Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

 

In his first film (fourth over all) after making the movie that made his name, 'Mean Streets', Martin Scorsese left a dirty, night time New York, for the sunny daylight stretches of the desert south west in 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'. This dark comic character study, became the unexpected source material for a much more light hearted situation comedy called 'Alice', which ran on CBS for 9 seasons and 202 episodes.  

Our Alice here is an excellent as usual Ellen Burstyn. Alice Hyatt (nee Graham) grow up near Monterey, California with aspirations of becoming a professional singer, she got as far as performing regularly at a local club, where she meet Donald Hyatt (Billy Green Bush) who charmed her into marriage and relocated her to his home town in New Mexico. More then a decade later she is a housewife in a somewhat abusive marriage with an 11 year old son called Tommy (Alfred Lutter), who while generally not mean spirited is more then a little bit of a trial, bratty, short sighted and selfish as kids that age often are.

Alice's husband works as a delivery driver for Coca Cola, and is killed in a rather bloody traffic accident. Not well off to begin with, after the expenses of the funeral Alice and her son head off to California with their meager belongings. They decide to stay for a time in Phoenix and try to raise some money. Alice is able to talk her way into a singing job at a bar and becomes an unexpected success, though the job doesn't pay much she attracts the attention of a younger man (Harvey Keitel) who seduces her into a relationship, but turns out to be an already married psycho. Alice and son flee the city, then the car breaks down near Tuscon.

Alice gets a job as a waitress at a dinner populated by colorful characters such as Vic Tayback (who would return for the series), Valerie Curtin and an especially memorable Diane Ladd. Tommy falls under the bad influence of a very young Jodie Foster and Alice is - at first reluctantly - romanced by a divorced rancher played by Kris Kristofferson.

Wry, grounded and bittersweet 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' is  solid, affective and endearingly rambling, with flawed characters who very much don't know what they're doing, and who we root for in no small part because of this. Scorsese shows early on a willingness to try new things and is a natural at a story which might seem out of his wheelhouse. I was impressed. ****