Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Director: Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman, Robert Altman

1982 / 109min / 35mm

One day in 1975, at a Woolworth’s in small town McCarthy, Texas, the six members of the Disciples of James Dean reconvene 20 years after they first formed the club in the wake of the actor’s death. Shifting between “present day” scenes and flashbacks to 1955 through an ingenious two-way mirror device, Altman’s film of Ed Graczyk’s play, which Altman had originally directed on the stage, is a touching work about tarnished dreams and lasting female friendships, its ensemble cast including Cher, Sandy Dennis, and Black as Joe/Joanne—the one-time lone male member of the Disciples who startles her old friends by coming back to town as a transwoman.

Restored 35mm print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funded by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.