken during the shooting of the film.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• 16x9 enhanced widescreen video transfer in intended aspect ratio (1.85:1)
• Director's commentary track
• Featurette (Moments of Discovery)
• Spanish and French subtitle tracks
• Jon Avnet's Scene Specific Notes
• Photo Gallery - Production Photographs
• Photo Gallery - Poster Campaign
• additional trailers

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• 1.33:1 full frame (open matte) video transfer

    Given the 16x9 enhanced transfer and substantial extras present on the Region 1 version, I do not see any reason why anyone who likes this film should consider the Region 4 version. There is also a Region 2 version which is minimalist but does include a 16x9 enhanced widescreen video transfer as well as a featurette.

    Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is an excellent film based on Fannie Flagg's novel.

    The video transfer is acceptable although it is full frame/open matte.

    The audio transfer is reasonably good and features good usage of the rear speakers.

    Unfortunately we miss out on a 16x9 enhanced transfer and all the extras, including a director's commentary track, present on the Region 1 Collector's Edition.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall