MovieChat Forums > Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1983) Discussion > jumping from past to present

jumping from past to present

posted 9 years ago by bethbh123
6 replies | jump to latest

I found myself distracted and sometimes confused when the plot jumped from the past to the present, and vice versa. I've never seen a movie where the characters looked almost the same 20 years apart, and you couldn't tell which era you were supposedly viewing.

Did any one else notice this, or feel this way? It was not just one character, but virtually all of them. They were not made up to look older, often they didn't even have different hairstyles, and Cher's outfit was almost the same. If it wasn't for the 'old' music on the radio, it would have been hard to tell.

I just found it very odd - this is a Hollywood movie, after all. I think I read that it was 'low-budget', but jeez, did they not have a makeup or hair person? Lol

[–] WarpedRecord 9 years ago

Excellent points. On the one hand, I appreciate the minimalist adaptation of this from stage to screen, which allowed me to focus on the dialogue and performances rather than the makeup and effects. On the other hand, I had a hard time distinguishing the past from the present (or at least the 1975 version of it). The second hand wins.

[–] reeda 9 years ago

You are very wrong if you think of this as "a Hollywood" movie. Robert Altman was about as far away from "Hollywood" as a director could get!

[–] saxplayer4 9 years ago

All of the scenes in the mirror were flashbacks.

[–] benntura 9 years ago

Oh.

[–] don-lockwood 8 years ago

I had a hard time at first, too, because Sandy Dennis in particular was not costumed very differently between the time periods. As it went on and more scenes actually took place in 1975, the flashbacks became apparent and coherent.

[–] drednm 8 years ago

Everything you see in the mirror is flashback, sometimes whole scenes and sometimes just a face.