Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

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:

Jon Avnet

Writers:

Fannie Flagg (novel), Fannie Flagg (screenplay)

Stars:

Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kathy Bates	...	Evelyn Couch
Mary Stuart Masterson	...	Idgie Threadgoode
Mary-Louise Parker	...	Ruth Jamison
Jessica Tandy	...	Ninny Threadgoode
Cicely Tyson	...	Sipsey
Chris O'Donnell	...	Buddy Threadgoode
Stan Shaw	...	Big George
Gailard Sartain	...	Ed Couch
Timothy Scott	...	Smokey Lonesome (as Tim Scott)
Gary Basaraba	...	Grady Kilgore
Lois Smith	...	Mama Threadgoode
Jo Harvey Allen	...	Women's Awareness Teacher
Macon McCalman	...	Prosecutor Percy
Richard Riehle	...	Reverend Scroggins
Raynor Scheine	...	Sheriff Curtis Smoote

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.

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Plot Keywords:

domestic violence | cannibalism | nursing home | friendship | alabama | 

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Taglines:

The secret of life? The secret's in the sauce.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 January 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tomates verdes fritos

Filming Locations:

Agnes Scott College - 141 E. College Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$82,418,501

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$119,418,501

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Act III Communications, Avnet/Kerner Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min 137 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fannie Flagg, who wrote the screenplay and the renowned book the movie was based on, "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe," is best known as a panelist on the 1970's game show Match Game PM (1975). She was born in Alabama, where the book is set, and is now a celebrated author of Southern-genre writing, in the vein of Margaret Mitchell and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

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Goofs

When Evelyn's husband brings her flowers, she pulls out previous flowers from the vase and we can see there is no water in the vase. Both bunch of flowers appear to be artificial.

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Quotes

Idgie Threadgoode: I don't know what's worse, church or jail.

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Alternate Versions

Network and DVD versions contains some additional footage not included in the theatrical release:

• Just after Big George is released by the KKK gang, and Grady tells the gang he doesn't recognize any of them, there is a scene where Grady tells Idgie that he doesn't wear size 14 shoes and that he is no member of the KKK. This scene is missing from the theatrical release.
• A scene is added in which Ninny Threadgoode and Evelyn Couch go to a Baptist Church and see a gospel singer perform. She sings "Listen to the Rain."

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Connections

Referenced in Friday Night Lights: Last Days of Summer (2007)

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Soundtracks

A Charge to Keep I Have
Performed by Marion Williams
Produced by Anthony Heilbut
Instrumentation by Thomas Newman
Courtesy of Spirit Feel Records

User Reviews

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.