Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Dir. Robert Altman. U.S. 1982, 109 mins. 35mm print from UNCSA Moving Image Archives. With Cher, Sandy Dennis, Karen Black, Kathy Bates, Mark Patton. A cinematic reimagining of a 1976 play by Ed Graczyk, originated on-stage by Altman, this memory-haunted melodrama takes place in a Woolworth’s five-and-dime in Texas, just down the road from where Giant was shot, as the members of a James Dean fan club, the Disciples, reunite after a 20-year hiatus. As Sissy, a tart-tongued waitress, Cher gave a breakout performance among a remarkable ensemble cast, which included other Oscar winners Sandy Dennis and Kathy Bates, but the center of the film belongs to the remarkable performance by 1970s icon Karen Black in the groundbreakingly sensitive role of a trans woman whose return to the site of her traumatic youth lends the film its greatest poignancy. Altman’s film deftly blends past and present via a brilliant piece of staging involving a two-way mirror, and the film builds in power as the women interrogate their lives. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. 

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.