Bagdad Café (1987)

One of my faves.

The movie wasn't that memorable to me - saw it in the early 90's - but the song is still on my playlist today. Love it.

There was also an odious, unfunny and depressing tv show with Whoopi Goldberg, Jean Stapleton and Cleavon Little (from Blazing Saddles).

I remember the film well and the song better. Just mentioning the film makes the song play in my head. Film was ok but the song exceptional, so beautiful.

On my top ten list of all time.

Definitely one of my top 10 favorites. Saw it in 1989 late one night, after seeing Jack Palance in the credits. It was the first "grown up" movie I ever saw, and affected me in a way that I've never been able to explain. And that song does stay with you.

R3, I saw all the episodes that aired, and it was horrible. While Marianne Sägebrecht was warm and inviting, Jean Stapleton played the character like a Nazi frau.

it literally changed my life

R7=former German frau

maybe I was

On the soundtrack album there was a version of the song, sung by a man. I could never decide which I preferred.

I've just discovered that he (Bob Telson) in fact, wrote the song.

Are there cafés on the desert roads from Vegas to nowhere? There must be.

R11, see link.

Jeff Buckley does a version.

Do not turn the volume up at the start.

a better version

and slightly higher

I've actually been to bagdad, AZ, it's literally a wide-spot in the road, no cafes.

Was there also a faster song with the words Bagdad Cafe in the chorus?

uh, this one?

I liked the film but never saw the show. I cannot imagine Jean Stapleton in the role.

My friend, Holly Cole.

maybe the song WAS the film

in a weird way i think you're right, r21, and it's still in my top ten list of films even so.

Wonderful film, haunting song.

Fun Facts about Bagdad CA

[quote]Bagdad holds the record for the longest dry streak in United States history with 767 straight days without rain, from October 3, 1912 to November 8, 1914. It is to the south of the Granite Mountains and the Mojave National Preserve, and north of the Bullion Mountains.

Little Dorota was on The Voice in Poland and she was "Calling You."

They loved her.

So I guess it was pretty unanimous, everyone liked the song.

That's pretty unusual for DL.

Based on the clips, Poland seems to have more talent on "The Voice" than all the other countries combined.

Brenda, Brenda is the name of the other song

Very strange movie; I remember CCH Pounder in this movie in what had to be her very young days (cause she looks pretty good, if rather matriarchal now).

I just saw Bagdad Café and read this in the trivia section of IMDb:

[quote]According to CCH Pounder, Jack Palance refused to do a romantic scene with Marianne Sägebrecht because he found her unattractive. The scene was shot with each actor at separate times and edited together.

Nice of CCH Pounder to tell us all. But what a prick. Was he that desperate for work?

One of my very favorite films. A post-modern Mary Poppins.

I loved this movie!

The main actress in Baghdad Cafe is the Ur-German woman in my eyes.

I thought it was going to get Sapphic with the dizzy teenage girl when she was trying in the husband’s lederhosen

Lovely movie. Thank you OP for reminding me of it.

[quote] Bagdad Cafe (1987)—“Brenda”

CP: Yeah, I’ve got a soft spot for that one. A great film, I think. I was really lucky to be in it, because it was meant for Whoopi Goldberg. And she wouldn’t do it—I guess her people didn’t notice the script, or maybe they read the script and said, “Who is this director? We’ve never heard of him. Goodbye.” So Percy [Adlon] ended up opening the role to auditions, and I got it. It was an innocent experience in the beginning, in the sense that it was just another audition for me, and then I got all the backstory later, about Whoopi. It was also the most spoiled I’ve ever been on a film, because it was done completely in sequence. [Lead actor] Marianne [Sägebrecht] was still learning English, so it had to be done in sequence so as not to confuse her.

[quote] I also saw how a director can be really compassionate and a real force, because I also saw an actor refuse to work with another actor. Jack Palance was supposed to shoot a very intimate and sweet scene with Marianne, but he wouldn’t do it because he found her unattractive. It reads in the final cut just so beautifully, the scene where he’s painting her, and yet those scenes were actually done with the director. The magic of filmmaking! [Laughs.] I got to see all the complications in a film that I thought really transcended its story. It’s one of the films where people rarely say to me, “Oh wow, you were great in that film!” They say, “When I saw that film, I decided to become…” I loved the fact that you could actually make a film that could influence people to move ahead in their lives. So it was thrilling for me.

Baghdad Cafe and Babette’s Feast are two of the films I loved from the 80s and bought dvds of when I was building up a collection. (My 80s collection also includes the Pedro Almodovar films and the first two gay films I ever watched on screen: My beautiful Launderette and Maurice.)

I never understood Jean Stapleton's teeth.

I used to confuse this movie with Gas Food Lodging.

I love that period of independent filmmaking in the 80s and 90s.

Calling You lost the Oscar for Best Song to Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid.

