Bagdad Cafe (1987)

[Edgy MD]

Change is set in motion at a family run mohave desert truck stop when a mysterious Bavarian woman stumbles out of the heat and asks for a room.

[Vic Sage]

i remember really liking this 25 years ago.

[Edgy MD]

Likeable. Definitely an engaging story with characters you don't see often.

Issues are out there, though. The main character spends the first half of the movie screaming at everybody without provocation. You start wincing whenever she comes on screen. And when a troubled black American family is portrayed in a German film as transformed by a German woman stumbling into their lives and restoring their sense of wonder, well, if I'm black (and I'm not), I might have my guard way up.

Aside from those quibbles, and some overly studied artistic shots, I liked it. It had Jack Palance playing a freak, and that's always good stuff.