| Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
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Directed by |
Martin Scorcese |
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Produced by |
Audrey Maas & David Susskind |
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Starring |
Ellen Burstyn |
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Cinematography by |
Kent L. Wakeford |
|
Distributed by |
Warner Bros. |
|
Release date |
December 9, 1974 |
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Runtime |
112 minutes |
|
Budget/Box Office Gross |
|
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell.[2] It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow who travels with her preteen son across the Southwestern United States in search of a better life. Kris Kristofferson, Billy "Green" Bush, Diane Ladd, Valerie Curtin, Lelia Goldoni, Vic Tayback, Jodie Foster, Alfred Lutter and Harvey Keitel are featured in supporting roles.[2] It was one of Foster's earliest notable film appearances before her breakthrough with Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). The success of the film would inspire the CBS-TV sitcom series Alice, which would enjoy similar success as the film during its long network run.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore premiered at the 27th Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or and was released theatrically on December 9, 1974, by Warner Bros. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $21 million on a $1.8 million budget. At the 47th Academy Awards, Burstyn won Best Actress, while Ladd and Getchell received nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
Plot[]
When Socorro, New Mexico housewife Alice Hyatt's husband Donald is killed in an auto accident, she decides to have a garage sale, pack what's left of her meager belongings, and take her precocious son Tommy to her childhood hometown of Monterey, California, where she hopes to pursue the singing career she abandoned when she married.
Their financial situation forces them to take temporary lodgings in Phoenix, Arizona, where she finds work as a lounge singer in a seedy bar. There she meets Ben, who uses his charm to lure her into a sexual relationship that comes to a sudden end when his wife Rita confronts Alice. Ben breaks into Alice's apartment while Alice is there and physically assaults Rita for interfering with his extramarital affair. When Alice tells Ben to calm down, he threatens her also and further smashes up the apartment. Fearing for their safety, Alice and Tommy quickly leave town.
Having spent most of the little money she earned on a new wardrobe, Alice is forced to delay her journey to the West Coast and accept a job as a waitress in Tucson so she can accumulate more cash. At the local diner owned by Mel, she eventually bonds with her fellow servers - independent, no-nonsense, outspoken Flo and quiet, timid, incompetent Vera — and meets divorced local rancher David, who soon realizes the way to Alice's heart is through Tommy.
Still emotionally wounded from the difficult relationship she had with her uncommunicative husband and the frightening encounter she had with Ben, Alice is hesitant to get involved with another man so quickly. However, she finds out that David is a good influence on Tommy, who has befriended wisecracking, shoplifting, Ripple-guzzling Audrey, a slightly older girl forced to fend for herself while her mother makes a living as a prostitute.
Alice and David warily fall in love, but their relationship is threatened when Alice objects to his discipline of the perpetually bratty Tommy. The two reconcile, and David offers to sell his ranch and move to Monterey so Alice can try to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming another Alice Faye. In the end, Alice decides to stay in Tucson, coming to the conclusion that she can become a singer anywhere.
Accolades[]
Ellen Burstyn won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Diane Ladd (who later would appear as Belle Dupree, another former waitress of Mel's Diner and old flame of Mel Sharples on the Alice TV series was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express, and Robert Getchell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay but lost to Robert Towne for Chinatown.
The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, and BAFTA Awards went to Burstyn for Best Actress in a Leading Role, to Diane Ladd for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and to Getchell for Best Screenplay. Martin Scorsese was nominated for Best Direction but lost to Stanley Kubrick for Barry Lyndon.
Getchell was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, Burstyn and Ladd were nominated for Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama and Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, respectively, and Scorsese was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.[3]
Cast[]
- Ellen Burstyn as Alice Hyatt, a woman in her thirties who once worked as a singer
- Mia Bendixsen as 8-year-old Alice
- Alfred Lutter III as Tommy Hyatt, Alice's talkative preteen son
- Kris Kristofferson as David, a regular customer of Mel's diner
- Billy "Green" Bush as Donald Hyatt, a truck driver, Alice's husband
- Diane Ladd as Florence Jean Castleberry, a hardened, sharp-tongued waitress
- Valerie Curtin as Vera, a shy, awkward waitress
- Lelia Goldoni as Bea, Alice's friend and neighbor in Socorro
- Lane Bradbury as Rita
- Vic Tayback as Mel Sharples, a short-order cook who owns his own diner
- Jodie Foster as Audrey, a tomboyish girl with delinquent tendencies
- Harvey Keitel as Ben, a hot-tempered man who assembles gun ammunition for a living
- Murray Moston as Jacobs
- Harry Northup as Joe & Jim's bartender
Director Martin Scorsese cameoed as a customer while Diane Ladd's daughter, future actress Laura Dern, appears as the little girl eating ice cream from a cone in the diner.
Production[]
The part of Alice was originally offered to Shirley MacLaine.[4] However, MacLaine turned down the role.[5] MacLaine admitted in a 2005 interview that she regretted this decision.[6]
Television adaptation[]
- Main article: Alice (TV series)
The success of the film inspired the TV sitcom series Alice, which was broadcast by CBS-TV from August 1976 through July 1985. The only member of the film cast to reprise his role was Vic Tayback as Mel (though his diner was moved to Phoenix). Alfred Lutter III portrayed Tommy in the pilot episode but was replaced by Philip McKeon for the series. Diane Ladd joined the show later in its run, but as Belle Dupree, a former waitress and old flame of Mel's who returned to work at Mel's Diner, in a role different from that she had played in the film.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Box Office Information for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Template:Webarchive The Wrap. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved on May 25, 2016.
- ↑ Festival de Cannes archives. Festival-cannes.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-06.
- ↑ The Films of Martin Scorsese, 1963-77: Authorship and Context,Grist, Leighton (2000). The Films of Martin Scorsese, 1963-77: Authorship and Context. Springer. ISBN 9780230286146.page 98
- ↑ Foerster, Jonathan. "Shirley MacLaine isn't getting old, she's just advanced", 9 February 2011. Retrieved on 27 June 2017.
- ↑ Modderno, Craig. "Shirley MacLaine's Words of Wisdom", 16 October 2005. Retrieved on 27 June 2017.
