You'll Take The Turn With Them..."Driving Miss Daisy"

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Rated PG

Starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, Dan Aykroyd

Directed by Bruce Beresford

The Story:

Daisy (Tandy) is an old Jewish widow who has wrecked one car too many, so her son (Aykroyd) hires a driver named Hoke (Freeman) to drive her wherever she needs to go.  First, Daisy refuses to let him drive her anywhere.  Eventually though, she warms to Hoke, and the two spend the next two decades getting to know each other and enjoy some adventures together.

Sounds like a sweet little character study, and it is!

Welcome to the Best Picture winner of 1989, in a year that turned out many memorable films, this one rose head and shoulders above the rest.

Amusingly, the biggest slight of this movie was that Beresford was not nominated for Best Director. How do you have a Best Picture without a Best Director? Makes no sense, but so be it.

It really is a quiet film that builds slowly as the years slip by and the bond between Hoke and Daisy grows and intertwines.

All of the accolades and awards, this film deserves them.

I don't usually say that about award-winners.

Tandy is great, Freeman is phenomenal.

When isn't he? :)

Watching it again for the first time in a few years, the movie still holds up very well today.

I also recommend a Kleenex handy for the end.

Gets me every time!

Final Grade: A+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I own it and it gets watched every 3-4 years, which is pretty good for a drama! Well worth it if you haven't seen it in awhile.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 18 ~ Driving Miss Daisy

What better way to come down from the frenetic road trip of Tommy Boy, than to take another road trip... which is much slower and more peaceful.

Today's film is Driving Miss Daisy.

This is one of the few times the Academy Awards has presented the Best Picture to a choice I agreed with, and one of the very few films on my list to come home with that (or any) prestigious award.  Amazingly, it's also one of those films that was nominated for Best Film, yet did not merit a nomination for the Director.

Therefore I will not name him in this review, as obviously he had nothing to do with how well it turned out.


: /

The story is that of a beautiful friendship that develops between an old Jewish Southern Belle (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) in the 1950s.  At first, she resents her driver, but who can resist Morgan Freeman for long?  It's got to be the voice...

And really, that's all you need to know about the film if you've never seen it.

It's very much a character driven movie, adapted from the play.  All other characters are secondary, at  best. 

The relationship is the story, and if your heart hasn't melted like butter by the end of the film when Miss Daisy and Hoke are together...

Well, I got nothing for you.

It's a beautifully told, wonderfully acted story.  I highly recommend it, especially if you've never seen it.  Dramas tend to not get watched as much around the house as action, comedy or chick flicks, as you can probably tell by the movies already mentioned on the list.

Nothing against the genre, just often the heavier subject matter makes for a less desirable "I wanna watch a movie!" experience.  You need the adrenaline pumper or the laugh riot to make up for a rough day.  You have to be in the mood for a drama.  And this is one of the best ones out there!