Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Cafe (1987)

Independent International

A German tourist in a heavy tweed suit walks alone down a Mojave Desert highway, dragging a suitcase. She has just left her husband stranded in their car after a roadside argument. Nowhere to go, she ends up at the Bagdad Cafe.

BAGDAD CAFE (1987), originally titled Out of Rosenheim, is about Jasmin Münchgstettner, played by Marianne Sägebrecht, a Bavarian woman who checks into a run-down truck-stop motel run by Brenda, played by CCH Pounder, a woman drowning in debt and exhaustion.

The two could not be more different. Jasmin is soft-spoken, orderly, faintly absurd in her Old World formality. Brenda is sharp-tongued, overwhelmed, ready to snap at anyone who crosses her threshold. Neither wants the other there.

Jasmin starts cleaning, then organizing, then performing small magic tricks for truckers passing through, and the cafe begins, improbably, to come alive. Jack Palance turns up as Rudi Cox, a former Hollywood set painter who becomes fascinated by Jasmin and paints her portrait again and again.

Percy Adlon directs this as a fable rather than a plot-driven comedy, letting the desert heat and stillness do as much work as the dialogue.

Bagdad Cafe became an unlikely arthouse hit internationally, a small, odd film about hospitality, loneliness, and the sort of friendship that arrives without warning and rearranges everything around it.

About the Film

Off Route 66 between Vegas and nowhere a little magic's going on...

Directed By
Percy Adlon
Runtime
108 minutes
Released
November 12, 1987
US Theatrical
April 22, 1988
Certification
12
Country
Germany
Starring
Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kaufmann, Monica Calhoun
More Credits
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Language
German, English
Origin
DE
Studios
Pro-ject Filmproduktion, Pelemele Film, BR, HR
Written By
Eleonore Adlon, Percy Adlon, Christopher Doherty
Produced By
Dietrich von Watzdorf, Percy Adlon, Eleonore Adlon
Cinematography
Bernd Heinl
Music
Bob Telson
Also Starring
Darron Flagg, George Aguilar, G. Smokey Campbell, Hans Stadlbauer, Alan S. Craig
Box Office
$3,732,660

Where to Watch

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Free

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Rent

AmazonPlayYouTubeFandango At Home

Buy

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Source: JustWatch

Physical Media

Bagdad Cafe has appeared on disc across several regions and labels over the years. StudioCanal released a Region 2 DVD and Region B Blu-ray in the UK on August 13, 2018, marking the film's 30th anniversary, with the Blu-ray disc carrying commentary from Percy Adlon and Marianne Sägebrecht along with the documentaries "The Trip to Bagdad" and "Bagdad Cafe: The Story." Shout Factory has also issued the film on Blu-ray in the United States, both as a standalone disc and as part of its Percy Adlon Collection box set, released January 25, 2022, alongside Sugarbaby and Rosalie Goes Shopping. A Region 1 DVD had circulated earlier from Shout Factory as well, following the original MGM Region 1 DVD release.

DVDShout FactoryRegion 2

Adam added 9/23/2026

Blu-rayPercy AdlonUnited KingdomRegion B2018

Adam added 9/23/2026

Blu-rayShout FactoryUnited States

Adam added 9/23/2026

Comments

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  10. It’s an absolutely marvelous movie worth watching several times,,, but to clarify, she didn’t abandon her husband. They had an argument, and he drove off without her, leaving her stranded in the desert and walking to the sanctuary of the Baghdad Café.

  11. The movie was filmed around Route 66 and I had to make a small detour, about 10 miles I think, have a smoke and stare at the place. It’s near Amboy.

      1. Sean Grogan Yup! This post sent me down a rabbit hole last night. I listened to the soundtrack again. I remember my mother playing that cassette in her car all of the time.

  14. One of my favorite movies! The soundtrack is beautiful and haunting. The offbeat characters you fall in love with. Just a joyful flick! ♥️♥️♥️

  38. Wonderful movie! So perfect! I love when her husband goes into the cafe and because their machine is broken, they serve him coffee from his wife’s thermos. And he doesn’t recognize it! One of the best Percy Adlon films, although Hawaiian Gardens is close.

  40. how is the soundtrack not mentioned? the entire album sold based on one song, “calling you.” people lined up at tower records to fork over an absurd amount of money, just for that one, incredible song, that was never released as a single.

  43. Part of my trifecta of “comfort films” (Enchanted April, Cold Comfort Farm are the other two)

    CCH Pounder and Marianne Sagebrecht are stupendous here.

  47. It was a big hit in San Francisco when it was released. A restaurant on Market Street in the Castro neighborhood branded itself as The Bagdad Cafe and was a popular brunch destination for years.

  69. One of my favorites. “I’m calling you. Can’t you hear me.” If you haven’t seen it, you are missing a marvelous movie and a top notch performance by Jack Palance. I think you can watch on Prime.

  71. I saw this when it was released and absolutely loved it. I have rarely seen a film have a theme song that so amazingly suited it. In the early 90’s there was a diner in San Fransisco called Baghdad Cafe which was wonderful.

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