A housewife who is unhappy with her life befriends an old lady in a nursing home and is enthralled by the tales she tells of people she used to know.A housewife who is unhappy with her life befriends an old lady in a nursing home and is enthralled by the tales she tells of people she used to know.A housewife who is unhappy with her life befriends an old lady in a nursing home and is enthralled by the tales she tells of people she used to know.
- Director
- Writers
- Fannie Flagg(novel "Fried Green Tomatoes At the Whistle Stop Cafe")
- Carol Sobieski(screenplay)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Fannie Flagg(novel "Fried Green Tomatoes At the Whistle Stop Cafe")
- Carol Sobieski(screenplay)
- Stars
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 6 wins & 12 nominations total
Videos1
Timothy Scott
- Smokey Lonesomeas Smokey Lonesome
- (as Tim Scott)
- Director
- Writers
- Fannie Flagg(novel "Fried Green Tomatoes At the Whistle Stop Cafe") (screenplay)
- Carol Sobieski(screenplay)
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
Evelyn Couch is having trouble in her marriage, and no one seems to take her seriously. While in a nursing home visiting relatives, she meets Ninny Threadgoode, an outgoing old woman, who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode, a young woman in 1920's Alabama. Through Idgie's inspiring life, Evelyn learns to be more assertive and builds a lasting friendship of her own with Ninny. —Kevin <Kibble@vm.temple.edu>
- Taglines
- The secret of life? The secret's in the sauce.
- Genre
- Certificate
- PG-13
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaMary Stuart Masterson did all of the bee stunts herself because her stunt double quit at the last minute.
- GoofsWhen Evelyn arrives in Whistle Stop, Ninny is sitting on a suitcase. A few minutes later, when they walk towards the car, the suitcase has disappeared.
- Quotes
[Evelyn is cut off in a parking lot]
Evelyn Couch: Hey! I was waiting for that spot!
Girl #1: Face it, lady, we're younger and faster!
[Evelyn rear-ends the other car six times]
Girl #1: What are you *doing*?
Girl #2: Are you *crazy*?
Evelyn Couch: Face it, girls, I'm older and I have more insurance.
- Alternate versionsIn the TV version, Idgie watches Ruth teaching Sunday school before taking her to her birthday party at the saloon.
- SoundtracksMy Blue Heaven
Written by Walter Donaldson and George Whiting
Performed by Gene Austin and His Orchestra
Courtesy of the RCA Records Label of BMG Music
Top review
A warm, well acted film with sexual overtones
While I love this film, and have seen it a dozen times at least, the maturing of my mind since the first time I saw it as a teen in 1991, have made me take a second look at this stunningly acted film about love, friendship, devotion and racial issues in a multiple decade look at women's roles in society.
Anyone who went to college where I did would see that Idgy from her childhood is the sterotypical Lesbian. She does not like to wear dresses and prefers a man's dress even as a youngster. As she ages, and as Ruth befriends her, she is tantalized by a kiss Ruth gives her on the cheek at the swimming hole and so devastated by Ruth's wedding that she does not even attend but instead drives hours to Valdosta, Georgia to look on hurtfully from the woods at Ruth carried in her new home in her wedding dress.
As the film progresses and Ruth is rescued from her abusive relationship the two start a cafe called Whistle Stop Cafe in Whistle Stop, Alabama. If one watches carefully they'll see that the two live together in a house near the cafe. In one poignant moment, the two women are talking over coffee late at night in the cafe when Ruth says that she feels bad that Idgy may feel she needs to stay and care for Ruth and Buddy Threadgoode Jr. (Buddy is Ruth's son but has Idgy's last name?!) Ruth says that if it weren't for she and Buddy, Idgy may "settle down" Idgy dramatically replies "I am as settled as I am ever going to be" and "I don't want you to move out" The clincher was the image they showed shortly after that scene of Ruth in a feminine dress and Idgy in shorts and a shirt and tie, holding each other and smiling. Idgy never married or dated and Ruth never remarried.
Everyone must come to their own conclusion but mine is two women in the 1930's who enjoy a healthy, loving lesbian relationship with the disguise of business partners in a time and place when different anything race, religion or creed, was just not tolerated or accepted.
Anyone who went to college where I did would see that Idgy from her childhood is the sterotypical Lesbian. She does not like to wear dresses and prefers a man's dress even as a youngster. As she ages, and as Ruth befriends her, she is tantalized by a kiss Ruth gives her on the cheek at the swimming hole and so devastated by Ruth's wedding that she does not even attend but instead drives hours to Valdosta, Georgia to look on hurtfully from the woods at Ruth carried in her new home in her wedding dress.
As the film progresses and Ruth is rescued from her abusive relationship the two start a cafe called Whistle Stop Cafe in Whistle Stop, Alabama. If one watches carefully they'll see that the two live together in a house near the cafe. In one poignant moment, the two women are talking over coffee late at night in the cafe when Ruth says that she feels bad that Idgy may feel she needs to stay and care for Ruth and Buddy Threadgoode Jr. (Buddy is Ruth's son but has Idgy's last name?!) Ruth says that if it weren't for she and Buddy, Idgy may "settle down" Idgy dramatically replies "I am as settled as I am ever going to be" and "I don't want you to move out" The clincher was the image they showed shortly after that scene of Ruth in a feminine dress and Idgy in shorts and a shirt and tie, holding each other and smiling. Idgy never married or dated and Ruth never remarried.
Everyone must come to their own conclusion but mine is two women in the 1930's who enjoy a healthy, loving lesbian relationship with the disguise of business partners in a time and place when different anything race, religion or creed, was just not tolerated or accepted.
helpful•7640
- tanya_lamb
- Jul 5, 2002
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $82,418,501
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $105,317
- Dec 29, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $119,418,501
- Runtime2 hours 10 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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