Warner Home Video
Length : 95mins
Region : 2 - Certificate : U
Format : Side A - Fullscreen : Side 2 - 1.85:1 Widescreen enchanced
Sound : Dolby Surround : Language English
Subtitles : English ; English for hearing impaired
Extras : Production Notes ; Trailer
Morgan Freeman....Hoke Colburn, Daisy's Chauffeur
Jessica Tandy....Daisy Werthan
Dan Aykroyd....Boolie Werthan, Owner Werthan Industries
Patti LuPone....Florine Werthan
Esther Rolle....Idella, Daisy's Housekeeper
Joann Havrilla....Miss McClatchey
William Hall Jr.....Oscar
Alvin M. Sugarman....Dr. Weil
Clarice F. Geigerman....Nonie
Muriel Moore....Miriam
Sylvia Kaler....Beulah
Carolyn Gold....Neighbor Lady
Crystal R. Fox....Katie Bell, Boolie's cook
Bob Hannah....Red Mitchell, Century Cadillac Dealer
Ray McKinnon....Alabama Trooper #1
Ashley Josey....Alabama Trooper #2
Jack Rousso....Slick
Fred Faser....Insurance Agent
Indra A. Thomas....Solist in Idella's funeral service
Dean DuBois....Commerence Club Member (uncredited)
D. Taylor Loeb....Girl at Temple (uncredited)
Directed by…Bruce Beresford
Writing credits (WGA)
Alfred Uhry… Screenplay from his play
David Brown....executive producer
Robert Doudell....associate producer
Jake Eberts....co-executive producer
Alfred Uhry....associate producer
Lili Fini Zanuck....producer
Richard D. Zanuck....producer
Original Music by…Hans Zimmer
Cinematography by…Peter James
Film Editing by…Mark Warner
Production Design by…Bruno Rubeo
Art Direction by…Victor Kempster
Set Decoration by…Crispian Sallis
Costume Design by….Elizabeth McBride
Lynn Barber....assistant makeup artist
Kevin Haney....makeup consultant
Philip Ivey....hair stylist (as Phillip Ivey)
Philip Leto....hair stylist (as Phil Leto)
Manlio Rocchetti....makeup supervisor
Robert Doudell....unit production manager
Martha M. Elcan....second assistant director (as Martha Elcan)
Katterli Frauenfelder....first assistant director
Benjamin Beresford....property assistant
Wren Boney....head set dresser
Gary Buckles....set dresser (as Gary L. Buckles)
Don E. Cochran....scenic chargeman
Tom S. Gunter....scenic billboards
Jeanne M. Hall....greensperson
Paul Huggins....construction foreman
Tony Kupersmith....construction coordinator
Kristen McGary....lead person (as Kris McGary)
John Oliveira....set dresser
Vera Smith....property assistant
Philip Steuer....property master
Karen Young ....set dresser
Bill Zullo....property assistant (as William Zullo)
Every now and then a gentle unpretentious film slips by
with the Academy Award for Best
Picture, “Driving Miss Daisy” managed it in 1989.
Written by Alfred Uhry, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play, and
directed by Bruce Beresford “Driving
Miss Daisy” has a simple, straightforward plot with an edge of racial
prejudice, bigotry and cynicism that meld into a wonderful story of two elderly
people going through life, getting old and watching the world change around
them.
The story spans the twenty five years from 1948 to 1973 and the lives of several
Southern people living in Atlanta, Georgia. Miss Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy),
a well-to-do, elderly Jewish widow, living alone, with only Idella, (Esther
Rolle) a combination maid/cook for help, finds herself not allowed to drive her
car anymore. Her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), hires an older black man, Hoke
Colburn (Morgan 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.
Miss Daisy is described 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.
For those who say that the sort of friendship portrayed was not possible
in the South in those times author Alfred 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.
The two stars were largely unknown to the cinema audience in 1989. Jessica Tandy
had played supporting roles in films for well over fifty years but was mainly a
Broadway star who was not too well recognized in films; and Morgan Freeman had
been in films for almost twenty years but only in minor or supporting roles.
Also, Dan Aykroyd was best know as
a comic from films such as ‘Ghostbusters’ and had seldom played a straight,
dramatic part. The film's
popularity and its winning several Academy Awards came as a shock to a lot of
Hollywood insiders.
The film's pokes at racism are as gentle as its humour, but they also sting, and
the behaviour of whites toward blacks is not the only target. Daisy calls blacks
‘children’; she disapproves of her daughter-in-law ‘socializing with
Episcopalians’ and trying to look Christian by having a Christmas party. In
one of the film's most memorable scenes, we're reminded that Daisy is as much an
outcast in the post-war South as Hoke. Two traffic cops who'd stopped Hoke
merely for driving a nice car watch him drive off with Daisy. ‘An old nigger
and an old Jew woman taking off down the road together’, one cop says to the
other. ‘That is one sorry sight’.
The movie works – with 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, passing and
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.
For reasons only known to the select few at Warner Brothers, here in the UK, the
DVD, released in 1999, was one of those with a fullscreen copy on one side and a
1.85:1 widescreen enhanced for 16x9 televisions copy on the other.
In the US, apparently, they have never had the widescreen version until
the recent special edition. The
picture quality is excellent, remembering that the photography has a beautiful
soft focus sheen – with muted colours, particularly the
interiors.
The sound is Dolby Stereo Surround, which allows the dialogue to come through
clearly (rather important in a wordy film), but allows for the ambient sounds of
the scenes to come through as well – be it the quiet of the house, the sounds
of the street or the noise of the cotton mill. Music is very personal, but (for a change) I really
love Hans Zimmer’s haunting – even dainty – theme as it weaves back and
forth through the film.
The only extras on the disc are some production notes and a trailer.
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).
All in all you have a warm, cosy, genial human drama that says more about
getting along with other people than many more overtly ‘message’ films ever
have.