Bagdad Café **** (1987, Marianne Sägebrecht, Jack Palance, C C H Pounder, Christine Kaufmann, Monica Calhoun, Darron Flagg) – Classic Movie Review 11,536

Director Percy Adlon’s 1987 English-language West German comedy drama Bagdad Café [Out of Rosenheim] stars the unlikely, larger-than-life German sex bomb Marianne Sägebrecht as Jasmin Münchgstettner, a hefty tourist from from Rosenheim, Bavaria, who leaves her husband in Nevada and winds up best buddies with the charmingly weird people at a remote roadside truck stop/ motel/ diner in the Mojave Desert in California.

It is a radiant, delightful comedy fantasy, with delicious performances from Sägebrecht, Jack Palance as Rudi Cox, a one-time Hollywood film designer desperate to paint her picture, and C C H Pounder as the diner’s irascible proprietor, Brenda.

The film centers on Jasmin (Sägebrecht) and Brenda (Pounder), who has also separated from her husband after an argument out front, and it follows their blossoming understanding and friendship.

Also in the cast are Christine Kaufmann as Debby, a glamorous tattoo artist, Monica Calhoun as Phyllis, and Darron Flagg as Brenda’s son who plays J S Bach preludes on the piano, along with George Aguilar as Cahuenga, G Smokey Campbell as Sal, Hans Stadlbauer as Herr Münchgstettner, Alan S Craig as Eric, and Apesanahkwat as Sheriff Arnie.

A 15-episode TV series (1990-91) followed with Whoopi Goldberg as the restaurant proprietor Brenda and Jean Stapleton as the abandoned tourist.

It runs 95 minutes in the US version and 108 minutes in the German version Out of Rosenheim.

Marianne Sägebrecht (born 27 August 1945).

Marianne Sägebrecht (born 27 August 1945) also appeared in Moon over Parador (1988) and The War of the Roses (1989).

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,536

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