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 3,425

Martin Scorsese’s 1974 romantic drama film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is a triumph, not least for Oscar-winning Ellen Burstyn but also for Kris Kristofferson as Alice’s good-hearted suitor.

Hey, is this you? ‘A picture for anyone who has ever dreamed of a second chance!’ Director Martin Scorsese’s 1974 romantic drama film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore 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 Alice’s good-hearted suitor David, a divorced local rancher and regular customer at Mel and Ruby’s Diner, who becomes Alice’s love interest.

Harvey Keitel stands out as the mentally unbalanced suitor Ben Eberhardt, an abusive married man who has an affair with Alice, and Diane Ladd is especially rousing as Flo, her spunky, sharp-tongued fellow waitress at the diner.

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 little girl eating an ice-cream cone.

Mia Bendixsen plays Alice at the age of eight.

Scorsese makes a cameo appearance as a customer in Mel’s diner.

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

It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and it was released on 9 December 1974 by Warner Bros. It was a hit, grossing $21 million on a $1.8 million budget.

At the Oscars, Burstyn won Best Actress, while Ladd and Getchell were nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

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’.

The cast are Ellen Burstyn as Alice Hyatt, Kris Kristofferson as David, Harvey Keitel as Ben Eberhardt, Lane Bradbury as Ben’s wife Rita Eberhardt,  Diane Ladd as Flo Castleberry, Valerie Curtin as waitress Vera Gorman, Lelia Goldoni as Alice’s friend Bea, Vic Tayback as short-order cook Mel Sharples, Jodie Foster as Audrey, Billy ‘Green’ Bush as Alice’s husband Donald Hyatt, Harry Northup as Joe & Jim’s bartender, Mia Bendixsen as eight-year-old Alice, Alfred Lutter as Alice’s pre-teen son Tommy Hyatt. and Henry Kendrick.

Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024)

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,425

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/