Search - The Spitfire Grill on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1996 DVD Release: 12/07/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 56 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 7 Genres: Drama, Melodrama

This debut drama from writer-director Lee David Zlotoff (creator of the TV series MacGyver) won the audience award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. Alison Elliott stars as Percy Talbott, an ex-convict who's come to the small Maine town of Gilead in the hope of finding work and a place to start her life over again. With the help of the local sheriff, she lands a waitress job at the Spitfire Grill, eventually winning over the crusty owner Hannah (Ellen Burstyn) and simple-minded fellow waitress Shelby (Marcia Gay Harden) with her hard work and trustworthiness. Percy even finds a new love with a woodsman, Joe (Kieran Mulroney) and befriends a hermit (John M. Jackson) who lives in the nearby woods and is regularly fed by Hannah. When Hannah falls ill, Percy devises a scheme to help her sell the café in a national contest, but Shelby's husband Nahum (Will Patton) doesn't trust Percy's motives -- and his suspicion leads to tragedy. The Spitfire Grill, which played as a cross between To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), got initial financing from an organization of Roman Catholic priests and sold at Sundance for a then-record $10 million. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Alison Elliott - Perry Talbott
Ellen Burstyn - Hannah Ferguson
Marcia Gay Harden - Shelby Goddard
Will Patton - Nahum Goddard
Kieran Mulroney - Joe Sperling

Lee David Zlotoff's Sundance winner The Spitfire Grill comes to DVD with a pair of transfers. The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is preferable in every way to the standard full-frame image. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. Subtitles are accessible in both of those languages as well. Supplemental materials include the theatrical trailer. This is a fine release from Warner Brothers. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide