score one for scorsese

The Rocky method of film-viewing (sticking it out can be its own reward) is finally starting to pay out for me. After seven Scorsese movies I've already mostly forgotten, I've finally watched one I like. No, it's not The Aviator. Number eight is Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Ellen Burstyn, in a performance deserving of its Academy Award, plays a widowed mother who must support herself (and son) for the first time since she was a teenager. Reprising her role of put-upon mother of a little freak from The Exorcist, Burstyn also gives her character Alice a child's uncertainty and playfulness.

Although infused with liberal doses of 70s pessimism, the story itself is actually optimistic, with a rather conventional happy ending. Could Marcia Lucas in the editing room be the true auteur here? George Lucas' movies sure haven't been the same since she dropped his scruffy ass.

My favorite parts are Alice relating to her son on his own level. This playtime is what makes Alice more than just another Scorsese lecture on how much life sucks. An interesting comparison is with Dustin Hoffman's Ted Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer, another of the handful of characters in 70s movies that actually move me. Was Ted Kramer a response to Alice Hyatt? As with Ted Kramer, not only do I believe Alice is a real person, I an interested in what happens to Alice next.

Lots of other viewers must have had the same interest, because the spinoff TV series "Alice" ran for nine seasons, long enough for me to enjoy it as a lad. It was a gas seeing Vic Tayback again after all these years. Conversely, there's something to be said for the CBS censors that twisted Flo's swearing into "kiss my grits!" (link plays sound clip - caution: has popups)