Product Description

A WOMAN JUST OUT OF JAIL MAKES A NEW LIFE IN A SMALL MAINE TOWN. SPECIAL FEATURE: THEATRICAL TRAILER. SUBTITLES IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4198 in DVD
• Brand: Turner
• Released on: 1999-12-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
This well-acted drama won the Audience award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, causing a festival ruckus when several distributors entered a bidding war in response to the movie's positive buzz. When the movie was finally released, audience and critical response provided a sudden reality check: the movie's good to a point, but hardly worth the fuss it received at Sundance. Packing a miniseries' worth of melodrama into 117 minutes, the story centers on a young woman named Percy (Alison Elliott) who served prison time for manslaughter and arrives in a small town in Maine with hopes of beginning a new life. She works as a waitress in the Spitfire Grill, owned by Hannah (Ellen Burstyn), whose gruff exterior conceals a kind heart and precious little tolerance for the grill's regular customers, who cast their suspicions on Percy's mysterious past. The plot unfolds when Hannah holds a $100-per-entry essay contest to find a new owner for the grill. There's ample mystery surrounding the collected money, a local hermit who's really Hannah's shell-shocked Vietnam veteran son, and circumstances that lead the locals to adopt a lynch-mob mentality at Percy's expense. By the time Percy is nearly drowning in a raging river, The Spitfire Grill has taken its melodrama a few steps 'round the bend. Fine acting is the movie's saving grace, however, and newcomer Alison Elliott anchors The Spitfire Grill with a subtle, emotionally involving performance. Thanks to Elliott and Burstyn, you don't have to feel too guilty if you find yourself reaching for a Kleenex as the closing credits roll. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

A Heartbreaking Look at Pain
This very touching and rewarding film was brought to prominence thanks in large part to Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. It is a slow and gentle film which is true to life and makes us actually feel its pain. Often described as a small film, it is rather a very large film about the small things in life. The small town of Gilead, Maine is the setting for this tender drama you will never forget once you have seen it.

Alison Elliot gives a quiet yet unforgettable performance as Percy Talbot, a young girl fresh from prison and trying to start her life over. One of the most touching moments in the film comes shortly after Percy reveals the reason she had been incarcerated, with the words: "I thought maybe, in some place small...." It is quiet and heartbreaking, like the entire film.

The day to day life of a small town and its people is perfectly captured as Percy comes to work for Hannah (Ellen Burstyn) at The Spitfire Grill. Hannah is a woman who knows about pain and gives Percy a chance. Marcia Gay Harden gives a fine performance as a shy and sweet soul who befriends Percy. Her husband uses her for a doorstop and hates Percy for being her friend and encouraging her to be herself. It is a hatred which will bring about tragedy.

Many lives are touched in this small town by Percy, who has seemingly found her home at The Spitfire Grill in Gilead, Maine. Percy slowly becomes part of Hannah's life as she leaves food out back of the Grill at Hannah's request that is mysteriously gone the next morning. But there is always an underlying sadness to Percy's past which prevents any kind of permanence. Her deep sadness extends to a young man who wants a life that Percy can not give.

This film reminds us in a sad and deeply moving way that life does not always give us the chance to start over. But there is also redemption and the message that what we do in our lives does affect others and can even change the way they think.

Alison Elliot is magnificent here, giving a Kevin Spacey like performance of so much going on just beneath the surface. A beautiful score from James Horner a year before Titanic matches perfectly the quiet beauty of the story. The supporting cast is equally good in this wonderful and moving film you will remember for a long, long time.....

A quiet, satisfying movie
The Spitfire Grill is a very well written and acted tear-jerker. A young girl, just released from prison, decides to settle down in the quiet New England village of Gillead. The residents initially are downright unfriendly to her, and their transformation is predictable, but achieved in an unpredictable and pleasing way. The Spitfire Grill is like that: certain outcomes are required in this kind of movie, but the way the story gets to them is surprising and satisfying.

A great cast of characters (and actors) surround Alison Elliott as the young ex-con Percy. But Elliott is the key: she is very, very good in this movie, and her character is one you'll remember for quite a while.

I don't in general care for tear-jerker movies like the Spitfire Grill, but the tragedies and joys presented here are believable and not overdone. I enjoyed the immersion in Gillead and its people, and was both saddened and uplifted (without being manipulated) by this fine movie. Highly recommended.

A wonderful story about the power of hope and compassion.
This is a story of a young woman with a second chance who picks a small town in Maine to start over. She battles with some small-town minds who are unforgiving but gains the love and support of some. The viewer gets to see lives being changed as each of the main characters struggles with their own issues. Suitable for family viewing although one part of the movie will need to be discussed with pre-teens. If you're looking for a movie with some good, old-fashioned messages of love-one-another, this is it. It's well done and worth more than one look.