White Palace [DVD]

White Palace is a convincingly acted, well directed film that accurately portrays the the more often than realised occurrence of a younger man falling in love with an older woman. A famous case of this kind of thing happening was the marriage of the famous Eighteenth Century Doctor Samuel Johnson when he was 25 to Elisabeth Porter who, at 46, was 21 years older than he was. It was a love match and they were very happy together. Johnson, who affectionately called her 'Tetty', was very sad when she died and never had any interest in marrying anyone else. This film wins because it doesn't try to gloss over anything. The case of a younger man (James Spader) distressed had losing his wife is accurately portrayed as is the lead up to his meeting the older woman convincingly acted by Susan Sarandon. Not only is she at least 15 years older than him, she is also not up to the level of his social strata. Realising this, she tries to disappear, but he eventually finds her again and love triumphs. We may well ask: all very well, but will it last? Well, of course, we don't need to know that. What we do know is that this kind of match certainly does last for some couples. If it lasted for Samuel Johnson, it can last for others. Anyway, it's a lovely, well made, well acted film. I've had my copy of it for some time now and I've watched it several times. It's the kind of film that inspires us to always strive to overcome problems and do better with our lives.

I did see this film some 20 years ago and did find the pairing of Susan Sarandon & James Spader, very watchable the two stars do work well together and Sarandon does underplay her role as a waitress...with such convincing presence and Spader as the up - market executive...who falls for this mouthy waitress is very watchable. I thought at the time some other Film Producer would re-kindle this pairing again and have Sarandon playing a FBI Chief Investigator who would be hunting a Ted Bundy type of psycho serial killer....Spader of course. A very watchable film with a young James Spader & Susan Sarandon in good form.

The leading stars of 'White Palace' both Susan Sarandon and James Spader bring a bit of magic to this tale of opposites attract. Susan Sarandon plays the straight talking (Wearing her heart on her sleeves) older, more mature woman Nora, who is soon to turn 44yrs in age, and works in a local 24 hour fast foods burger bar called White Palace. James Spader, in his more youthful days plays the handsome 27 yr. old Jewish character called Max, a high flying Accounts Executive, widower, having lost his younger wife in a car accident. They encounter each other for the first time after Max discovering that in his earlier order of 50 takeaway burgers that he was buying to take to a party, that there were 6 empty boxes for which he had paid for, and not happy with the feeling that he has been deliberately scammed, decides to return to the restaurant to seek a refund. Max explains the situation to Nora who tries to tell him to wait his turn in the queue and initially feels that he is a rich arrogant person but chooses to return some cash back to him from the till. Later that night Max driving back home from the party decides to stop at a bar for a drink. Nora is in the bar already drinking and recognises Max from the restaurant, and decides to go over to him and begins to flirt with him. Max isn't interested but by the time that they leave the bar, Max is slightly worse for wear and agrees to give a lift to Nora back to her place. Max, in no fit state to carry on driving, agrees to crash out for the night in Nora's place and is given the bed. Later on Nora decides to to seize her opportunity and to seduce Max who is asleep by giving him a blow job. Max gradually waking up realises what is going on but, is too far aroused by then and allows Nora to carry on. This then is the start of their rocky relationship. The chemistry between these two central people is brilliant and you're immediately drawn into their plight. Max feeling reluctant to introduce his older lover to his family and friends as Nora is from the social working class, not highly educated, and likely to speak out with what is ever on her mind, and fears that the others will make a judgement on his choice of new girlfriend. Nora picking up on this situation realises that he is feels embarrassed by her and perhaps they are not meant to be together..... Susan Sarandon is one of Hollywood's more gifted actresses and she always commands your attention in the films that she stars in, such as 'Light Sleeper' (1991), 'Thelma and Louise' (2002) and 'The Calling' (2014) to name but a few. Likewise, Jame Spader caught my attention back in 1988 with the horror film 'Jack's Back' followed by the film 'Sex Lies and Video Tape' (1989), 'Bad Influence' (1990), 'True Colours' (1991), 'Dream Lover' (1993) and 'Secretary' (2002). The only disappointment for me was on the dvd copy that I purchased, this was one of the worst I've come across in terms of transfer of the soundtrack. The film suffered from a lot of heavy noise pollution which made it difficult to hear the characters talking properly to the extent that in the end I needed to select the English subtitles to appear. But this is criticism of the actual dvd copy and not the film which I loved.

