Driving Miss Daisy

Those of you who have been reading my reviews since the beginning might remember my first year of blogging, I did an entire month dedicated to Morgan Freeman. I have decided to make a second part to that since I have seen other famous movies of his since then. Let’s get “Morgan Freeman Month” started with the 1989 classic, “Driving Miss Daisy.”

Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy, two actors with so many resources – and so many idiosyncrasies too – drive along in this bicycle vehicle with enthusiastic ease. Adapted from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Alfred Uhry’s comedy-drama hints at disclosures of character more often than it gives them.

Henry Sheehan said in his review, “While Bruce Beresford’s careful, respectful direction ensures a suitably opened-up and efficient production, the director is content to let the material speak for itself.”

Sheehan continued, “Nevertheless, the sight of such confidently talented performers taking a pair of colorfully sketched characters over a quarter-century of a contentious relationship is bound to have solid appeal. Driving Miss Daisy appears to be headed for considerable popular success.” Freeman and Tandy looked like they were certain to win awards for that year.

Sheehan mentioned, “Set in a well-to-do section of Atlanta, the film opens in 1948 with Daisy Werthan (Tandy), a physically slight 72-year-old Southern Jewish dowager, accidently driving her new car into a neighbor’s yard.” Her businessman son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), against his mother’s wishes, hires a polite black man in his early sixties, Hoke Colburn (Freeman), to be his mother’s driver.

Daisy, who already bosses around a silently collected maid, played by Florida Evans from “Good Times,” the late Esther Rolle, at first actively resists the new hire, before finally settling into the daily dose of mild verbal abuse and increasing physical and emotional dependence.

Sheehan noted, “The action is played out episodically, with errands and trips undertaken by the mismatched pair serving as self-contained actions. The thematic development, signaled by the advancing signs of age in the two players (more marked with Freeman than Tandy), is contained in the subtle shifts in their relationship — the patient Hoke parrying the verbal assaults of his passenger with subservient, aw-shucks humor early on, but eventually with more forceful assertions of his own dignity.”

While the small inconveniences and routines of daily life take up a large part of the film, Uhry and Beresford still make use of big scenes when they want to make sure their point is made. Hence, a trip through Alabama, which turns out to be a more seriously racist and threatening state than Georgia, is used to glue the two closer together in recognition of their mutual outsider status.

Also, the final settling of their friendship is played out with obligatory emotional passion, against the background of the retirement home where Hoke visits the handicapped Daisy. Sheehan mentioned, “Over the years, the pair encounters the whole of the seismic social changes that occurred in the South, and while they do impinge indirectly on their relationship, it is during this trip that the interaction of character and background comes off most naturally, with the least sense of authorial connivance.”

Sheehan continued, “The fitful development of the script aside, the movie is dominated entirely by Freeman and Tandy, who manage to retain individual star-quality while acknowledging the other’s presence.” Basically, each scene starts with a brief setup, a seriously emotional demonstration by Tandy, a fight between the two actors, and a closing dry pronouncement by Freeman. Yet every one of these dramatic scrambles manages to look fresh because Freeman and Tandy somehow manage to come up with new ways, meting out complementary parts of their characters.

“Driving Miss Daisy” has a warm, soft look that helps with the overall nostalgic atmosphere. Sheehan noted, “Yet Beresford has carefully avoided the damaging, languid rhythms that often accompany such a feel, and the film moves along with a steady, supportive canter. The production design — aside from the many auto interiors, anyway — is suitably evocative of sepia photographs and heavy furniture.”

Sheehan continued, “A broad-beamed Aykroyd provides reliable support as the put-upon Boolie, settling affably for his straight-man status.” Rolle, as the maid Florine, and Pattie Lupone, as Boolie’s social-climbing wife, have parts that really don’t amount to more than light material, and their appearances are brief and functional.

You don’t know for how long I was thinking of watching this movie. I knew this was a classic film that was meant to be watched by everyone, but I just never got around to watching it. Now I can finally say I have and I cannot recommend this movie enough. You should definitely find time to watch this film however you can. You will love this film a lot. This has to be seen because it is a really feel-good film.

Next week I will be reviewing a film that my brother and I watched together, which is another funny movie, in “Morgan Freeman Month.”