Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore ***** (1974, Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Alfred Lutter III, Billy Green Bush, Lelia Goldoni, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Curtin, Diane Ladd, Vic Tayback, Mia Bendixsen) – Classic Movie Review 3425

Hey, is this you? ‘A picture for anyone who has ever dreamed of a second chance!’ Director Martin Scorsese’s 1974 romantic drama is a triumph, not least for Ellen Burstyn, who is stupendous in her Best Actress Oscar- winning performance as Alice Hyatt, the 35-year-old widowed housewife heroine who doesn’t seem to live anywhere anymore.

Alice’s husband Donald is killed in a traffic accident and she journeys to her home town of Monterey, California, through America’s motels and cafés with her precocious 11-year-old son Tommy (Alfred Lutter III), watching the bloom fade from her dream of a singing career. Alice is forced to take a waitressing job at Mel & Ruby’s Diner in Tucson, Arizona.

Kris Kristofferson is excellent as David, Alice’s good-hearted suitor, Harvey Keitel stands out as a mentally unbalanced suitor and Diane Ladd is especially rousing as Flo, her spunky fellow waitress.

Scorsese’s extraordinarily powerful, engaging movie details ordinary lives with the greatest of passion, warmth and wit, thanks to he lovely performances and a beautifully fulfilled screenplay full of memorable characters by Robert Getchell. Miles away from gangsters, it is one of Scorsese’s least typical but best films.

There is an adult tone with some swearing and violence. Ladd’s daughter Laura Dern appears uncredited as a girl eating and ice-cream cone. Mia Bendixsen plays Alice at the age of eight.

Also in the cast are Billy Green Bush, Lelia Goldoni, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Curtin, Vic Tayback as Mel, Ola Moore, Harry Northrup, Martin Brinton, Dean Carper, Murray Moston, Lane Bradbury and Henry Kendrick.

The TV series Alice followed with 202 episodes from 1976 to 1985, with Linda Lavin as Alice and Tayback back as Mel.

After The Exorcist (1973), the Warner Bros studio granted Burstyn total creative control over this film. Francis Ford Coppola introduced her to Scorsese but she hesitated to hire him, fearing he could only direct men. When she asked Scorsese what he knew about women, he replied: ‘Nothing, but I’d like to learn’.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3425

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