I think it lost to Let The River Run

I am morbidly curious about the TV show. I can see (first choice for the movie) Whoopi Goldberg working, but Jean Stapleton?

I can't stand that European band's cover of "Brenda, Brenda."

This is the real thing.

That song sucks and I always thought this was a lesbo film

Hated that fucking song, loved the film. But Zuckerbaby was an even better one.

A Chill/Lounge/Electronica version of "Baghdad Café (Callin' You)" by A:Xus is on the September 2000 Gap In-Store Playlist!

Don't forget Barbra's version from 2003's THE MOVIE ALBUM!

one of my favorites; the song, too; first exposure to either actress; Pounder went on to a supporting role in some piece of Schwarzenegger dreck: End of Days.

Thanks OP for reminding me of this fine film.

CCH Pounder didn't have a career between 1987 and 1999's END OF DAYS??????

I saw it as a teenager a couple of times and never got why Brenda (CCH) was so mean all the time. I haven’t seen it since to figure it out.

R45 that’s a gorgeous rendition

Movies like this do not get made any more. The closest things are indies with cast members of Saturday Night Live playing ugly and working class to stretch their wings.

R36, I love all those films, too.

What other films are like Bagdad Cafe?

It's a cute, quirky movie. And I'll watch anything with CCH Pounder (OK, maybe not NCIS:NO, but...)

I loved this era of independent filmmaking, from the mid-1990s until 2001 or so.

A musical adaptation was staged last year.

A friend of mine is close friend to Marianne Sägebrecht. I once met her at a party at his place. May I have to add that she is a gay icon in Germany?

And do you know that Percy Adlon is a close relative to the famous Hotel Adlon family?

Marianne was a lot of fun in War Of The Roses. Danny DeVito wanted her specifically for the part.

[quote] What other films are like Bagdad Cafe?

American Honey, Before Sunrise, Cairo Time, Cold War, Days Of Being Wild, Fried Green Tomatoes, Goodbye Berlin/Tschick, The Green Ray, The Intouchables, Junebug, Local Hero, Lone Star, Moonrise Kingdom, Muriel’s Wedding, Paris Texas, The Station Agent, Stealing Beauty, Toni Erdmann.

Saddam Hussein was a huge fan of the film and even planned on visiting the states and traveling to the area where the film takes place.

Then, of course, he saw the sitcom version and, frustrated, he invaded Kuwait and we all know what happened then....

I cannot picture Jean Stapleton as the quiet, warm, strong, shy German woman at all.

She wasn't R61. She was pinched faced and spit out her lines with an exaggerated accent.

One of the things I love about the film is the community that develops at the end. You have a sense that all these people adore each other despite the national and racial and age barriers among them. I've rarely seen a film that portrays in particular female friendship so sentimentally but so believably.

R63 I'm R6 from above.

I realized after going through this thread and the replies why this film effected me so much.

Like you wrote, a group of people who are different from each other come together to form a family of their own.

When I saw this as a teen I hadn't seen that, or didn't understand the concept of "finding your own family". Like you wrote, these people come together and form a family and it really touched something inside of me.

A few years before "Bagdad Cafe," Adlon directed a beautiful movie about Marcel Proust and his housekeeper/friend Celeste Albaret.

I loved this film, but it's obviously time for a rewatch because all that's left is the bare memory of a wonderful flavor. The details are gone.

Just Watch doesn’t show every single streaming option available, but it shows most of them available in several countries.

Here is a link to the American options .

Thank you, R67!

I used to have an app that found streaming locations, but I think they stopped updating it.

No worries, r68, let us know how you like Bagdad Cafe!

Perhaps Jean's sister Maureen Stapleton would have been a better fit on the sitcom?

I loved the film and the song.

[quote]What other films are like Bagdad Cafe?

Clerks

My favorite

Hiroshima, Mon Amour - another great indie film from that time

Diva - my introduction to opera

^ Hiroshima Mon Amour is indeed a great film but it’s from 1959! What could you be confusing it with?

No, but I remember the Baghdad Café at the corner of 16th and Market

The rendition from Dorota from Poland was amazing….(cute husband too)…

I'm watching the film for the first time now on Tubi.

Can't believe I've never seen this before.

I saw this ages ago and don’t remember much about it and don’t remember the song at all. It just didn’t leave much of an impression. I might have been too young to understand it.

Why did she need to discuss it with Brenda before accepting the marriage proposal?

r80. Because she relies on Brenda's opinion.

She is coming back from Rosenheim Bavaria to the dessert, which is like traveling to the moon. She wants to hear Brenda's thoughts. It is a family thing for her.

I have to admit the painting sessions were making me a bit uneasy with each session encompassing less and less clothing. The slow pull down reveal of her breast had me nauseously expecting to see her sitting there, spread eagle and using her index and middle fingers to spread her beef lips open.

R82 = Jack Palance