Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Most notable not as early Scorsese material, but for Ellen Burstyn's remarkable performance as a widow battling a neverending series of disappointments. Sounds like a heavy dramatic premise, but strangely enough there's more in the way of comedic charm than tragedy. This doesn't come off as insincere, though, and is mostly presented in Alice's relationship with her son. The ending is an awful cliche, but it doesn't completely undercut all of the film's admirable qualities.

The material doesn't always match the tone - it feels a bit flat and weightless at times, but overall it's a touching drama with some outstanding performances. Scorsese was still on shaky ground as a technician and the camerawork can be a bit ostentatious at times; however, it's usually pretty understated. And yes, the climax is cheesy.

Ellen Burstyn does a fine job, delivering a performance that avoids most of the overly familiar stereotypes of the character archetype. Even though Alice and her son are clearly victims of harsh circumstances, the film doesn't get bogged down with victimization. In fact the film goes for the comedic more often than for the tragic, which makes what could've been a taxing viewing experience breezy and enjoyable. However it also makes the film feel a bit superficial and inconsequential.

Scorsese's decent attempt at a chick flick succeeds in putting some warts on a family/romantic road movie, but never really takes off beyond that. It gets everything right on a superficial level but doesn't do enough to penetrate the heart. Watch for child actress Jodie Foster in a very tomboyish role.

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. Burstyn, in an Oscar-winning performance, and Kristoffersen are really cute together, and she has amazing chemistry with the boy playing her son.

Ah, the good ole days, when a man could get drunk and beat a woman's child on their birthday and still, somehow, be her best romantic option by a long shot. Like a feminine counterpoint to Five Easy Pieces

Ellen Burstyn is great, and it is a nice comedy-drama film. HOWEVER, Keitel becoming a madman felt like it was from a different film. Just give me Kristofferson's dreamy eyes for longer. This film isn't plot heavy, and just kind of meanders, which, you know what, I am perfectly on board with when Burstyn is on the screen.

Burstyn and Scorsese (who hasn't since had a female lead) manage to craft one of the greatest and most essential portraits of an American woman that I have seen in a movie. The story has a fable-like "greater than itself" quality to it making it feel honest and timeless even if it isn't the most revolutionary picture by any means, and it somehow plays with cliches without ever feeling like one, at least not in any manner that can rightfully be criticized. Unfortunately neglected Scorsese film.

This is truly an american movie. It fills a gap between Douglas Sirk's melodramas and new hollywood cinetics. Already one of my favourites.

Competently acted and directed with an enjoyably humorous and sometimes insightful take on feminism. But it also occasionally veers toward cliched territories and the ending is just too neat.

Ellen Burstyn was great, as was Harvey Keitel. It's not a perfect movie and I was disappointed in the ending, but it's very watchable. It has a really cool soundtrack too.

Really great in every way. Maybe I'm overrating it a bit, but I loved everything about it. Ellen Burstyn is phenomenal. I absolutely loved the transition from Oz to Mott the Hoople. Good stuff. (Also lol at the guy who says Scorsese doesn't have skill in using music!)

Strong character piece

It surprised me with how good it was, roping me in and keeping me interested throughout. The mother-son dynamic between Ellen Burstyn and Alfred Lutter was absolutely spot-on, the supporting performances were excellent, and the camera technique was intriguing without being intrusive. It had warmth without sentimentality. But then, right at the end, something terrible happened. The unholiest of movie clichés: the clapping scene.

I worry that some time from now I'll have forgotten Burstyn's incredible performance as a single mother with a black cloud perpetually over her, and say, "Was that the one with that annoying foul-mouthed kid?"

It stands as the only Scorsese film to have become a sitcom, and it's really the only film in his filmography that feels like it could spawn one. (I lie ... "Goodfellas" would have spawned a magnificent sitcom.)

So sweet.

30.11.19, ikinci izleme.

Never knew this was early Scorcese, and that is was the inspiration for the TV sitcom, "Alice". Excellent family drama, with some lighter comedic moments.

Surprising, difficult, well-built and honest. Its abrasiveness and lack of character growth limit its enjoyability, but also add a layer of believability to its portrait of a family on dire straits.

Really dull and drab, especially coming from a very stylistic director.

Ellen Burstyn stars in this Martin Scorsese comedy, from an original script by Robert Getchell, about a 35-year-old widow who sets out with her young son to make a new life. Full of funny malice and breakneck vitality, it's absorbing and intelligent even when the issues it raises get all fouled up.

