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Driving Miss Daisy (film) 1989 - USA - 99 min. - Feature, Color Keywords chauffeur, elderly, friendship, matron From play by Uhry, Alfred Produced by Warner Bros.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy affectionately covers the twenty-five year relationship between a wealthy, strong-willed Southern matron (Jessica Tandy) and her equally indomitable black chauffeur Hoke (Morgan Freeman). In a sense, both employer and employee are outsiders: Hoke because of the color of his skin, Miss Daisy because she is Jewish in a WASP-dominated society. At the same time, Hoke cannot fathom Miss Daisy's cloistered inability to grasp the social changes which sweep the South in the 1960s; nor can Miss Daisy understand why Hoke's "people" are so eternally indignant. It is only when Hoke is retired and Miss Daisy is confined to a home for the elderly that the two fully realize that they've been friends and kindred spirits all along. The supporting cast, especially Esther Rolle as Miss Daisy's housekeeper, is uniformly excellent; Dan Aykroyd has been criticized for his somewhat broad portrayal of Miss Daisy's son Boolie, but that's how the part was written (reportedly, playwright Uhry based the character upon himself). Driving Miss Daisy won Academy Awards for best picture, best actress (Jessica Tandy), best screenplay (Uhry) and best makeup (Manlio Rachetti). -- Hal Erickson
Credits and description provided by American Movie Guide, http://allmovie.com |
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