Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Blu-ray Movie Review

Still crazy after all these years.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 19, 2014

February 3, 1959 is famously immortalized as “the day the music died,” in a tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. What, then, might September 30, 1955 be called? It was on that date that James Dean, just beginning to enjoy his status as one of America’s new film superstars, was killed in a devastating car accident on what was then called U.S. Route 466. The location of the accident has perhaps dubiously been named the James Dean Memorial Junction, but the date itself has yet to really receive an epigrammatic label like the one Don McLean provided in “American Pie.” What (metaphorically speaking) did die in that fiery crash in 1955? Film stars come and go, of course, and sometimes meet their fates in gruesome ways (Jayne Mansfield springs to mind), but there was something in Dean’s passing that seemed to ignite something in the fifties’ youth culture zeitgeist that seemed larger and perhaps even more profound than the “mere” death of a popular figure. Dean’s death is the raison d'être for the reunion at the core of Robert Altman’s filmed stage play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, but in a very real sense it’s merely a Hitchcockian “McGuffin” used to bring together a gaggle of characters who as teenagers had swooned over Dean when he journeyed to Marfa, Texas to film Giant. Part memory play, part confessional, and with just a hint of darkly humorous Southern Gothic ambience underlying its nostalgic tone, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean may be too overtly theatrical for its own good (at least as a film), but it offers some superb performances by a cast which includes some Altman regulars along with relative “newcomers” like a certain Cher.

It’s 1975 and the 20th anniversary of Dean’s death has arrived. In the dusty backwater of McCarthy, Texas, former members of a fan club called the Disciples of James Dean are gathering to catch up with each other and to remember their now long ago idol. Already Altman and playwright Ed Graczyk are exploiting the disconnect between “then” and “now,” with five and dime operator Juanita (Sudie Bond) seeming to defy logic by calling out to “Jimmy Dean.” The film’s set utilizes a large mirror (in what might be an unwitting similarity to a similar device used in both the original Broadway and film versions of Cabaret) which tends to act as both a portal to memory as well as a “frame” for Altman to offer glimpses of characters reacting to various events. From virtually the first moment of the film, there’s a tenuous thread linking memory with current day events, a thread that becomes increasingly frayed as various relationships and issues from the past are confronted.

Soon enough other former members start showing up, including Sissy (Cher), a bit of a firecracker who leads the film into the first of several revelatory flashback scenes. Later, Mona (Sandy Dennis), Edna Louise (Marta Heflin) and Stella Mae (Kathy Bates) show up, though a character shown in flashbacks, Joe (Mark Patton), the only male in this group, is oddly absent. The film begins to detail the excitement caused in 1955 when it was announced that Giant would be filming relatively nearby. That in turn leads to the first of several kind of odd “reveals,” in this case a somewhat surprising confession by Mona that may or may not be delusional. Ultimately when a stranger named Joanne (Karen Black) shows up, the film delivers yet another round of ostensibly surprising revelations, replete with a fairly ugly flashback.

The major problem with Come Back to the Five and DIme, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, other than its somewhat overboiled and florid sensibility, is that it’s built on a metaphor which ultimately isn’t really that germane to the stories being told. Why utilize James Dean’s Texas celebrity and, later, California death to unite these characters? Sure, it makes sense in terms of timeframe and location, but Graczyk seems to be aiming for something more profound with this artifice, a depth which really never arrives. That leaves a gaggle of admittedly interesting characters dealing with various peccadilloes past and present, but it divorces the film from any organic connection to its putative subtext.

As with many Altman pieces, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is an actors’ showcase, and the boisterous cast does a great job bringing these odd characters fully to life. Film directors have had a fairly spotty track record trying to matriculate to Broadway if they’ve had no real prior experience in that realm (even an icon like Vincente Minnelli flopped big time when he attempted to mount a musical Mata Hari back in the sixties). Altman’s intimate approach in films didn’t quite gel with the original stage version’s over the top histrionics and larger than life characters. That disconnect is ironically only exaggerated in this film version, with Altman’s naturalistic, up close and personal technique struggling to come to terms with floridly theatrical material.

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Shot on a shoestring in Super 16, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean has never looked really spectacular (I caught the film in its brief theatrical run years ago), something that's repeated here in this new high definition presentation. Colors seem to have faded slightly, with flesh tones edging toward pink and the basic palette lacking any significant amount of pop. The image is fairly fuzzy virtually all the way through the film, with some midrange shots little more than moving blobs of color. Close-ups can fare at least relatively better, with decent if underwhelming detail. The grain field is quite heavy at times, but hasn't suffered any digital scrubbing whatsoever. Contrast is anemic and a bit inconsistent, further debilitating an already problematic image. With all of that said, there's nothing horrible here, and while not transcendent in any sense, the image is at least watchable if far from impressive.

Note: Fans may know that the UCLA Film and Television Archive restored Come to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in 2011. However, there's no acknowledgement on either the packaging or the actual disc that this version was sourced from that restoration. Olive Films aficionados may recall the label chose not to utilize the UCLA restoration of The Quiet Man for that Blu-ray release, so there would be a precedent of sorts if this indeed wasn't sourced from the restoration.

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Come Back to the Five and DIme, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix very capably supports this fairly talky film, as well as offering a clear accounting of some of the musical elements (you didn't think any film with Cher wasn't going to have a tune or two, did you?). Fidelity is very good, but dynamic range is somewhat contricted.

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Playwright Ed Graczyk (1080p; 20:16). This is the rare Olive Films Blu-ray release with any supplementary material, in this case an enjoyable sit down with the playwright, who muses over the history of the property and offers some nice anecdotes about Altman.

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Robert Altman was such an iconoclast and affable provocateur that it's become commonplace to dismiss some of his efforts as overly twee and self-indulgent. There's ultimately not much "there" there to Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, but the fault lies squarely on the writing rather than on Altman's directorial technique. What works best here are the performances, and the unique camaraderie between these characters does manage to work up some compelling emotional interest. Technical merits here are only average, but this is the rare Olive release with a supplement. Taken as a whole and with caveats in mind, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean comes Recommended.