Spitfire Grill (1996)

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A New Start

When Percy Talbott (Allison Elliott) is released from prison after serving five years for manslaughter, the warden helps her connect with Sheriff Gary Walsh (Gailard Sartain) in the tiny town of Gilead, Maine, and Gary encourages Hannah Ferguson (Ellen Burstyn) to take on Percy at her Spitfire Grill and give her lodging upstairs.

Hannah is hesitant at first as she mostly doesn't want to admit that she's getting old and running the cafe alone is taking a toll on her, but when her nephew Nahum Goddard (Will Patton) becomes very suspicious of Percy and her background, fiesty Hannah digs in her heels and takes on the young woman.

Together they bond in their own way -- each spitfires themselves.

Nahum sends his wife Shelby (Marcia Gay Harden) over to the cafe to help out and keep and eye on Percy, but she, too, forms a bond with Percy and Hannah and enjoys her freedom from her disparaging and demeaning husband.

When Percy realizes that Hannah has been trying to sell the cafe for several years, the three women hatch a plan to run an essay contest to find a new owner. Nahum becomes even more suspicious and is certain that Percy will abscond with the entry fees, leaving Hannah high and dry.

Kieran Mulroney plays Joe Sperling who is immediately smitten with Percy. John M. Jackson is the mysterious and elusive Johnny B. who lives in the woods and finds food left for him by the woodpile by Hannah.

Sam Lloyd Sr. has a tiny role as a cafe regular, Meeshack Boggs; Lloyd is unmistakenly the brother of actor/director Christopher Lloyd!

Written and directed by Lee David Zlotoff.

Run Time: 1 hour, 57 minutes

My personal rating: B