PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Steven Wyatt I discovered Bagdad Cafe by accident. The film I'd set out to see was sold out so, having schlepped into London, I reluctantly settled for something I'd never heard of showing on another screen. It was Bagdad Cafe. Subsequently I bought the VHS, lent it to someone - "You MUST see this movie!" - and never got it back. I bought the DVD, lent it to someone else, same result. I bought a second DVD and I am NEVER lending it out. Never ever.This is a spellbinding film, and like many of the reviewers here I can't quite work out what the spell is. It's a simple story: a German tourist finds herself dumped in the Nevada desert by her obnoxious husband and makes her way to an isolated, rundown motel and service station - the eponymous Bagdad Cafe. She makes friends with the people there. That's it. The isolation of the motel reflects the isolation of the motley collection of characters living there. Life seems to have passed them by just as the trucks on the highway pass them by. They are in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, cast up on the edge of the flow like human flotsam. Each is lost in solitude and quiet desperation, stuck, trying to make the best of things. Jasmin, Marianne Sagebrecht's character, is also stranded by the abrupt and brutal break-up of her marriage. In a black irony she has grabbed not her own suitcase but her husband's, which contains his clothes and, surreally, a teach-yourself-magic kit. With a vulnerable, valiant and soul-wrenching dignity Jasmin sets about making the most of her bleak situation, a stranger in a very strange land. She rolls up her sleeves and cleans the place. She makes proper coffee, strong. Alone in her room, she starts teaching herself magic tricks from the kit as mile-long trains trundle by in the night.One by one, the other characters begin to thaw around her. Jasmin is the catalyst that brings them together. Artist and former Hollywood set-painter Rudi Cox (Jack Palance, in lizard-skin cowboy boots as reptilian as his eyes) falls helplessly in lust, then love, with this voluptuous Teuton who has appeared out of the desert like a perspiring valkyrie. The café owner Brenda (CCH Pounder, a world of helpless pain in her face) slowly lets go of the rage that is tearing her apart. She learns to smile again. Brenda's grown-up children, the Bach-worshipping son and the wayward daughter, are won over. The once-deserted café starts to attract a clientèle. Why? "It's magic," as Jasmin says, blue eyes glinting, prestidigitating eggs, coins and ribbons from the ears of laughing customers. Magic indeed. The film weaves an indefinable spell under skies cascading with colour, against a soundtrack that includes Bob Telson's Oscar-nominated 'Calling You'. Love, friendship and fellowship bloom in the desert. Hope blossoms in the sand. Director Percy Adlon (the screenplay was written by his wife Eleonore) has created a gentle, haunting, humanist jewel. And no, you can't borrow my copy.

travelinggirl Loving a small touch of surrealism in your movies, I would have to say that this film would be a perfect fit for you. The way the film was photographed (often off-kilter), the desert colors (looking air- brushed), the people are very much off the edge (the result of heatstroke maybe?), and even the inanimate objects all seem to have a life of their own in this film. It was wonderful that the actor Jack Palance left behind his typical "slightly mean" persona to play a character that is bemused and a big lovestruck artist. CCH Pounder is an actor that can scold and holler better than anyone. She is so very commanding. It is great that the characters of the long-suffering men in her life eventually get to appreciate the story unfolding before them. The overweight German woman who turns a disgusting dirty, "down on its luck" café/motel into a special place, where magical things happen on so many different levels, is just wonderful. The last scene kind of disappointed me, but overall it doesn't undermine this goofball quality of this one terrific little film.

Tim Kidner Here's a lovely oddity from little known German director Percy Adlon - his first in English. Set in the Arizona scrub is a scruffy diner, where a motley crew of staff and regulars make their home.A plump German housewife (a joyous Marianne Sagebrecht) is dumped at the roadside by her husband after they row. She makes it to the diner, cases in tow, where the argument has been all about the broken down coffee machine. "You want a room? HERE!!?" enquires boss Brenda (CCH Pounder). The camera shows odd angles and takes on things, rather like Oliver Stone's might do.Jack Palance, radiating comic charm is the resident just beyond-middle age hippie and he takes a shine to the Frau Jasmin. His performance is as memorable as his Oscar winning one in City Slickers. Anyways, the bustling restless Jasmin has her ways of thinking and those ways don't always meet that of Brenda. Her first task is to do the much needed vacuuming in a pea-green walled room that she's paid $25 to stay in. It's the sight of Jasmin's unpacked lederhosen that causes Brenda to call out the local sheriff.In a charming, heart-warming tale, full of human colour, is a film that can be enjoyed time and again (I'm on my third view) and one that is offbeat enough to be interesting but always stays the side of going too far. An unknown and enjoyable gem.

cafm When I first discovered Bagdad Cafe on VHS back in 1991, it rocketed to the top of my favourite film list and has remained there ever since. I've introduced the film to many people and most of them now share my passion for its quirky, off-beat tone and inexplicable cinematography, its otherworldly sound-scape, its motley crew of disappointed women and defeated men, and its gradual ascent towards a sublime musical climax as the characters realise and embrace their passions. The deepening friendship between Brenda (CCH Pounder) and Jasmine (Marianne Sägebrecht) is achingly tender and rich. I now own the Australian release DVD but found it to be a disappointment. It contains additional footage not seen in the theatrical release, and for good reason, as it only serves to drag the pace of the film (particularly the climactic magic show musical number, which, as it drags on, grows increasingly tedious). The adage, "less is more" should have been applied here. Ultimately it adds nothing, and spoils an otherwise perfect film. "Brenda. Oh, Brenda."