Driving Miss Daisy

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Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy movie poster
Directed by	Bruce Beresford
Produced by	Lili Fini Zanuck Richard D. Zanuck
Written by	Alfred Uhry
Starring	Morgan Freeman Jessica Tandy Dan Aykroyd Esther Rolle
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Cinematography	Peter James
Editing by	Mark Warner
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	December 15, 1989^[1]
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7,500,000
Gross revenue	$145,793,296^[1]
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Driving Miss Daisy is a 1987 play by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish lady and her African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, from 1948 to 1973. The original off-Broadway production starred Dana Ivey and Morgan Freeman. The first production took place at Playwrights Horizons Theatre on 42nd Street in New York. It later moved down the street to the John Houseman Theatre. Ivey's performance garnered her an Obie Award as Best Actress. The play was the first in Uhry's "Atlanta Trilogy" dealing with Jewish residents of that city in the early 20th century. The play was Uhry's most successful, winning him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was performed in London's West End in 1988, with Dame Wendy Hiller as Miss Daisy Werthan.

In 1989, the play was adapted for a Warner Brothers film with Morgan Freeman reprising his role and Miss Daisy played by Jessica Tandy. The story defines Daisy and her point of view through a network of relationships and emotions by focusing on her home life, her synagogue, friends, family, fears, and concerns. Hoke is rarely seen out of Miss Daisy's presence, although the title implies that the story is told from his perspective.

The film won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Picture. It is also, as of 2008, the last PG-rated film to win that title.

1 Plot
2 Awards
3 Media
- 3.1 Soundtrack
- 3.2 DVD
4 Media References
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

It is 1948 and Mrs. ("Miss") Daisy Werthan, a 72-year-old widow, lives in Atlanta, Georgia, alone except for an African American housemaid named Idella. After a driving mishap where her Chrysler automobile is totaled, Miss Daisy’s son Boolie tells her she will have to get a chauffeur because no insurance company will insure her. She refuses, but Boolie is determined to find her one. Meanwhile, she is stuck at home and is unable to run errands or visit friends.

Boolie finds a man named Hoke Colburn, who had driven for a local judge until he died, and he decided to remain in the area rather than accompany the widow when she moved away.

Miss Daisy at first refuses to let Hoke drive her, going so far as to walk to the local Piggly Wiggly. It is revealed that her reluctance to be driven around is because she is embarrassed. People might think she is either too old to drive, or so well off that she can afford a driver.

Daisy comes to accept Hoke and the fact that she needs him to drive her around. Miss Daisy finds out that Hoke cannot read, so she teaches him how to read. Over the years Hoke drives Daisy in a succession of vehicles including a Hudson Commodore and a series of Cadillacs. When it became time to trade in the car for a new vehicle, Hoke often purchases the previous car and uses it as his personal vehicle.

Miss Daisy has Hoke drive her to her brother's 90^th birthday party in Mobile, Alabama. Hoke reveals, during the trip, that it is the first time that he has left his home state of Georgia. During their trip from Atlanta to Mobile, Daisy realizes in several circumstances that Hoke's race affects how others treat him; her eyes are further opened to the social aspects of racial prejudice. As Daisy and Hoke spend time together, she gains appreciation for Hoke's many skills.

One day in 1963, while watching television in the kitchen, Idella dies. Miss Daisy is saddened because Idella was very close to her. She and her family attend the funeral, being the only white people in attendance at the funeral.

The racism and prejudice that permeated American society is explored in this movie, especially when Hoke is questioned by a pair of racist highway patrolmen, who also make out-of-earshot comments about Miss Daisy being an "old Jew woman" and Hoke being an "old nigger". After her synagogue is bombed Daisy realizes that she, as a Jew, is subject to many of the same prejudices as Hoke. But in the course of the movie, American society undergoes radical changes, and Miss Daisy soon attends a dinner in which Dr. Martin Luther King gives a speech. She initially invites Boolie to the dinner, but he declines, and suggests that Miss Daisy invite Hoke. Miss Daisy does not mention the invitation to Hoke until he is driving her to the dinner. Her reluctance to invite Hoke underlines the passive racism that often goes unnoticed when compared with more open and aggravated racism.

A few years later, Hoke comes to her house to find her in a confused and agitated state. He calls Boolie and tells him his mother is upset. Before her son arrives Miss Daisy tells Hoke that he's her best friend and holds his hand. Her son arranges for her to enter a retirement home.

Two years later, in 1973, the family home is sold, and Hoke has given up driving. Hoke is now 85 and Miss Daisy is 97. Boolie and Hoke meet at Miss Daisy's house one final time before the new owner takes possession, and they drive over to the retirement home to visit Miss Daisy. The movie ends with Hoke feeding Miss Daisy a piece of pie.

[edit] Awards

In 1989, Driving Miss Daisy was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning in the Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Tandy), Best Makeup, and Best Adapted Screenplay categories. The film is the only movie based on an off-broadway production to ever win an Academy Award for Best Picture.^[2] Then eighty-year old Jessica Tandy's winning of the Best Actress award was also a history making event, as she was the oldest person to ever win the award.^[2]

It also won three Golden Globe awards, for Best Picture, Best Actor (Morgan Freeman), and Best Actress (Jessica Tandy) in the Comedy/Musical genre. At the 1989 Writers Guild of America Awards, the movie again won an award in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Rounding out its US 1989 awards, the film won Best Picture and Best Actor from the National Board of Review.

In the United Kingdom, the movie was nominated for four British Academy Film Awards in 1990, with Jessica Tandy winning in the Best Actress category.

[edit] Media

[edit] Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer, who won a BMI Film Music Award and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television for his work. The score was performed entirely by Zimmer, done electronically using samplers and synthesizers, and did not feature a single live instrument. The soundtrack was issued on Varese Sarabande.

[edit] DVD

U.S. release: April 30, 1997
Special edition: February 4, 2003

[edit] Media References

In the movie Stay Tuned, one of the various parodies was called "Driving Over Miss Daisy." It featured Mr. Spike running over an old lady, then attempting to run over the main protagonist with the car shortly afterwards.
In the second season of the British teen drama Skins, while attending a fancy dress party, the cast seem surprised to see their friend Chris come in full costume as Miss Daisy, with their friend Kenneth as Holke Coburn. Chris later claims that it is the best film ever, as well as the only film he's seen, barring pornographic films.