DRIVING MISS DAISY - DVD review

Every now and then the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences goes a tad haywire and makes an exception to its rule of only according Best Picture Oscars to films about epic battles, monumental disasters, heroic characters, historical figures, or mentally challenged persons. I mean, occasionally a gentle, unpretentious little film slips by with the Award, like 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy."

Written by Alfred Uhry, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play, and directed by Bruce Beresford ("Tender Mercies," "Breaker Morant"), "Driving Miss Daisy" has a simple, straightforward plot line, free of cynicism or social criticism, which drove some reviewers to distraction because it wasn't weighty enough. What's more, its two stars were largely unknown in pictures. Jessica Tandy (as Daisy Werthan) had played supporting roles in films for well over fifty years but was mainly a Broadway star who was not too well recognized in movies; and Morgan Freeman (as Hoke Colburn) had been in movies for almost twenty years but only in minor or supporting roles, not yet achieving the stardom this film helped him achieve. Additionally, Dan Aykroyd (as Daisy's son, Boolie), while certainly acknowledged as a fine comic actor had seldom played straight, dramatic parts. So, the film's immense popularity and its winning several Academy Awards came as a surprise, nay, a shock, to a lot of Hollywood observers.

I'm tempted to call the film "heartwarming" if that term didn't convey a sense of the old-fashioned about it that might scare away younger viewers brought up on "Star Wars," "Pulp Fiction," and "True Romance." Instead, let me say the film is satisfying and rewarding in a purely dramatic, though sometimes humorous way. Anyhow, with stars like Freeman, Tandy, and Aykroyd in it, it couldn't go far wrong.

The movie's story line is incidental to the characterizations, a reminder of the movie's stage-play origins. It spans about twenty-five years in the lives of several Southern people living in Atlanta, Georgia, beginning in 1948. Miss Daisy Werthan (Tandy), a well-to-do, elderly widow living alone with only a combination maid/cook (Esther Rolle) for help, finds herself unable to drive her car safely anymore. Her son, Boolie (Aykroyd), hires an older black man, Hoke Colburn (Freeman), as her chauffeur. Although initially resistant to the idea of having someone drive her around, Miss Daisy eventually accepts Hoke's assistance, and after some years she strikes up a relationship with him that transcends mere employer-employee; by the time they have both reached a considerably old age, they have become best friends.

Despite the movie's title and Freeman's screen credit coming first, the movie is really about Miss Daisy. It is she around whom all the story's activities revolve and she who changes the most in the course of events. Her son describes Miss Daisy as "high strung," but that's too kind; in fact, she is a grouchy, crotchety old lady. After Hoke is hired, it takes him six full days to get Miss Daisy to allow him to drive her to the store; "...the same time it took the Lord to make the world," he remarks. Miss Daisy has a good deal of money and lives in a fancy house, but she wants no one to know how rich she is; her pride won't let her, and she revels in telling everyone about her poor upbringing. Miss Tandy won an Oscar for her dead-on performance.

Morgan Freeman was nominated for an Oscar but didn't win. Perhaps I'm just biased because I think Freeman is one of the best actors working today, but as much as I liked Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot," I'd have to say Freeman got robbed. It may be the best role he's ever undertaken, and one that appears custom-made for his soft-spoken talents. Hoke is good-natured and infinitely tolerant and long-suffering. In a wonderful bit of innocent reverse discrimination, when he first learns that Miss Daisy is Jewish, he assures her son that he has no objection to working for Jews. Just listening to Hoke talk makes one wish he were a member of your own family.

Aykroyd as the son, Boolie, is another story. It takes a while to get used to the actor in a serious role and to watch him age over the years. But keeping an open mind, one can see him fitting the part well, and his aging is convincing. Boolie is a prosperous Atlanta businessman who tends to his mother carefully. He tries to remain unaffected by the racial tensions around him, but we see it surface toward the end of the picture when he tells his mother it wouldn't be good for business if he accompanied her to a political speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boolie's wife, Florine (Patti LuPone), is less tolerant of life, though, and is often a sore trouble to her husband.

