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Director Bruce Beresford's affinity for the subtleties of southern life is apparent in this adaptation of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Starring Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan and Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn, the film opens in late-1940s Atlanta. Since Miss Daisy is becoming a menace behind the wheel, her son, .. Read more
| Starring | Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd |
|---|---|
| Director | Bruce Beresford |
| Genres | Comedy, Drama |
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Director Bruce Beresford's affinity for the subtleties of southern life is apparent in this adaptation of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Starring Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan and Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn, the film opens in late-1940s Atlanta. Since Miss Daisy is becoming a menace behind the wheel, her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), ignores her protests and hires Hoke, a black chauffeur. When the feisty matron decides to resist necessity and walk to the store, the equally stubborn chauffeur follows her in her car. As he says to Boolie, 'I used to rassle hogs down to the ground... ain't nary a hog got away from me yet'. But Hoke's methods are gentleness and patience, and as the years elapse in his ongoing tug-of-war with the temperamental Daisy, she begins to tacitly acknowledge his wisdom. When she expresses annoyance over the demands of the nascent civil rights movement, Hoke points out to the Jewish woman the similarity between the attack on her synagogue and Klan attacks on black churches. But it is only after many years together that they can finally admit to the depth of the friendship they have shared. The two stars give unforgettable performances, and Beresford's direction is a model of restraint.
| Starring | Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd |
|---|---|
| Director | Bruce Beresford |
| Studio | UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 34 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy, Drama |
| Language | English |
| Subtitles | None |
| Released | DVD: 18 Feb 2008 Production year: 1989 |
| Format | DVD |
This small, unassuming movie went up against the big guns of Hollywood and emerged with a best picture Oscar and a hefty profit. Based on the 1987 one-act play by Alfred Uhry, it charts the deepening relationship between an elderly widow and her black chauffeur in Atlanta. Miss Daisy, played by the Oscar-winning Jessica Tandy, is an independent former schoolteacher with a will of iron, until she crashes her new car and cannot get insurance on another. So her son (Dan Aykroyd) arranges a permanent chauffeur, the widower Hoke, played by Morgan Freeman. Although Miss Daisy is Jewish and regards herself as without racial prejudice, Hoke must gradually win acceptance and put up with her tirades from the back of the gleaming Hudson. The story covers the years from 1948 until 1973 — a period of racial strife and the civil rights movement — attaining the status of allegory in the process. But Australian director Bruce Beresford, who was unaccountably left out of the Oscar nominations, does not push things over the edge: although we see and hear events about Martin Luther King and bombings, this remains a character study, and a superb one. Tandy ages from 72 to 97 and comes across as a stubborn, tetchy but extremely likeable woman. And Freeman, who was in the Broadway stage version, adds layers of irony and wit to what could so easily have been a role of suffering saintliness.
Beresford and writer Alfred Uhry have produced a polished adaptation of the latter's play, but it's the sharp... read more on Time Out
This is a film about a lot of things - old age, relationships, assimilation and change. Some will say its too saccherine, or not a realistic look at the civil rights struggle, but they miss the point. Miss Daisy is part of a smaller minority within a majority; while not mistreated the way Hoke would be, she's still an outsider. It takes her until the end of the movie (and, since she's in her 90's, her life) to realize that she and Hoke are perhaps more similar than they thought.
I recall that Dan Aykroyd did the role of Booley for union scale pay, he was so anxious to play a serious role; it paid off handsomely, as Dan was nominated for an academy award. Tandy is wonderful, and I don't think it's humanly possible for Morgan Freeman to turn in a bad performance. Some have criticized Freeman for being such a subservient character, but they also miss the point of what it was to be an older black servant in the 1950's. A fine effort and a great family movie.
Afraid I found it patronising. Rather hoped Dan Ackroyd would turn out to be a villain. A time when black servants knew their place but had a sense of Inner Dignity. Hardly challenging to stereotypes. Watch Malcolm X instead.
It's better to create than to consume, that's the liberating message in Michel Gondry's new comedy, though this declaration of independence inadvertently highlights some of the drawbacks associated with "am-auteurs". There's an authentic touch of genius in Michel Gondry. He's like one of those mad inventors in old black and white movies, devising brilliant contraptions of no practical use to man or beast. He's at his best in the short format of pop videos, commercials and YouTube doodles. In... Read more
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