Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

In 1975 inside a five and dime store in a small Texas town, the members of a James Dean fan club are reuniting on the twentieth anniversary of his death. Through a series of flashbacks, especially from that summer Dean filmed Giant in a nearby town, the secrets and personalities of the group are revealed. Based on a play, the film is very stagey with all of the action taking place solely in the store. There’s no attempt to age the characters and they even wear the same costumes throughout the film, which requires a bit of adjusting to at first. I had been wanting to watch more of Cher’s earlier films and she, as well as the other actresses, carry the film rather impressively. My only complaint were a couple of scenes that required real anger to be portrayed by Sandy Dennis and Kathy Bates that came across as histrionic. My favorite of the group was surprisingly Karen Black. She carries off her role with regality and knowledge that she can move on from the relationship cycles the other women will remain caught up in.