Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Cafe

Bagdad Cafe (1987)

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

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Source: JustWatch

Physical Media

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a member added 9/25/2026 · Adam edited 9/26/2026

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Adam added 9/25/2026 · edited 9/26/2026

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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.

  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.

    2. Gayle Goldblatt Not to miss the point, but I had just moved from San Francisco to a remote desert-like area amidst Southern California’s dry chaparral. SF had discovered good strong European-roast coffees. SoCal hadn’t yet. The “brown water” thing definitely resonated.

  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.

    1. Ara Kataak Give a listen to Bob Telson’s bluesy arrangement of his song from Adlon’s “Younger and Younger” (1992). It’s called “Show Me Your Face” and it is mesmerizing. (From Telson’s album “Old LP”)

    5. Eric J Hanne The ending of Enchanted April left me uncomfortable – their personalities and outlooks have changed and they have to go back to old lives which are going to feel even worse than before! 🙂

      2. Frieda Landsman Not cynical. I watched it this year, second viewing, first viewing since it was on television 34 years ago, and I was taken aback at how downbeat the ending is. It’s like some of the Aeschylus tragedies, things appear at first to be resolved at the end until you think for just a moment about what happens next! 🙂

    6. Eric J Hanne please check out a few more you may not have seen (from my list of “quiet films”);
      Local Hero (Burt Lancaster)
      Nobody’s Fool (Paul Newman)
      Paterson (Adam Driver)
      The Man In The Hat (Ciaran Hinds)
      Broken Flowers (Bill Murray)
      The Straight Story (Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, David Lynch)
      Tea With Mussolini (Joan Plowright, Judi Dench, Cher, Lily Tomlin, Maggie Smith)
      HIGHLY recommend all of them.

      1. Ross Harris Excellent choices, not to mention you included TWO of my all-time favorite films in this list: The Straight Story, and Local Hero. (LH with another memorable soundtrack thanks to Mark Knopfler!)

      2. Ross Harris Thanks for this list.

        Some of Gregory’s Girl hasn’t aged well, but it otherwise belongs on this list. Certainly, the second half does.

        Wouldn’t leave out Tender Mercies, either–though it does get quietly emotionally intense, at times. Same with Paris, Texas, and The Trip to Bountiful.

  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.

  79. And written primarily by Percy’s wife, Eleonore. Her influence on this script is evident in the relationship of the two lead characters. Percy’s other films, while whimsical and engaging, never resonated with audiences in the way Bagdad did. And I believe Eleonore’s contribution is the reason.

  84. One of my all time favorite movies. Shortly after we watched the movie, we were in Madrid and randomly ran into Marianne Sagebrecht. I couldn’t resist telling her how much we loved her. She very shyly smiled and gave me a little hug. So precious.

  115. Found it with another classic in the used DVD bin (or was it VHS?) at Harmon’s Grocery in Hunter, UT– circa 1988. Still watch it now and then. The other one was John Cleese’s Clockwise. My husband and I quote write Michael Frayn’s lines all the time.

  136. Love that movie. Watched it numerous times. Agree with Enchanted April and CCF as movies to also watch on repeat when life is too much to take for one more second. Which really means I need to have the 3 of them on a continuous loop these days. 🤣😳

  145. Absolutely brilliant. Subtle. Hilarious. Heartbreaking. Magical. Enchanting. One of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my life. Marianne Sägebrecht exudes sexuality, magic, mystery, acceptance, warmth, intrigue.

  149. Saw it over 30 years ago in an old cinema ,long gone now. Loved the film but for some reason I didn’t rewatch it , time to dig it out on Stremio. Near the place where the cinema used to be is a coffee shop called Cafe Baghdad run by an Iraqi family . 😊

  308. Modern “desert fable” is a great way to describe this movie, especially to those who haven’t yet seen it, and might be caught off guard by its more fanciful moments.

    The film is even more evocative if you’ve spent time in beautiful desert desolation.

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