In an accompanying featurette, writer Alfred Uhry addresses one of the major criticisms leveled at the film over the years. People have suggested that the movie presents a false impression of the South in the mid-twentieth century because relationships between blacks and whites were not as relaxed and cordial as the ones presented in the story. Mr. Uhry counters by saying he based his characters on real-life people he knew--his own grandmother and her driver--and that he had always observed them behaving toward one another just as the characters do in his screenplay. I'm not sure, however, this doesn't say more about Mr. Uhry's perspective on things as a white man than it does anything else. The same argument he employs, for instance, could be said about the slaves' attitudes in "Gone With the Wind": that they appeared happy and content to their white masters. The fact is, blacks in the South generally worked in menial or servile positions throughout more than half of the twentieth century, and many of them in their ignorance of anything better probably were content. That doesn't make it right or good. Hoke himself in the movie is unable to read or write, a condition he is happily living with until it's pointed out to him.

There are, however, only a few passing references to the racial tensions of the times: Hoke remarks that he is unable to use the "whites only" restroom at a gas station; a couple of Alabama policemen question Hoke about his driving so fancy a car and then comment to each other about how pitiful it is to see an old black man driving an old white woman, thereby hitting both racism and ageism at the same time; and Miss Daisy's attends a speech given by Dr. King. More subtly, Miss Daisy claims to be non-prejudiced but periodically uses terms like "they" and "them" in reference to blacks. Finally, when the local Jewish temple is bombed by hate mongers, Miss Daisy asks, "Who would do such a thing?" To which Hoke replies, "They always be the same ones." It isn't much, but any more emphasis on race relations probably would have unnecessarily shifted the story's focus from the central characters to some grander themes that the author did not intend.

The movie works best as a lightweight trifle, its inspiration deriving from Hoke's patience and understanding and Miss Daisy's gradual acceptance of Hoke as a personal friend and companion. As the years go by, we see that life is, after all, a passing and a changing. About the best we can do is cope with it and try to make things a little easier for one another. Miss Daisy and Hoke do just that.

Video:
The disc's audiovisual qualities are, like the film, modest. The screen measures a modest 1.74:1 ratio, enhanced for widescreen televisions. The image is very slightly soft, hazy, and blurred by contemporary standards, with a very fine grain noticeable in many of the indoor and nighttime scenes. Darker and shadowy areas of the screen are sometimes murky, revealing less definition than might be desirable. Colors are fairly natural but mainly on the pastel side, with facial hues particularly realistic.

Audio:
The sound is delivered in Dolby Stereo Surround, but for all the stereo there is, it might as well be monaural. Not that this is a bad thing. Ninety-nine per cent of the film's sound is dialogue, and the Dolby Surround does a fine job conveying it clearly and distinctly. Just don't expect many (or any) rear-channel effects or a very wide front-channel stereo spread, for that matter. Occasionally, an automobile will make its presence known by zooming across the screen; that's about it. The audio track forces us to concentrate on the characters and what they're saying; that's its primary job and it does it well enough.

Extras:
In honor of the film's accomplishments, the folks at Warners have fitted it up with a small but accomplished group of bonus items. I'm not sure there are enough items to call it an especially "Special" edition, but that's what WB are labeling it, so who am I to question. The first extra is the obligatory audio commentary, this one with director Bruce Beresford, writer Alfred Uhry, and producer Lili Fini Zanuck. Next, there are two new featurettes that provide detail on the film, the filming, and its star: "Miss Daisy's Journey: From Stage to Screen," about eighteen minutes long, and "Jessica Tandy: Theatre Legend to Screen Star," about six minutes. There are also cast and director film highlights; a brief, original, pan-and-scan promotional featurette; some awards notes; twenty-three scene selections; and a widescreen theatrical trailer. English, French, and Spanish are offered as choices for both spoken languages and subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
Besides winning the Oscar for Best Picture, "Driving Miss Daisy" won Academy Awards for Best Actress (Jessica Tandy), Best Makeup (Manlio Rocchetti, Lynn Barber, and Kevin Haney), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Alfred Uhry). It was nominated in five other categories as well, including Best Actor (Morgan Freeman) and Best Supporting Actor (Dan Aykroyd), and it won a slew of other awards from the National Board of Review, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and other distinguished organizations all over the world.

Although the film won international critical acclaim and was widely admired by the public, the movie is at heart a simple character study. Expect, as I've said, no big protest agendas about the struggle of black-white race relations, no trenchant themes about the problems of growing old, no penetrating insights into the plight of the human condition. Do, however, expect a warm, cozy, genial human drama that probably says in its own way as much about getting along with other people as any more overtly "message" film ever has. "Driving Miss Daisy" is a sweet, touching, and sometimes funny picture that attempts only what it can reach, but does so with ease.