"Fried Green Tomatoes"
                Reviewed by Linda Lopez McAlister
            For The Women's Show, WMNF-FM, Tampa, FL

   Move over, Thelma and Louise, here come Idgy and Ruth and Evelyn
and Ninny!  And we have our first big feminists-must-see movie of
1992, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.

   This southern culinary treat, fried green tomatoes were a house
specialty at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the
1930s.  We know that when Evelyn (played by Kathy Bates) and her
husband get lost on their way to visit an aunt in a nursing home
nearby and stop at the abandoned and boarded up site of the cafe to
use a still-operating pay phone.  A few minutes later at the
nursing home Evelyn meets 80-year-old Ninny Threadgood in the lobby.
Ninny, who came from Whistle Stop, begins to tell her the story
of that cafe and its owners--Ninny's sister-in-law Idgy Threadgood
and her friend Ruth Jamison. She tells their story in vivid detail
a little bit at a time whenever Evelyn comes to visit.  What
unfolds in the process are not one but two stories of that rarest
of all film themes: friendship between women. In Ninny's tales we
see the love between Idgy and Ruth as it developed over the years;
but we also witness the deepening friendship between Evelyn and
Ninny. Finally it is these two relationships that empower Evelyn's
own growth from an unhappy, unappreciated, and unaware housewife
compulsively polishing off candy bars and doughnuts by the dozen
into a confident woman with self esteem, who knows her own needs
and desires and (thus) is able to express and act on her feelings
of love and compassion. But the steps along the way aren't always
pretty (though they're usually pretty funny).

   There's a chart in a women's studies textbook I used to use
which sets out the various different stages women usually go
through on their way to feminist consciousness, ranging from denial
that there's any need for feminism, through curiosity, to expanding
awareness, to anger, to rage, to positive action for change.
Evelyn hits them all, and the catalyst for her change is coming to
know, through Ninny's stories, how Idgy and Ruth's lives developed.
In the respect the film reminds us of something we as feminists
already know--how very important it is to tell the stories of
women's lives from the past; not just for entertainment, but
because they can show us the possibilities for our own lives.

   Idgy and Ruth's story is one of the most memorable love stories
about women to come out of Hollywood to date. They are first
brought together when Idgy is still a child--an endearing and funny
little tomboy and the special pal of her big brother Buddy to whom
Ruth is engaged.  When Buddy is hit and killed by a train both Idgy
and Ruth are distraught, and Idgy grows up into a wild adolescent,
dressing in pants, cussing and drinking and fishing and hanging out
with the guys at the local juke joint.  Ruth is brought in by
Idgy's mother one summer in an attempt to turn Idgy into a more
acceptable version of Southern young womanhood.  That attempt
fails, but a deep friendship between Idgy and Ruth begins.  But at
the end of the summer Ruth does what she's supposed to do, and goes
off to Valdosta to marry her fiance Frank, who turns out to be a
wife beater.  One day Ruth sends Idgy an obituary notice and a
bible verse "Whither thou goest, I will go."  Idgy, her brother
Cleon and a hired man, Big George, make the drive from Whistle Stop
to Valdosta to rescue Ruth who is pregnant. Frank and Idgy fight
and she warns him if he ever touches Ruth again she'll kill him.

    Back in Whistle Stop they move in together, become the
proprietors of the Whistle Stop Cafe, and jointly raise Ruth's son
whom they name Buddy; their love and devotion to one another is
clear.  All is well until Frank and his Georgia KKK buddies show up
and he tries to kidnap little Buddy. Frank never returns from that
trip, and several years later when his truck is dredged up out of
the river Idgy is put on trial for his murder. To know how it
ends, you'll have to see the film. An enjoyable assignment for
almost any feminist, I'd bet, though some may find certain aspects
of the film's humor macabre.

   The person most responsible for this warm and woman-loving film
is Fannie Flagg who wrote the novel on which it is based, co-wrote
the screenplay, and even makes a very brief cameo appearance in the
film.  Good work, Fannie!