Taglines: The story of a younger man, and a bolder woman.
White Palace movie storyline. 27-year-old St. Louis advertising executive, Max Baron (James Spader), has completely shut himself off from the world in the two years since the auto accident that killed his wife Janey (Maria Pitillo).
On the way to his friend’s bachelor party, Neil (Jason Alexander), Max picks up 50 burgers from a diner called White Palace. At the party, he discovers that the order is six burgers short and, to the ridicule of his friends, returns to the restaurant to complain. In a moment that defines his initial character, Max declares, “It’s the principle.” He is roundly mocked by his cohorts.
At the White Palace diner, after a heated exchange occurs between Max and a 43-year-old waitress, Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon), she exasperatedly refunds him. Max returns to the party but leaves upset and heads to a bar, where he runs into Nora. Drunk, she flirts with him, but he pushes her advances away and starts to leave. She senses he’s upset, asks why, and discovers his wife died in a car crash.
She discloses that she lost her young son to leukemia. The ‘connection’ prevents him from leaving. They have a few drinks and eventually he gives her a lift home to East St. Louis, but drunkenly crashes his car into her mailbox. She invites him to spend the night at her house, with the couch as his bed. Max starts dreaming about his late wife, then wakes up to find Nora performing fellatio on him. They end up having passionate sex.
After visiting his wife’s grave on the second anniversary of her death, Max returns to White Palace to watch a busy Nora from a distance. He visits her at home with the pretext of replacing the broken mailbox, but instead they begin a relationship. Max becomes more relaxed and cheerful around Nora and at his work, but remains reluctant to reveal their relationship to his family and friends. At one point, he gets frustrated that all he and Nora do are sit and watch TV in her house. She firmly reminds him of their differences in age and social backgrounds.
White Palace is a 1990 American romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki and starring Susan Sarandon, James Spader, Jason Alexander, Kathy Bates, Steven Hill, Jeremy Piven, and Renee Taylor. It was written by Ted Tally and Alvin Sargent, based on an homonymous novel (i.e. same title) by Glenn Savan (who appears in the film as an extra with a small speaking part).
It centers on the unlikely relationship between a young upper middle class widower (Spader) who falls in love with a middle-aged working class waitress (Sarandon) in St. Louis, Missouri. The original music score was composed by George Fenton. The film is marketed with the tagline “The story of a younger man and a bolder woman”.
White Palace (1990)
Directed by: Luis Mandoki
Starring: Susan Sarandon, James Spader, Jason Alexander, Kathy Bates, Eileen Brennan, Steven Hill, Rachel Chagall, Corey Parker, Renée Taylor, Barbara Howard
Screenplay by: Ted Tally, Alvin Sargent
Production Design by: Jeannine Oppewall
Cinematography by: Lajos Koltai
Film Editing by: Carol Littleton
Costume Design by: Lisa Jensen, Durinda Wood
Set Decoration by: Lisa Fischer
Art Direction by: John Wright Stevens
Music by: George Fenton
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: October 19, 1990
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