Movies - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the name of a novel by Fannie Flagg. It is a multigenerational story of an unfulfilled housewife who befriends an elderly woman in a nursing home. The older woman tells her life story in the now-abandoned town of Whistle Stop, Alabama, and helps the younger woman to cope with her own life. In the process, the novel explores racism in the American South, sexual roles, domestic violence (spousal abuse), and the thinly-veiled lesbian relationship of the central two young women, who after one is rescued from her abusive spouse, set up a household and raise the first woman's son together.

The first edition came out in New York from Random House, in 1987. The novel is still in print. One of the many existing editions was re-issued as a paperback in New York by Ballantine books in 1997 with ISBN 0449911357 .

In 1991, a movie version, called simply Fried Green Tomatoes, was adapted by Flagg and Carol Sobieksi from Flagg's novel and directed by Jon Avnet. It stars Kathy Bates (as Evelyn Couch), Jessica Tandy (as Mrs. Threadgoode), Mary-Louise Parker (as Ruth) and Mary Stuart Masterson (as Idgie); Chris O'Donnell has a small role as Idgie's brother Buddy.

The movie was filmed in Juliette, Georgia. The film version somewhat obscured the lesbian romance between the two central characters, and the DVD edition of the film has an audio commentary with the director acknowledging this and pointing out that a scene between the two women engaging in a food fight was intended to be foreplay.

The movie was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jessica Tandy) and for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski).

The "Whistle Stop Cafe" is loosely based on a real-life restaurant, the Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama. The restaurant is still very much in operation and somewhat of a local tourist attraction, thanks to the novel and movie. It is famous for its fried green tomatoes, and is located adjacent to the main line of the Norfolk Southern Railroad (formerly Southern Railway) and very near one of the line's large classification yards. Irondale is a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Flagg's birthplace.

Tag line

:The secret's in the sauce!—Sipsey (played by Cicely Tyson) : Momma always said there was a separate God for children—Ruth Jamison (played by Mary-Louise Parker)

He won't sit beside a colored child in church; but he'll eat eggs, shoot right outta a chicken's ass!- —Sipsey (played by Cicely Tyson)

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