Review of Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) by Rachel N — 18 Jul 2010

TOWANDA!!!!!!

The book is better but this is just a feel good film at its best.

Ruth: Go on you ol' Bee Charmer, tell me a good tall tale.

Make sure you see the long version, it handles Ruths death better and even though the movie is at an extreme low when that happens theres a whole gospel scene that lifts it right back up and allows the viewer to pick back up from the death and move on with the rest of the movie.

Both time periods feel to me very real and sincerely done.

Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy are so funny, touching and dramatic.

Just look at what trainers and socks Ninny has on when we first see her, she is an oddball granny. Look at her hair when she pops out from behind the christmas tree, and laugh at Evelyns reaction... she never says she likes her new hair. *gg*.

But Ninnys stories of the past and the lives of Idgie and Ruth spark new life in housewife Evelyn (Bates).

Evelyn Couch: I never get mad, Miss Threadgoode, never, the way I was raised, it was bad manners. Well I got mad, and it felt great. I felt like I could just beat the shit out of all those punks! Excuse my language. And then when I finish with those punks, I'll take on all the wife beaters like Frank Bennett, machine gun their genitals,.

[imitates machine gun].

Evelyn Couch: eh-he-he-he-he-he!

[laughs].

Evelyn Couch: Towanda will go on a rampage, I'll slip tiny bombs into Penthouse and Playboys so they explode when you open them. I'll ban all fashion models who weigh under 130 pounds! And I'll give half the military budget to people over 65 and declare wrinkles sexually desirable.

I see in the movie that Ninny is intended to be *wink wink nudge nudge* way Mary Stus character Idgie, always a storyteller myth maker, but I like to stick by the books version and they are seperate characters (in the book you see an old Idgie still selling honey at the end, two totally diffrent characters and Ninny was married to Idgies brother Cleo).

The two Marys certainly play their relationship as it was written by Fannie Flag and as was intended, but it can be viewed with innocence as if they were just friends.

"Secrets in the sauce".