Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Martin Scorsese is an American treasure. He finds away to tell interesting stories everytime he goes to the directors chair. Often he aims to high and misses in the overall picture, but there is always something about his movies that is worth seeing. No matter what I thought of one of his movies in the long run, I recommend it, just so people can see a master in his craft. I've never seen one movie he directed that failed utterly as a film. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) is a prime example of this notion.

The movie meticulously follows the life of Alice as she attempts to carry on her life after the death of her husband. I do mean meticulously. While Alice and her son travel cross country, we see scenes of the two driving each other nuts in the car. I appreciated that at first, it seemed real, but it carried on and I tired of it quickly. They arrive at their first destination and Alice attempts to get a career as a singer going. She succeeds of sorts and also develops a romance with a young man played by Harvey Keitel. It quickly goes south, when Alice discovers his violent temper and complicated history. She runs from the singing to Tucson.

In Tucson, Alice must get a job at as a waitress. Soon another romance sparks up, now with Kris Kristoffersen. The romance is approached quite well with realistic conversations. The conflict that arises seemed a bit unnecessary, but worked out pretty well. Compared to other Scorsese work, this one falls a bit short and I found myself bored at times. The detail to which Scorsese applied himself in making this film is amazing and Ellen Burstyn was phenomenal. As I said, every Scorsese film is worth seeing once.