The pronunciation of the last two (or four) words of the title, in the local dialect, is "Jim Dine," like the American pop artist; the actual reference, of course, is to the deceased American actor and cult figure, who has left his mark on a tiny Texas town not far from the Giant locale, where the Disciples of James Dean stage a reunion on the twentieth anniversary of their idol's death, and immediately fall to picking at one another, reopening old wounds, exposing secrets, and behaving generally in the most party-pooping manner. The original play by Ed Graczyk must, as near as can be told, have been very bad; but the movie (because so theatrical) must be still worse, with its confined Woolworth's set, its punctual entrances and exits, its flashbacks visualized in a mirror over the lunch counter, and its mannered, repetitive, simple-folk style of dialogue (e.g., the compound adjective, "whole entire," as in "my whole entire life," "the whole entire night," etc. ). Robert Altman directed the piece on the stage before doing it on the screen, and his continued interest in this poor-man's Albee suggests a bankruptcy of inspiration. With Sandy Dennis, Karen Black, and Cher. (1982) — Duncan Shepherd
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