Almost Salinas (2001)
Life takes a strange turn when a group of outsiders come to the small town of Cholame, the famed site of James Dean's fatal car crash. Cholame's only business, a diner owned by Max (John Mahoney), is overrun by this glamorous group while the diner's short order cook (Ian Gomez) and waitress (Virginia Madsen) get caught up into this new, exciting world. Unknown to the rest, a magazine reporter (Linda Emond) arrives in town to uncover a dark secret that Max has kept hidden for over forty years
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A real feel-good film with substance, a bit of a mystery, lovable characters, great ending and lots of fun. Very clever. Playing in Chicago at The Three Penny on Lincoln at Fullerton til the end of the week -- be sure to sample Jim's great pizza while watching the film. See it!
What an enjoyable film! Just goes to prove that you can make a wonderful film without nudity, violence or offensive language. The story was solid, the casting perfect and the scenery and cinematography breathtaking. Hopefully this film will be distributed so others can experience it as well.
The poignant complexity of "Almost Salinas" was beautifully superimposed on the intoxicating beauty of a seemingly godforsaken stretch of an isolated stretch of California highway. "Almost Salinas" was a movie about a movie in production, depicting James Dean's fatal car crash on his way to Salinas. In a masterful and creative way, John Green used film production, his own medium, to metaphorically allow the viewer to peer into the complex lives of very simple people. Viewers are treated to stunning cinematography as well as a well written script. This movie is a sleeper. John Green has done a superb job. I wish him well.
My wife and I saw the film at a movie class. It was a beautifully written, with loving characters and an ensemble cast. John Mahoney was superb in the lead role. It was a "throwback" movie in the sense there were no four-letter words, and there was no violence, and no explicit sex scenes (although the movie was intensely romantic). We found ourselves talking about the movie and its meaning in the days thereafter.In enjoyed the film so much that I undertook to contact the producer and director. With the producer's help, I actually held a screening of the film, with my friends as guests. I am not in the film business in any way, and had never even been to a screening myself. I have now seen the film three times, and find nuances in it on each occasion I was not aware of before.