Mystery Train (1989) on Netflix
In Memphis, over one night, the Arcade Hotel links three stories. Mitsuko and Jun, Luisa, and Johnny with Will and Charlie all end up at the run-down flophouse.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.5/1033,316 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
On one night in Memphis, three sets of travelers converge on the Arcade Hotel, a run-down flophouse with a night clerk and a bellboy. Mitsuko and Jun, a young Japanese couple, have come to the city on a pilgrimage: Mitsuko is obsessed with Elvis, while Jun emulates Carl Perkins. Luisa, an Italian widow, is stuck in Memphis as she escorts her husband's coffin back to Italy, and shares a hotel room with Dee Dee, a young woman who recently left her British boyfriend, Johnny. Johnny, having lost his job and his girlfriend, goes to a bar with his friend Will Robinson and Charlie, his ex-girlfriend's brother. After a stop at a liquor store leaves them accidental thieves, the three men retreat to the Arcade Hotel to hide out for the night.
Cast
- Rufus Thomasas Man in Station (segment "Far from Yokohama")
Show all 19 cast
- William Hochas Tourist Family (segment "Far from Yokohama")
- Pat Hochas Tourist Family (segment "Far from Yokohama")
- Joshua Elvis Hochas Tourist Family (segment "Far from Yokohama")
- Reginald Freemanas Conductor (segment "Far from Yokohama")
- Beverly Pryeas Streetwalker (segment "Far from Yokohama")
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mystery Train (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jim Jarmusch wrote the role of Johnny specifically for Joe Strummer, the former Clash frontman and Jarmusch's favorite 1980s musician, conceiving the part while the two were together in Spain during a period when Strummer was depressed following the band's breakup.
- Jim Jarmusch found the film's central setting by accident, driving aimlessly through a snowstorm while scouting Memphis until he stumbled on the intersection of a disused train station, the Arcade Luncheonette and the derelict Arcade Hotel, later recalling that the crossroads felt haunted by the ghosts of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.
- Mystery Train was the first American independent film financed by the Japanese electronics company JVC, which backed it with a $2.8 million budget that was lavish by Jim Jarmusch's usual standards, despite him insisting on full creative control, and went on to fund his next three films.
- During production Jarmusch took actor Masatoshi Nagase, who spoke little English but was a skilled mimic, to a Memphis nightclub and had him practice chat-up lines on women there as an improvised acting exercise.
