Movie Review – The Spitfire Grill

The Spitfire Grill (1996) – After serving time in a Maine prison, a young woman (Alison Elliot) chooses to move to the small town of Gilead, Maine to begin her life anew.  There she is, somewhat reluctantly, taken in by a crotchety older woman (Ellen Burstyn) who runs the local restaurant.  Together they will explore the wounds that brought them both to that time and place.

As I mentioned a couple weeks of go, this movie is part of a trio of movies in my mind (with “Mystic Pizza” and “Bagdad Cafe”).  They are movies centered on female characters and their relationships.  They are all movies of redemption to one degree or another.  Unsuprisingly none of them are “major motion pictures” but small budget movies that create so very much out of so little.

The movie is basically all about Percy (Allison) and Hannah (Burstyn).  Other than a nice minor character role by Marcia Gay Harden (who plays Shelby, the wife of Hannah’s nephew and is the facilitator for Percy’s fitting into Gilead) everyone else, most especially the men, are bit parts in this movie.  That doesn’t mean that they aren’t just cardboard cutouts.  The nephew, a love interest for Percy and the sheriff are nicely crafted supporting roles.  But this is Percy and Hannah’s movie.

Percy is a character who lacks an anchor in her life.  A tragic event in her young life put her in jail for manslaughter and she spent her time in prison dreaming of a different place.  A beautiful place that could be hers.  Working for the Maine Tourism Board while in prison has created an idyllic view of Maine that speaks to her at a deeper level and she comes to Gilead hoping to find that place.  What she finds is initial rejection, mysteries and perhaps the place of her dreams.  Just as Jasmine lifts those around her in “Bagdad Cafe”, Percy does the same in Gilead.

It was interesting to discover that Alison Elliot was a big time fashion model.  She and director Lee David Zlotoff let Percy be Percy visually.  She is mousy and beaten down with just a spark below the surface.  As Percy grows into her true self she becomes more beautiful until in her final moment in the movie she has become truly stunning.  It is a wonderful and subtle artifice in the telling of the story.

“The Spitfire Grill” did very well when first shown at the Sundance Festival.  Well enough that the folks at Castle Rock Entertainment offered ten million dollars for the distribution rights.  Critics were underwhelmed and audience response was tepid as well.  While I will grant you that the ending is the weakest part of the  film, I give credit for refusing to go for a “Hollywood ending”.  That probably dented the audience response (there is a musical version with a different, more upbeat ending that I won’t even dignify by watching.  Change the ending and the movie has nothing.)  The movie deserves better than it has gotten I think.  Is there a certain naivete to the story?  Sure, but it doesn’t need to be any more sophisticated.  This is the story of regular people in a small town.  Too often we want to polish that up rather than allowing the story and characters to be who and what they really are.

The story is flawed by a weak ending but the characters are ones you will believe and care about.

Rating – *** Worth A Look