Customer Reviews

Bagdad Cafe (Widescreen)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This movie is just perfect. It deserves all the oscars in the world. After watching this movie, you feel good about life....

A wonderful, funny, odd, and unique film.

Strong acting all around (Jack Palance is amazing). Inventive use of
distorted colors and changing camera speeds. A few moments get a bit
precious, but generally one of the best uses I've seen of a slightly
surreal style to tell a very touching, human story - an overweight,
depressed Bavarian housewife is left stranded in the southwest desert
by her husband, and slowly finds herself, and a home among the odd
characters who live and work at the Bagdad Cafe.

This is a case where brave film-making enhances rather than distracts
from emotional involvement. The basic theme (we're all weird, and we
all need somewhere to fit in) is nothing new, but the approach here
makes it delightful and fresh.

I guess when I was about 11 I was asked to learn a song called "Calling you"....A hard job but I did like my voice sounded while I was interpreting that song. I could hardly understand the lyrics but I could feel the whole thing was great. I heard this song was in the O.S.T of a movie called "Bagdad Cafè". I had to see it. I needed to see it. It was hard to find the VHS at the time for in Italy good movies and good music are not really appreciated. Whatever. It moved me. I cried. I learned something about life in general from that movie. Silly me... tonight I watched again this movie...on an unknown tv channel....and i cried again.
I have no many words to say. I don't want to run the risk to be more silly than this. It's quite enough. And, you know what? There's no need to say too many words. You gotta see it to understand why so many people loved it. and still love it.
The best words to describe it are these "A desert road from Vegas to nowhere/ someplace better than where you've been/ a coffee machine that needs some fixing/ in a little cafè just around the bend/ a hot dry wind blows right through me/ the baby's crying and I can't sleep/ but I can feel a change is coming/ coming closer/ sweet release....I am calling you / Can't you hear me / I am calling you"
Love Sarah Micòl

This is not a movie I would have ever watched if someone had described it to me, so I had to think a while about why I would recommend it. Here are the reasons I came up with. First, this is a great story. The movie flows well, keeps you wondering what's going to happen next, and the ending satisfies. Second, it only takes about fifteen minutes before you feel as if you live in the family-like atmosphere at the Bagdad Cafe/Motel. The characters are quirky, but down-to-earth and real: CCH Pounder is awesome in the role of the paranoid self-martyr; Marianne Sägebrecht is simply lovable; Jack Palance is a little creepy, but likeable and funny as an aged hippie (seeing him in such an odd role is almost worth buying the movie just for this). Third, it made me laugh - not belly laughs, but chuckles (mostly at the expense of the characters flaws)that might take a second viewing of the movie once you've learned more about the characters. Fourth, this movie has a great, but unforced message about accepting others for what they are, and just loosening up and living your life.
Buy this movie. It might not be one you'll pull out for the guys on poker night, but it will be one you can watch ten years from now and know it's a classic.

Baghdad Cafe will haunt you. Will creep into your mind later with no reason than to remind you (with a subtle dry humor) others struggle, like yourself, to fit in, be understood, and accepted. Holly Cole singing "Calling You" adds to the enchantment and strength behind the characters. If you want to escape from your own troubles, I recommend that you join this cast of misfits as they find each other and themselves.

I love the musical theme of that movie and it was pleasant to watch this movie.

When a middle aged Bavarian Tourist lands in a remote, scarcely populated California desert town, she creates not only a stir with the locals, but eventually brightens the spirits of her host family as well as all the "regulars" who pass through the "Bagdad Cafe". What started out as a "big mistake" soon looks like divine providence.

"Miss Jasmin" (the German lady with a matching accent) and "Miss Brenda" (the rough-talking owner of a greasy-spoon restaurant who employs Jasmin and gives her a home) become close friends. An aging "showbusiness man" (brilliantly played by pre-City-Slickers Jack Palance) views Miss Jasmin as his "muse" and is inspired to paint her portrait. When word gets out that her tourist visa had expired, the local Sheriff forces Jasmin to return to Germany. Sadness canvases the place where Jasmin had been embraced as a welcome change of schedule. The life she had brought with her seemed drained away with her departure.

There isn't much plot to stretch the running time (the original German cut runs nearly 2 hours), however there are many bittersweet moments in this simple, but beautiful film. The last few scenes deliver the inevidible (thus predictable) conclusion. A little on the "artsy" side and clearly without a multi-million dollar budget, but still a palatable final product.****

I guess when I was about 11 I was asked to learn a song called "Calling you"....A hard job but I did like my voice sounded while I was interpreting that song. I could hardly understand the lyrics but I could feel the whole thing was great. I heard this song was in the O.S.T of a movie called "Bagdad Cafè". I had to see it. I needed to see it. It was hard to find the VHS at the time for in Italy good movies and good music are not really appreciated. Whatever. It moved me. I cried. I learned something about life in general from that movie. Silly me... tonight I watched again this movie...on an unknown tv channel....and i cried again.
I have no many words to say. I don't want to run the risk to be more silly than this. It's quite enough. And, you know what? There's no need to say too many words. You gotta see it to understand why so many people loved it. and still love it.
The best words to describe it are these "A desert road from Vegas to nowhere/ someplace better than where you've been/ a coffee machine that needs some fixing/ in a little cafè just around the bend/ a hot dry wind blows right through me/ the baby's crying and I can't sleep/ but I can feel a change is coming/ coming closer/ sweet release....I am calling you / Can't you hear me / I am calling you"
Love Sarah Micòl

One of my favorite movies! The acting is excellent, the plot, fantastic. A quirky little independent movie with a lot of heart, and some really engaging music. Don't miss the main song, "I am calling you..." An extremely moving and beautiful song... it will stay with you, as will this movie. Super cute.

I recently saw this movie on the Sundance Channel on cable. I was so taken by it I obtained the DVD. The quality of the picture was even better. This movie is very moving and enjoyable. "I'm calling you", the movies title song is hypnotic. I have watched the movie countless times and enjoy it more each time I see it. I also obtained the movie soundtrack on cd. It has all the songs from the movie and a narrated version of the movie by Percy Adlon. If you like quirky but thought proving films, definitely get this one!