I am sometimes reminded of films I watched years ago so am then happy to find them on Amazon so I can watch them again. I remembered the storyline of this well and remember back when I first watched it I also purchased the book it was based on although the film doesn't follow the book to the letter as the book didn't have a happy ending! I like both Susan and James as actors. Their onscreen chemistry in this film is believable. James' character Max, lost his wife at a young age. He's Jewish. He meets Sarandon's character Nora in a bar and she gets him drunk. He goes home with her and they have sex but there isn't much of a connection because he's thinking of his late wife. However, he returns again so she makes him aware of her age (she's 43, he's 27). At first it seems like he's just using her for sex but a relationship develops between them and he learns that Nora has also experienced loss in her life. They are complete opposites but somehow they connect. Nora begins to realise that Max is keeping her a secret from his friends and family so when she confronts him he lets her meet them which is a cringeworthy encounter! Watching this again, it didn't seem dated. Although I'm sure when I first watched it, it was an 18 Certificate but how times have changed as the sex scenes now seem tame and it's a 15 certificate! Enjoyable romantic film.

White Palace (1990) Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon) is a 43 years old waitress working at a hamburger joint called "The White Palace" and Max Baron (James Spader) is a successful 27 years old advertising executive. The film shows how they accidentally meet and how their relationship develops. I had, however, a rather strange feeling, as the film went on, that the relationship was doomed: As individuals, they both had to carry their own emotional baggage and, beside the relatively unimportant age difference, they led distinctively contrasting lifestyles, and had very different backgrounds. For me the movie would have made a more realistic sense, had it ended differently. But the film ending is pure Hollywood. The director, Luis Mandoki, did a decent job in adapting Glenn Savan's novel to the screen, while the two leads were rather good. Sarandon was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (1991), but won the London Critics Circle Film Award (1992) for her portrayal of Nora. The Movie grossed $ 17,487,531 in the US.

I have searched for this movie for ages and finally found it. I love James Spader and Susan Sarandon and this movie on blu ray is simply a keeper.

To any fan of James Spader a justification for watching this movie would be completely unecessary. One of Spader's finest performances as grieving Max, who finds love and happiness again in the most unlikely of places. For anyone new to Spader's work, this film is a touching story of a relationship which breaks the mould and defies convention, with an excellent cast and good supporting music and writing. It's a film guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart.

I really enjoyed this film, it was so powerful - it highlights peoples prejudices. It is about a young, well educated Jewish man (James Spader) who comes from a weathly family who fools in love with an older Woman (Susan Sarandon) who works as a waitress for a burger place, she comes from the ruff end of town. The acting was superb and when the film had finished, I found my self deep in thought about the prejudices and effects they have on others.

Loved this movie.

White Palace ist ein US-Drama von 1990. Es handelt von der Beziehung zwischen dem jungen, jüdischen Werbefachmann Max (27), und der reifen Imbisskassiererin Nora (43), welche Marilyn Monroe idolisiert. Beide treffen sich zum ersten Mal im White Palace, der Burgerbude in welcher Nora beschäftigt ist. Max kommt gerade von der Jungesellenabschiedsfeier seines besten Freundes, um die mangelhafte Fastfoodlieferung zu reklamieren. Nach diesem kurzen, unangenehmen Kontakt, laufen sich beide nachts in einer Kneipe erneut über den Weg. Vom Alkohol befeuert geht die selbstbewusste Frau in die Offensive, und flirtet mit dem peniblen Sensibelchen. Auch Max ist stark alkoholisiert und will sich aus dem Gespräch hinauswinden. Als er Nora offenbart, dass er Witwer ist, zeigt diese eine unerwartete Reaktion. Allen äußeren und inneren Widerständen zum Trotz, entwickelt sich eine stürmische Romanze zwischen dem ungleichen Paar. Doch hat ihre Liebe eine realistische Zukunft? Hier handelt es sich um ein mitreißendes Drama, zum Leben erweckt von zwei herausragenden Hauptdarstellern. James Spader hatte mit Sex, Lügen und Video (1989), gerade seinen Durchbruch erreicht. Susan Sarandon war schon spätestens seit Atlantic City, USA (1980) ein Star. Die Beiden harmonieren im vorliegenden Werk vorzüglich, und gehen durch ein Wechselbad der Gefühle. Der Klassen- und Altersunterschied wird glaubwürdig, und teilweise humorvoll, thematisiert. Bin ich eigentlich der Einzige, der eine gewisse optische Ähnlichkeit zwischen Spader und Sarandon festgestellt hat? Jedenfalls ein exzellenter Film veröffentlicht vom Label Fabulous, leider ohne jegliches Bonusmaterial.

Exactly as described and I would buy this item again.

J'adore ce film. Je l'avais déjà vu mais je ne me lasse pas de le revoir. Une histoire comme on en voit trop peu mais finalement tant mieux. Deux acteurs fabuleux, forts dans leurs rôles. Quel homme ne succomberait pas au charme de Nora. Quelle femme ne tomberait pas amoureuse de Max. Des répliques que je considère cultes. D'ailleurs ce film est un film culte. J'adore. Je recommande vivement. Merci Amazon

Good movie had a good price.