Review of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) by Stuart K — 01 Mar 2009

This is one of the few Martin Scorsese films that alot of people forget about. Although it did very well upon it's original release, it had a spin-off TV series, it benefits from a very strong lead performance, and it highlights the future greatness of what was to come from Scorsese.

It tells the story of Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn), a housewife whose husband dies in a car crash. Facing a clean slate, she moves out and goes out on the road with her son Tommy (Alfred Lutter), Alice wants to make a new life for herself as a singer.

They find themselves in Tuscon, Arizona. Alice's ambition of becoming a singer doesn't quite work out, and she ends up working as a waitress in a local diner, which is hard work, but she gets by, and she finds solace in the presence of a regular to the diner, farmer David (Kris Kristofferson).

This is a very powerful but in places light-hearted drama, it's low-key, and it would be nice to see Scorsese go back and do low budget work like this. It came inbetween Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), and it's just as good as those two films.

Burstyn's brilliant and powerful performance as Alice won her an Oscar, and look out for Harvey Keitel and a young Jodie Foster in cameos!! ;).