Plot: What’s it about?
Driving Miss Daisy looks and feels like a play. In fact, it’s going to be playing at a local theater (stage, that is) later this year. Proof that you don’t need much to make a good movie. Like films that don’t require a lot of sets before it (think 12 Angry Men and Rear Window), Driving Miss Daisy focuses more on the characters than what surrounds them. Now let’s talk awards…it’s no secret that this film, though great, came out of nowhere to win Best Picture of 1989. Personally, my favorite film that I think was robbed was Glory (ironically enough, starring Morgan Freeman too) and had that not won, then my vote would have been for Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone did receive the award for Best Director, though). Perpahs it’s because those two movies were so good that they split the vote and thereby allowed this film to win the cherished Best Picture Oscar. In any case, it happened and we can do nothing about it. Though we know the “Academy” isn’t always right, the movie stands the test of time as intolerance and prejudice will always be around, but what tears down those walls is nowhere better illustrated than in this film.
Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) has been hired to become a chauffer to one Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy), a Southern Jewish woman and proud of it. Daisy has just crashed her car into a wall and her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd) has decided that it’s time for someone to drive her around town. Stubborn as a mule is somewhat of an understatement when it comes to Daisy. In perhaps one of the best roles of her career (perhaps her best ever), she creates a character so full of hatred and ignorance that we really hate her. Why? She’s a helpless old woman; but one who treats her chauffer as just that. It takes years for her to come around and actually accept him as somewhat of an equal. Morgan Freeman holds his own as well as he tends not to let his actions speak (nor his words). Seemingly by his lack of words, he says more than if he had a comeback for all of Daisy’s comments. While the plot is rather non-linear, it does take place between 1948 and 1973, and as we see the characters develop on screen (as time passes) we can see why and what makes this movie work, the actors playing the parts.
Driving Miss Daisy was one of those movies that the video place had tons of, mainly because it had won Best Picture. In the days before DVD and certainly before this website, I rented movies that they had a lot of, yet always feeling lucky to get the “last copy”. It’s been about twelve years since I last saw the movie (even though the movie was one of the first on DVD) and as I watched with a now fresh set of eyes, I appreciated it a lot more. It wasn’t the fact that it won awards, that Dan Aykroyd was actually playing a dramatic role or that I lived in the South and I know people just like Miss Daisy. It’s more than that. While movies of “today” are so focused on visual effects, bombs and what $20 million dollar a picture actor is playing the lead, it’s nice to go back in time just a few years and see movies that are really a treat to watch. And this is one of them.
Video: How does it look?
As mentioned before, this is now the second incarnation of Driving Miss Daisy on DVD, and this version comes complete with a brand new digital transfer. Warner, long known for their outstanding transfers, delivers here but while the new image is an improvement over the previous version; it still leaves a little to be desired. The 1.85:1 anamorphic image is generally sharp, though I noticed some dust and grain on some scenes thereby giving them a “dingy” look to them. As the cover might tend to point out, there are a lot of bright scenes, this also gives rise to a bit of edge enhancement. While this version is a very easy recommendation over the previous version, you won’t be getting “top notch” picture quality; but what you get isn’t that bad.
Audio: How does it sound?
This is the kind of movie that a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack really couldn’t do a lot for. The score, however (played during the ending credits) is among my favorite. The surround track does sound good, though the ambiance is on the lower end of the scale. While this won’t make you glad you blew your paycheck on your speakers, the dialogue (which this relies upon heavily) does sound great, clear and clean; and the effects mainly come out of the front channels. Not a lot else can be said here, though movies sound better, this more than serves its purpose.
Supplements: What are the extras?
A vast improvement over the initial bare bones release, this sports a new transfer and a few supplements of note. Though it can’t really hold a candle to some of the titles that Warner has re-mastered (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, Unforgiven and Singin’ in the Rain all contain two discs and have much more to offer supplement-wise). The screen-specific audio commentary is fairly decent, given the somewhat slow pace of the movie. The director seems happy with his work here (as he should be) and as the movie stands the test of time, he seems to feel that this will become even more of a classic. Additionally, there are some new featurettes as well as a segment on Jessica Tandy (who died just a few years after this was made). A great movie, with a brand new picture and sound and some great supplements to boot. Could you ask for more? Well, yes…but in the meantime this will work just fine.
