1989--Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Beresford

 

1989--Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Beresford

Nominated: Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poet's Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot

Should have won: Field of Dreams

Be sure to see: Batman, Do the Right Thing, Glory, Lean on Me, Lisa, The Little Mermaid, Pet Sematary, Phantom of the Opera, Wired

“Mama, cars don't behave. They are behaved upon.”--Boolie Werthan

     Before even watching Driving Miss Daisy I was intrigued by trivia, tidbits, and—of course—my opinions of it winning (which I know is unfair to prejudge). But now. even after viewing it, I am still baffled how this movie could win over Field of Dreams and am amazed that not only is it not the best movie of 1989, it is the third best Morgan Freeman movie of 1989! Both Glory and Lean on Me were better movies, Glory being best picture caliber. Beyond Freeman, it should be noted that Jessica Tandy's win at 81 makes her the oldest best actress winner ever. It is the last PG rated movie to win best picture (most since then have been R with a couple PG-13s thrown in) and it joins Wings (1928), Grand Hotel (1932) and Argo (2012) as the only four best picture winners to not be nominated for best director. I also noticed that the score sounded like the beginning of “Sail Away” by The Temptations, my all time favorite group, but that is more of a personal observation than trivia.

     Driving Miss Daisy is an obscure buddy movie that spans 25 years from 1948-1973. After elderly Daisy Werthan backs her car over a wall and into the neighbor's yard, her son decides it is time for her to get out from behind the wheel. He hires Hoke, a man he saw fix an elevator that was stuck, as a chauffeur. Hoke is warned that Daisy is stubborn and high strung but to stand his ground. Hoke is also stubborn in his own right but as the years pass they develop a unique friendship.

     Based on a stage play, the film flows pretty smoothly; nothing drags. There is a nice moment when Miss Daisy discovers Hoke can't read and develops her own method to help him read a headstone in the cemetery. One thing I didn't understand was how he was illiterate yet he was able to read a Christmas present she gave him; maybe time had passed and he learned to read and I just didn't pick up on it. By the way, should someone who can't read be allowed to drive? What about road signs? Is it safe?

     The supporting characters each play key roles, though the movie belongs to the two leads. It also touches on race relations like going to watch Martin Luther King's speech or upon driving to Alabama they get questioned by police officers who are a little baffled at seeing a black man driving a Jewish woman.  Overall, Driving Miss Daisy is a very good movie. Pleasant, is a good word for it. I bet the stage version is pretty good. James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury have played the roles. I thought driving a fake car on stage seems like it would be hokey, not pun intended, but it is pulled off by using a bench.

     I enjoyed the dialogue-driven script, it helped me care more about the characters. But in the Oscar's history this might fall in the lower-middle of the pack. Maybe 1989 was just one of those strong years. Driving Miss Daisy is pretty good but shouldn't have won, and it gets the bronze medal of 1989 Morgan Freeman movies for me.