The Tavern (1999)

Two men beg and borrow money to start a neighborhood bar. Initially the bar thrives, then the crowds start to dwindle. The two then add music and hire a top notch chef, which boosts ... See full summary »

Director:

Walter Foote

Writer:

Walter Foote

Stars:

Cameron Dye, Greg Zittel, Margaret Cho

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cameron Dye	...	Ronnie
Greg Zittel	...	Kevin
Margaret Cho	...	Carol
Nancy Ticotin	...	Gina
Kevin Geer	...	Dave
Phyllis Esposito	...	Angela
Carlo Alban	...	Tommy
Steven Marcus	...	Jerry
Tom Ryan	...	Jimmy
Michael Baker	...	Freddie
Heather King	...	Jeannette
Kym Austin	...	Sharon
Tyler Foote	...	Dave's Child
Lilian Foote	...	Dave's Child
Jennifer Harmon	...	Ronnie's Mother

Storyline

Two men beg and borrow money to start a neighborhood bar. Initially the bar thrives, then the crowds start to dwindle. The two then add music and hire a top notch chef, which boosts business again - for a time. Basically the film examines the travails of a small business owner and shows the up and down nature of such a business. The twosome not only suffer business depressions, but also personal problems as one loses his long time girl friend and the other loses his day job.

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Plot Keywords:

independent film

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Details

Official Sites:

Foote Speed, Inc. Redeemable Features

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1999 (USA)

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,095 (USA) (27 October 2000)

Gross:

$6,096 (USA) (27 October 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Foote Speed Productions, Redeemable Features

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"How Can U Be Down"

User Reviews

Like Father, Like Son

Horton Foote has often written incisive character studies that are dramatically underpowered, and this effort by his writer-director son follows in Dad's footsteps. The very model of a small, well-meaning, late-1990s independent movie with no major stars (the biggest, third-billed Margaret Cho, has about five minutes of screen time), it's a little-people-about-their-tasks slice-of-life drama where the good guys mess up, clean up, mess up, clean up, and commit some business errors that seem improbably naive. Cameron Dye has a nice Aidan Quinn soulfulness and Kevin Geer is quietly excellent, but they haven't much to play. As another poster mentioned, it's unconvincingly telescoped -- does all the action take place within a year, with the tavern trying so many formats and suffering so many twists of fate? Also, for what it's worth, where would the "Tavern on Main" be? It's a New York-set film with some authentic-looking locations (and others that smack of Toronto), but the only Main Street in the five boroughs is in Flushing, and these bar patrons are definitely not East Queens stock.