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| The spare, classy poster for Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy |
Driving Miss Daisy is an adaptation of Alfred Uhry's (Mystic Pizza (1988), writer) play, the screenplay adapted by himself.
It is a comedic drama set in Atlanta, Georgia about a long-running work and friendly relationship between the African-American driver Hoke and the elderly Jewish lady Miss Daisy, who has to accept taking on a chauffeur from her wealthy son, as her own skills are failing. It begins around 1954, and the tale ends about 25 years later.
Daisy began as an off-Broadway play in 1987 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1988. Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption (1994)) played in the production, which ran a hefty 1,195 performances! The play has since been done on Broadway and in England and Australia.
The film lives and breathes on wonderful performances by Freeman, who I suspect didn't have to work hard for the part, and London-born Jessica Tandy (The Birds (1963)), who does an extremely fine job as the stubborn, hard Daisy, who finds it difficult to relate to the new-found wealth in her family, and finally learns that her best friend is her loyal, humorous driver. She is thoroughly moving, not least in the later scenes in the film, SPOILER as in the long scene in her house when she has lost her memory. Tandy deservedly won an Oscar for her performance.
Her son is played by the incredibly likable Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers (1980)), whose endearing catchphrase in the film rings long after it's over; "You're a doodle, mama."
The film won an additional 3 Oscars, for Best Picture, make-up and adapted screenplay, and was nominated in all for 9, making it both a very strong critical and commercial hit.
It could have won for editing, I thought, which it was also nominated for, because the editing by Mark Warner (48 Hrs. (1982), editor) really is seamless. The film flows beautifully, and one enjoys it tremendously, even though there's no central conflict or real escalation of events. Rather, Daisy is a film about a relationship between two people, - a totally platonic friendship, - that develops over many years.
The two brush against prejudice and bigotry, - even a hate-crime bombing of her synagogue, - which pushes them together some, as they both belong to persecuted minorities. But these themes are not the main event in Daisy, as they are in the outstanding, recent The Help (2011). Daisy is more of a strictly human story.
The details:
The aging make-up was awarded with an Oscar, and it is well-made, for both Freeman and Tandy age believably in the film. (The latter mostly had to look younger at first, being 79 or 80 at the time of production.) Only Aykroyd at one point suffers a make-up-enduced overly long forehead that seems unrealistic.
The film was conducted by Aussie director Bruce Beresford (Mao's Last Dancer (2009)), who has recently directed the Bonnie and Clyde (2013) miniseries, and is next set to direct the Afghanistan-war-themed Zendog (2015), starring married couple Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy.
The score is by Hans Zimmer (The Lion King (1994)), the much-hailed composer, being one of his earlier works, and I think it suffers a bit because of Zimmer's attraction to the contemporary wave of electronic fascination, (or perhaps because of lack of funds?)
The soundtrack was Grammy-nominated and is done exclusively by Zimmer himself, with no live instruments playing; it is only done electronically, using samples and synthesizers. I think it sticks out on this otherwise impeccable period-piece, and not in a good way.
But it doesn't detract much from Driving Miss Daisy, which is still a merry, heart-warming time that everyone old enough to understand what's going on can and should enjoy.
Related reviews:
Dan Aykroyd: Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Restraint and extravagance
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock
Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman in one of the film's many, wonderful driving scenes
Budget: 7.5 mil. $
Box office: 145.7 mil. $
= Critical hit and commercial blockbuster
What do you think of Driving Miss Daisy?
Can you name other warm, funny films like it?
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