Gas Food Lodging

"When Shade's good, she's very good. But when Trudi's bad, she's better."

1992 1h 41m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 78

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Nora, a single mother raising two teenage daughters, Shade and Trudi, waits tables at a truck-stop diner in a small New Mexico town. The beautiful and rebellious Trudi drops out of school and gets a job alongside Nora, while the younger Shade whittles away her time at Spanish movie matinees. Their lives are turned upside down when Trudi becomes pregnant and the girls' absent father returns.

“When Shade's good, she's very good. But when Trudi's bad, she's better.”

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Cast

Brooke Adams
Nora
Ione Skye
Trudi
Fairuza Balk
Shade
James Brolin
John Evans
Robert Knepper
Dank
David Lansbury
Hamlet
Jacob Vargas
Javier
Donovan Leitch
Darius

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Allison Anders
Writers: Allison Anders, Pavel Cantu
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Allison Anders, shot by Dean Lent. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by J. Mascis. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tracy Granger shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Brooke Adams and Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When Shade's good, she's very good. But when Trudi's bad, she's better.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0104321 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Allison Anders directs. Dean Lent behind the camera. J. Mascis scores. Tracy Granger cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

134 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3Directed by Allison Anders, shot by Dean Lent. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by J. Mascis. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Tracy Granger shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Brooke Adams and Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "When Shade's good, she's very good. But when Trudi's bad, she's better.".
8IMDB entry: tt0104321 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 78 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "sibling relationship", "waitress", "parent child relationship", "new mexico".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dean Lent
Original score: J. Mascis
Editing: Tracy Granger
Production design: Jane Ann Stewart
Costume design: Susan L. Bertram
Makeup / hair: Lorelei Loverde
Sound: Leonard Marcel
Runtime: 101 min · 1h 41m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $1,345,236
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Gas Food Lodging (1992)

Awards

Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Allison Anders

Stills · wallpapers

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2025-09-06
★ 7/10
Lost hearts in New Mexico with rooms vacant A single mother (Brooke Adams) and her two teenage daughters (Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk) live in a bleak small town in the desert. They each struggle with the boredom of mundane life and pursue romance. "Gas Food Lodging" (1992) is part reverent coming-of-age drama, similar to the future “Dreamland,” and part aging mother looking for love in the remote American West, à la “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Others that come to mind include: “Desert Bloom,” “What's Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Desert Blue” and “Tumbleweeds.” It’s a quality drama with a barren dust bowl milieu that creatively fleshes out the three protagonists, offering interesting insights on life in general and, especially, the pursuit of love and everything that goes with it. Unfortunately, all three females make the mistake of getting intimate on the first date, but I suppose that kind of folly is one of the real-life issues on which the film zeroes-in. It could also be argued that writer/director Allison Anders only had 1 hour and 41 minutes to tell the story and so had to condense time. Fairuza was 16 during shooting and would turn 17 in a few months. She arguably never looked better. Meanwhile Ione was 20 whereas Brooke turned 42 during the shoot. Blonde Leigh Hamilton has a small but somewhat memorable bit part. Anyway, I like the way the flick often takes the subtle route in detailing things. It’s not necessary to spell everything out when it’s all there for the viewer to discover and understand. It was shot in Deming and Las Cruces, New Mexico, which are located in the southwest side of the state. GRADE: B

Production companies