White Palace (film)

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White Palace
Promotional poster for White Palace
Directed by	Luis Mandoki
Produced by	Griffin Dunne Amy Robinson Mark Rosenberg
Written by	Glenn Savan (novel) Ted Tally, Alvin Sargent (screnplay)
Music by	George Fenton
Cinematography	Lajos Koltai
Editing by	Carol Fisher, Carol Littleton
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	October 19, 1990
Running time	103 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

White Palace is a 1990 film about an unlikely romance, set in St. Louis, Missouri, based on a novel of the same title by the late Glenn Savan (who also appeared in the film as an extra), directed by Luis Mandoki from a screenplay by Ted Tally and Alvin Sargent. It stars James Spader as Max Baron, a 27-year-old widower who falls in love with Nora Baker, a 43-year-old waitress played by Susan Sarandon. The romance also crosses class lines, as Max is a well-to-do businessman whereas Nora works at a restaurant called "White Palace". The original music score is composed by George Fenton. The film is marketed with the tagline "The story of a younger man, and a bolder woman."

The name was originally to have been The White Castle, and the novel even makes reference to a specific real White Castle location at the intersection of S. Grand Blvd. and Gravois Ave. in south St. Louis, but the chain refused permission to use its trademarked name in either the novel or the film, and also refused permission to use any of its restaurants for filming locations.

Instead an independent diner at the intersection of 18th and Olive Streets just west of downtown St. Louis was used -- that address is even given in the film as a plug for the diner. After the film was released the diner's owners sought permission to permanently rename it "White Palace", but were refused by the studio, so the diner was instead renamed "White Knight". As of October 2006, it still exists and is open for business.

The movie also features Jason Alexander, Kathy Bates, Steven Hill, Jeremy Piven, and Renee Taylor, and was shot almost entirely in the St. Louis area, including the Thanksgiving Dinner scenes, which were filmed in a private home in west St. Louis County, and Nora's house, which was in the Dogtown neighborhood of the City of St. Louis at 1521 W. Billon. Nora's house is no longer standing.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Twenty-seven-year-old St. Louis advertising executive Max Baron has completely shut himself off from the world in the two years since the auto accident death of his wife. When he meets free-spirited, forty-three-year-old burger joint waitress Nora Baker, his attraction to the earthly, outspoken woman is immediate and overpowering. The difference is in age is not their only obstacle to their happiness: Nora is into Marilyn Monroe, drinking beer, and lives in Dogtown, a city low-rent district, while Max is cultured, sophisticated, and wealthy. Despite their differences, Max and Nora are alike in their suffering and in their deep need for connection, but their charged relationship is put to the emotional test when it becomes clear that Max is hiding his affair with Nora from his upper middle-class, Jewish social circle.