Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as strong-willed 35-year-old widow Alice Hyatt, trying to forge a new life for herself and her son in this expertly played drama from Martin Scorsese, the much-maligned follow-up to his critically acclaimed Mean Streets(1973).
Although directed by Scorsese, the film was very much Burstyn’s project; She found the screenplay and reworked it, chose the cast and director and sold it to Warner Bros for 10% of the profits.
As Alice hits the road with her brattish son (Alfred Lutter) in order to find herself and dreams of a new beginning as a singer, Burstyn brilliantly conveys the vulnerability that forces her character first into the arms of the brutal Ben Eberhart (Harvey Keitel) and then of taciturn rancher David Barrie (Kris Kristofferson).
Scorsese just about keeps the sprawling road movie segment on track, but the film only really comes to life when Alice joins forces with Flo, a sassy diner waitress played by Oscar-nominated Diane Ladd.
This movie inspired the TV comedy series Alice (1976 – 1985) with Linda Lavin playing the Burstyn role.
Alice Hyatt
Ellen Burstyn David Barrie
Kris Kristofferson Donald Hyatt
Billy Green Bush Flo
Diane Ladd Bea
Lelia Goldoni Rita
Lane Bradbury Mel
Vic Tayback Audrey
Jodie Foster Ben Eberhart
Harvey Keitel Vera
Valerie Curtin Jacobs
Murray Moston Tom Hyatt
Alfred Lutter
Director
Martin Scorsese
Related Posts
Nobody Ordered Love (1972) This comedy-tragedy tells of the double-crossing and heartless dealings in the British film industry. Hammer horror icon Ingrid Pitt plays…
Alice in Wonderland (1966) Despising the Disney take, Jonathan Miller set out to de-anthropomorphise the story of Alice In Wonderland by returning to Dodgson’s mathematical…
Race with the Devil (1975) Roger Marsh (Peter Fonda) and his best mate Frank Stewart (Warren Oates) are taking their wives Kelly (Lara Parker) and…
Alice (1988) Having previously visited Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky (1977), Czech surrealist animator and director Jan Svankmajer made his feature bow with…
About Face (1952) Biff Roberts (Eddie Bracken), Tony Williams (Gordon MacRae) and Dave Crouse (Dick Wesson) are just three months away from graduating…
Tropic of Cancer (1970) Described as almost everything from a purveyor of obscenity and filth to the most remarkable original writer of the age,…
Taxi Driver (1976) Easily one of the 10 best American films of the 1970s, Taxi Driver radically changed Robert De Niro’s career, establishing him as…
Fury, The (1978) Brian De Palma's follow-up to Carrie (1976) keeps the telekinetic kid but swaps tampons and girl power for a psy-spy caper. CIA…
Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as strong-willed 35-year-old widow Alice Hyatt, trying to forge a new life for herself and her son in this expertly played drama from Martin Scorsese, the much-maligned follow-up to his critically acclaimed Mean Streets (1973).
