After working with an almost all male cast in his previous film, Scorsese was approached to direct a film with a female lead. It may seem like an oddity in the director's career and a wrong move, but this underrated tender, funny and touching film succeeds.Ellen Burstyn (who won an Oscar for best actress in this film) stars as Alice, the single mother on the road to Arizona trying to follow her dream of becoming a singer or to just find a steady job to support his wacky 12-year old son (Alfred Lutter). While also in need of a man by her side after her husband recently died, an event that pushed her into her current life, she meets a charming younger man (Harvey Keitel) who turns out to be a psychopathic married cowboy, and then a gentle rancher with a wonderful beard (Kris Kristofferson). A young tomboyish Jodie Foster plays the new and only friend her son, which eventually gets him into trouble.It may have been Scorsese's only film with a central female character, but this rare instance is a great example of Scorsese's wide range directing talent.

This is the foundation for the TV show, Alice. This is a much more complex study in characters under stress. Alice is trying to do what is good for her son, even though he is a fragile ego, unable to cope very well with their peripatetic ways. She does everything she can but this is a good study of the forces that come into play when a single woman tries to take it on the road with a child. We get to meet the whole range of characters. The gregarious Flo and Mel (Vic Tayback who reprised the role on television), as well as a set of interesting customers and acquaintances. While she tries to find love it evades her. This movie is not earth shatteringly complex, but it does give us some memorable moments.

A beautiful, character driven story of self discovery with depth and surprises. A reminder of the challenges of raising child as a single mother while attempting to realize your own dreams. Ellen Burstyn gives a well deserved Academy Award winning performance. She plays a recent widow with a somewhat rebellious teenage son. Dianne Ladd and Kris Kristoffersen are superb in supporting roles. Surprise visits from Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster enrich the story even more. The characters offer something that just about anyone can relate to. Scorcese weaved it all together simply and powerfully. It's a film not to miss.

I don't think my disdain for Martin Scorsese is much of a secret for anyone who knows my taste in film, so it came as a welcome surprise when I found myself being moved and impressed by his 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Telling the story of a recently widowed woman (Ellen Burstyn) who takes her son on the road, this was a touching study of a woman struggling to find herself in a time when many women determined their worth based on the man who was at their side. In a lot of ways it takes an interesting look at the era in which it was made, but even today it stands strong as a look into this woman being stripped bare of the things she thought were important and being forced to find out what really matters to her.She finds a few romantic partners throughout the film and it starts to get an "all men are evil" theme going on which I was getting worried about, but Robert Getchell's script ends up coming back around full circle to an ending (that was created by actor Kris Kristofferson, who plays one of her lovers, the day before they shot it) that was touching and spoke to the journey this character was brought down. There's a Wizard of Oz metaphor that bookends her evolution, which I found touching without being poured on too much.Scorsese, known for his gritty approach, was surprisingly adept at bringing this woman's story to the screen. This is a film that could have easily gone down the saccharine, cheesy Lifetime route if it was handled improperly by it's director, but instead Scorsese is able to make it feel shockingly genuine all the way through. There are moments that are incredibly uncomfortable, such as Burstyn making her way around town desperate to find a job to support her and her son, along with ones that are genuinely terrifying, like when Harvey Keitel's character punches through a glass window in order to break into her hotel room in a brutal display of male aggression.There's a shift in this character that occurs over the course of the film, slowly developing from a woman who lets men control her into a woman who isn't afraid to stand up for herself and her son, that is portrayed brilliantly by Burstyn. She won an Oscar for her role and it was incredibly well-deserved, along with the fellow nomination that came to Diane Ladd, who steals all of her scenes as a waitress at a diner where Burstyn's character eventually begins to work at. I think it's the mother/son dynamic that made the film work the most for me though, as I found a lot to personally connect to in it.As an early child of divorce, I spent a lot of time growing up with just my mother and myself, and the relationship between them in this film felt so true in regards to my own experience. The way that the two would drive each other mad one second, but the next they would come back together and be laughing or supporting one another. I felt a deep connection there that touched me a lot. Ellen Burstyn's character here reminded me a lot my own mother, and watching her evolve on this path to finding herself meant quite a bit to me. Solid work by everyone involved here.