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(1988 HBO Movie) Juanita Hutchins (Warren) is a woman who has been kicked around by too many men, beginning with her high school sweetheart, Slick Henderson (Coyote), who stole her heart and then ran off with someone else. Twenty years later, Juanita is working in a bar called Herb's trying to scrape enough money together to raise her daughter Candy (Roberts). The bar is frequented by such characters as Tommy Earl Bruner (Forsythe), a Texas good old boy, and Doris Steadman (Kurtz), who has a fondness for just about any man but always manages to hide her hanky-panky ways from her naive husband. Bumping 40, Juanita is still ensnared in her dream of hitting it big as a songwriter. And she's also looking for love but unable to admit it to herself.

And then, who should come back into her life but Slick, the boy she loved in high school. He's back in town for his father's funeral. He pursues her, she resists him. He inspires her to write the songs that are in her heart, and then pushes her to let the world get a look at them.

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Cast

  • Lesley Ann Warren............Juanita Hutchins
  • Peter Coyote........................Slick Henderson
  • Swoozie Kurtz.......................Doris Steadman
  • Bill Forsythe....................Tommy Earl Bruner
  • Julia Roberts........................Candy Hutchins
  • Billy Vera.................................Lonnie Slocum
  • Anthony Zerbe.....................Jeemy Williams
  • Alice Krige....................................Patsy Kline
  • Willie Nelson..................................as himself
  • Emmy Lou Harris............................as herself

Credits

  • Directed by..................................Bobby Roth

  • Screenplay by.............Bobby Roth and Dan Jenkins based on Jenkins' book

  • Cinematography by..........Michael Ballhaus

  • Running time: 100 minutes

  • Premiered on HBO on February 20, 1988

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Reviews:

Lexington Herald-Leader:
"Baja Oklahoma makes these folks so real that you'll feel as if you've been dropped into the overstuffed chair in Juanita's living room to sip a beer... Once you start watching them, you won't be able to resist sticking with them until the end. And then you'll want more... Baja Oklahoma is filled with original country music that will leave you smiling even if you don't usually care much for guitars or banjos."

USA Today:
"Baja Oklahoma creates a mood more than it tells a story... But the mood is its own, colorful and complete with quirky characthers and cameo appearances by the Beaters, Harris and Willie Nelson... And Coyote? Well, he's dandy. Peter Coyote could be the Sam Shepard of the TV movie. He haas that lanky insouciance, that lip curled in wry amusement, that know-it-all air. Juanita's initial resistance to him is just plain crazy."

Sacramento Bee:
"Warren is delightful as Juanita, a tear-stained barmaid striving to become a songwriter. Coyote gives a strong, steady performance as Slick Henderson, a mature version of the skirt-chaser who broke Juanita's heart twenty years ago. And Bobby Roth has directed a feature film that looks, sounds, moves and feels like a feature film."

Newsday:
"Blue-collar folks, Stetsons and Texas-sized heartache are some of the things that give Baja Oklahoma the down-home appeal of a frothy pitcher of tap beer."

The Miami Herald:
"Baja, a "little film" by a major studio's standards, doesn't need a big boss of a budget to make it work. It feels more like a movie than most of what you'll see on free TV... Warren sings sweetly and her character strikes some responsive chords. Coyote is sturdy, and Swoosie has a handle on most of the film's R-rated outrageousness."

San Francisco Chronicle:
"Mounted on Warren's graceful, dancer's body is an expressive face that showcases Juanita's quicksilver moods, from human vacancy sign to scrunched, gleeful intensity. Warren is playing far afield from her own roots, which are New York and Jewish, and he carries it off with absolute conviction."

Houston Chronicle:
"The HBO movie has its world premiere in Fort Worth before an audience of entertainment and political celebrities that were to include Jenkins, stars Lesley Ann Warren and Peter Coyote, and Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis... The title Baja Oklahoma means Texas. It comes from a wisecrack by rival Oklahomans who refer to Texas, their Southern neighbor, as Baja Oklahoma, Spanish for 'beneath Oklahoma'... Baja Oklahoma filmed for five weeks in the Los Angeles area last summer and one week in Fort Worth, where more than a thousand locals turned out to pack Billy Bob's for the climactic final scenes."

Leonard Maltin:
"Lively adaptation of Dan Jenkins' funny novel of a smalltown Texas barmaid who is juggling her dreams of becoming a songwriter with her rocky romances. Loaded with local color and music stars like Billy Vera (of Billy and the Beaters), Willie Nelson (who cowrote the title song with Jenkins), Emmylou Harris, Bob Wills, Jr. (as his dad), plus South African actress Alice Krige as Patsy Cline."

Chicago Tribune:
"America, it used to be said, is a state of mind, a willingness of the heart, and the chief pleasure of Baja Oklahoma is that it celebrates all that old dream without apology and without shame."

San Jose Mercury News:
"Rambunctious and sly, with good performances and matching dialogue, Baja Oklahoma is one of the pleasant surprises of the season."

Images

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In the words of the director:
"Even though I'm an L.A. Jew and the book is set in Fort Worth, I could relate to the characters."

 

On Lesley AnnWarren: "She's a thoroughbred." ...Peter Coyote


Did you know?

    • Willy Nelson wrote the music for the title song while author Dan Jenkins wrote the lyrics.
    • In the book, Slick is 52 and balding.
    • Baja was made in the summer of 1987 in Fort Worth and in Chatsworth, California, where all the Herb's Cafe scenes were filmed.
    • Fort Worth's Billy Bob's Texas, since closed, is the site of the film's climactic concert. About 1000 people showed up to help stage this scene.
    • Lesley Ann Warren does her own singing in the film.
    • At one time Shirley MacLaine had agreed to play one of the two leads but when Paul Newman declined to play Slick, director George Roy Hill lost interest.
    • Julia Roberts was later touted as the film's star when Baja Oklahoma was released to video.
    • For new or used video, check Amazon.com and Ebay auctions.

 

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