Nice details but Marty either wasn't really into this or couldn't get into it. It's telling he never tried again.

Other than the Kristofferson storyline (he's presented as someone who'd have far too many offers to take so much interest in Alice), there isn't a moment here that doesn't ring true. Newer "feminists" have taken to bemoaning the "male gaze" in film & insisting that films about women are best served by women creators- those people need to watch this. Written & directed by men (in 1974), this is one of the most honest, compelling & funny portraits of a single mom (w/ poor choice in men) ever made.

Strong movie about ordinary people and their usual problems with family life, relationships, abusiveness, dying aspirations, and menial jobs. The script is pretty much non-stop interesting as the arguments and banter between mother and son is quite real and entertaining -- Burstyn's great, and that kid put in a hell of a performance as well. Does overall feel even more aimless than the characters' lives, makes me wonder how a different edit would've changed this.

Witty and charming, with a darker edge to it that makes the film feel more real while also being rather soft-focus and a real daydream romance. The kid was really good.

The script tells an wonderfully-conceived story of the difficulty of breaking out of the cycles of domestic violence and poverty, as well as serving as an excellent treatise on feminism. Still, Scorsese lacks consistency and seems trepidatious at this early point in his career; the camera itself seems restive under his direction. A lot of the comedy feels more annoying than funny. The film still has something genuine at the center of it, though, and that takes it a long way.

The movie's teeming with giftedly crafted individual scenes. There are scenes where we take Alice and her voyage completely straight-faced, there are scenes of distressing reality and then there are other scenes, mainly some uproarious parts in the now famous diner where she eventually waits tables.

You haven't seen one of the very important Scorsese movies. You watch it. And of course it's great.

80.00.

There are moments where it's quite charming, but overall this is a let down. Come for this one, if you're a Scorsese completionist, but not for a great film.

I could take it or leave it. It's a nice enough little movie with a really good performance by Diane Ladd and a nice comedic touch (which unfortunately makes the film feel entirely superficial) but doesn't have a whole lot to offer and Alfred Lutter is really irritating.

84.500

87.000

* Casting, Acting : 9 * Script : 7 * Directing, Aura : 8 * Ease of Viewing : 5 * Naked Eye : 8

Hey, you dropped your tray!

Thelma & Louise with Louise replaced by New Mexico's most annoying kid. I enjoyed it more than I like to admit, but I hope it stays Scorsese's only chick flick.

Different kind of Scorsese movie compared to what he makes these days, but the direction and acting are very good.

83.750

I suppose this is Scorsese trying to find himself directing a family drama or a female drama, to see if this genre pleases him. I guess not. Because this is a Ellen Burstyn's film. And he never tried that kind of movie again, I think.

One of Scorsese's worst efforts. I would say he was still learning the craft but he already made Mean Streets so that theory isn't applicable. Pretty damn boring.

The first 15-20 minutes are pretty lame (and the goofy little-girl thing was completely needless)...but then it starts to pick up quite a bit (after the man of the house kicks it). Burstyn gives a thoroughly winning performance (indeed, she literally won the coveted Trophy for that year), as does Ladd. Oh yeah, and Jodie Foster was...well, a boy. (That was one bratty kid Ellen had btw.) Many good lines, the best of which perhaps being: "I sing with my mouth, not my ass."

The movie is quite good at excavating the sudden energies, childishnesses, and surprises that lie buried in people, although these revelations too regularly appear in the form of histrionic rages. Generally, Scorsese cannot resist scrounging for laughs (precocious kids, wisecracking waitresses), and he at least gets hold of the laughs he goes after. It is less clear what he hopes to accomplish with the fidgety, nerve-racking camera movements, which match Bertolucci in exuberance and excess.

Kind of like "Paris, Texas" except hilarious instead of somber. Parent/son relationship, set in the desert, and notable child acting.

So much better than I expected. Scorsese is way out of his element and still owns it.

A different face of Scorsese's work, what don't means it's less than the others. Great characters (including the kids) and remembering that Jodie Foster was one of them...

Great, low-key Scorsese.

Ellen Burstyn is a young widow with a young son trying to make ends meet and start life over. Great characters. Diane Ladd has one the all time funny movie lines when she answers Vic Tayback's question about someones whereabouts. Best dramatic movie opening to Mott the Hoople music.

Imperfect melodrama. The parts with the kids are probably best. That Scorsese's early "woman's picture" ran afoul of the current of the times is probably something in its favour.