I started watching this movie on television half way through and was immediately captivated . It was interrupted by commercials all the time and that irritated me big deal. After it got finished I searched the web to see where I can watch it from the beginning and found on YouTube, in a foreign language though, but the one I speak. I loved absolutely everything about this movie. Refreshing change from clichéd US films of the time.A radiant, oddball comedy-drama about the relationship.This sparkling little gem is not just a hilarious and touching account of the friendship that develops between two women of jarringly different cultures.It also offers a renewed, endearingly quirky vision of America as the land of opportunity, not in the economic sense, but as a place with plenty of room for self-discovery and individuality.

Very interesting. Here is a film that takes place before cell phones and computers. In fact, at the front desk of this cafe they have a rotary phone.Still with me? Bagdad Cafe is out in the desert. No downtown, no Starbucks, no shopping malls. But, it's a place where people have landed and have to make due with what they have. Ever heard of the phrase if you get stuck with lemons make lemonade? Well, these people do just that.This film is about people stuck with something that might seem dismal at first but taking the bull by the horns and making something out of it. The film shows a small group of people who are depressed and bitter but then becoming alive and happy. All it takes is some imagination. Not an expensive computer or I-phone.The acting is excellent, the sets are wonderful, the characters perfect. It may be bittersweet at times, it may seem a bit low key but it all ends well.

Extremely entertaining movie with a very positive message to those who don't feel life makes any sense and without this notion still can do something about it, even in the American desert. Life offers us all these options if we stay true to ourselves and don't let ourselves drag into negativism and routine. This movie is highly recommendable for all ages and social levels and for people who lost any hope on a better future. Curious coincidence that I saw this movie on the day Jack Palance died without knowing it before. Jack died on November 10 2006 and I had the impression he was very much himself in this movie. Truly comical and absurd the presence of the Australian hitch hiker with his boomerang..

Here's for an American comedy that's... uh... VERY German. At least, it's set in Nevada just outside of Las Vegas, and holds a very strong sense of the Southwest and its colors and energy, but directed by a German in a very Expressionist way.A German tourist has an argument with her husband and they split up, him taking the car and leaving her out in the hot sunny wasteland. Wandering along the highway she makes her way to Bagdad, a small town... or rather, a café with people who for some reason like to hang out around it all their lives... and befriends the usually angry and very aggravated owner. The two, though very confused with each other at first, eventually spark a friendship of "magic" that attracts many visitors to the small outpost.It's very funny and pretty quirky. A lot of the strange editing and washed-out cinematography add to a sense of Expressionism, but captures very well the landscape... both its heat and its beauty.This film is missing a few bits of character development and sometimes feels a bit rushed, but it's a very nice and very loving take on yet another type of culture shock that eventually works magic and brings people together. Some things weren't developed enough (Brenda's husband spends all that time spying and yet never comes back?) but the short time we spend with all these characters paints broad portraits that leave their echoes with us forever. That, indeed, is a very strong ability indeed.CCH Pounder is brilliant. If you want to see her do brilliantly as a very different character in a very good movie, watch Benny and Joon. The two movies are similar in that they bring very quirky characters together, but otherwise are nearly completely different. Between the two of these movies, I wish CCH Pounder was in a lot more movies than animations and television series.--PolarisDiB