Rewind Back to 1991 - “Fried Green Tomatoes” (35th anniversary)
- Matt Palmer
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
The Dietrich Theater is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the classic “Fried Green Tomatoes”, showing on May 10 (Mother’s Day) and May 13!
“Fried Green Tomatoes” is a 1991 film based on Fannie Flagg’s 1987 novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.” The beloved film grossed $119.4 million on a $11 million budget and has also received nominations for two Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards, as well as Golden Globe nominations among many others.
On one of trapped housewife Evelyn Couch’s Wednesday nursing home visits, she encounters Ninny Threadgoode, a colorful old woman who brightens Evelyn’s outlook by sharing tales from her past.
As Ninny recounts the exploits of her free-spirited sister-in-law Idgie, owner of a small Alabama cafe in the 1920s, and the bond Idgie shared with her friend Ruth, Evelyn gains the confidence to change her own life for the better.
Since I have never seen the film before, I finally had the chance to stream this early 90s classic on Amazon Prime Video. The 1991 film “Fried Green Tomatoes” is largely deliberated for its emotional story of female friendship and Southern charm. While all the performances are great, it was really both Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy who really stole the show.
Audiences really loved the characters in this 1991 favorite for their fierce loyalty, indomitable spirit, and the deep, loving friendship between Idgie and Ruth. Characters like the rebellious Idgie and the evolving, empowered Evelyn provide relatable stories of resilience, independence, and overcoming personal or societal adversity, often featuring strong performances and emotional moments along the way.
The Idgie Threadgoode character is a fan favorite that a lot of viewers loved with her fierce independence and is seen as a ball of energy in a way who marched to the beat of her own drum, even if it meant defying strict Southern societal norms. Her bond with Ruth, who’s the complete opposite of Idgie, is often cited as the heart of the film and their scenes can feel impactful, especially the iconic “bee charmer” scene.
“Fried Green Tomatoes” also features some moments that fans of this classic will surely remember. A few of these moments include where Ruth and Idgie get into a bit of a food fight in their cafe’s kitchen and the previously mentioned “bee charmer” scene where Idgie reaches into a wild beehive with her bare hands to retrieve a honeycomb for Ruth.
The most famous moment is probably when Evelyn Couch (Bates) releases her frustrations by repeatedly ramming her car into a younger woman’s vehicle in a parking lot, yelling “Towanda” - something she got from Ninny’s stories about Idgie (“I’m older and I have more insurance”). And, of course, a shocking, yet dark comedic twist about “the secret’s in the sauce” (if you know you know).
“Fried Green Tomatoes” centers on the enduring power of female friendship, empowerment and resilience, using parallel narratives in 1920s Alabama and the 1980s to explore themes of love, aging, and overcoming domestic abuse. The film also highlights community, racial injustice, and the defying of societal norms, framed through storytelling as a catalyst for personal transformation and reclaiming one’s life.
“Fried Green Tomatoes” is generally beloved as a sentimental, comforting 90s classic, praised for its great performances, especially from Tandy and Bates. While some critics found it to be too sentimental, audiences embraced its heartwarming themes of friendship, aging, and female empowerment, often overlooking a few darker overtones.
The film still remains a powerful example of 1990s character-driven storytelling, celebrated for its heartwarming narrative and rich portrayal of Southern life.
MPA: Rated PG-13 (runtime 130 minutes)
Initial release date: December 27, 1991
Streaming service: Netflix/various PVOD services
Mary Stuart Masterson did all of the bee stunts herself because her stunt double quit at the last minute.
Director Jon Avnet referred to Mary-Louise Parker as "Lou" and Mary Stuart Masterson as "Stu" on the set because their names are so similar and he had to say them so often.
There really is a Whistle Stop Cafe that does indeed serve fried green tomatoes (among other Southern foods) just north of Macon Georgia. It is in the actual area where many of the scenes were filmed. After the film became a huge success, the Whistle Stop Cafe set was turned into an actual restaurant, and its surrounding area into a tourist attraction. Although they may have filmed in Georgia, the true Whistle Stop Cafe is in Irondale, Alabama (a suburb of Birmingham, where Author Fannie Flagg grew up.)
Carol Sobieski wrote the first draft of the screenplay, which the director and producers thought were wonderful - but it wasn't the movie they wanted to do. Next, Fannie Flagg was brought on to do another draft and she finished seventy pages before quitting. With no money left to hire another writer, director Jon Avnet took it upon himself to write the screenplay and spent the next three years doing so. He did, however, stay in close contact with Flagg to make sure he stayed true to her book.
It marks as one of the final screenplays written by Carol Sobieski, for which she received a posthumous Oscar nomination. She died in 1990, a year before the film's release.
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