Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Three very talented actors come together in a beautifully spun tale. In fact, Tandy in particular is one of the most talented I've ever seen and is always a delight. Unlike most movies today, this one addressed racism of the day without hitting you over the head with it like a sledgehammer and presented it in a balanced, objective way (and really the main story is about the relationship between these two). Although Miss Daisy has her share of racist undertones, she's not a monster; far from it...and she learns to let go of it as Hoke patiently endures and wins her over. Freeman presents his character honestly - uneducated but wise, and needless to say extremely patient. :) Ackroyd also plays a superb supporting role and has always been an underrated actor in my opinion. Just a great film where everything meshes beautifully and one of the more deserving Oscar winners I've ever seen.

This thing has been re-filmed on television so many times, it's clearly a sentimental bonbon for Hollywood's ethnic powerhouses. 'Why' isn't mysterious. Its plodding plot line confirms what I bet most African Americans suspect is their propositional status with Jews: We're all in this together as long as you dusky folk know your place. Finally, we have PC-certified condescension. Breakthrough.It's all about the 'relationship' between Miss Daisy of the title and her black chauffeur Holk - except its key points generally are tipped by incursions of that ol' debbil racism and what modern-day Northern Jews determine is virulent anti-Semitism that's always infested the South like a boll weevil in a cotton ball. That there's only subjective 'evidence' of this is minor detail. In one turning point, Daisy and Hoke find common ground after her synagogue is bombed; that actually happened mid-1950s, but as reaction to its role in Atlanta civil rights protests, not so much hatred of Hebrews. Obviously, tales of victimhood and suffering - fabricated though they are - are much more in sync with today's political ambiance than recalling Jewish role in the Atlantic slave trade, or that the Confederacy's Secretary of State blew the shofar.There's an amusing moment in which their limo is pulled over by two state troopers with oddly subtle approach to their Bull Connor obligation in the movie. They ID Miss Daisy as Jewish but... how? Is there a Mogen David on her license plate? Appearance? I look more Jewish than Jessica Tandy.You owe yourself a pass on this one.

I've been meaning to watch this film for a very long time. Now that I watched it I'm stunned! What a movie with utterly superb performance and Morgan Freeman is astonishing as ever! The storyline tries to explain to us that no matter what, a person can touch your heart and become your best friend. It doesn't necessarily needs to be your relative. It can also be your driver. This film deserved all the Oscars for the categories it received in 1990. I always knew that great movies are left behind in 80s and 90s. Miss that! I recommend to watch it as it is a beautiful drama. It will touch your hear in every bit. Go fot it!

Driving Miss Daisy lives foremost in Academy Award history infamy more than anything else, not necessarily because it beat anything particularly superior like the next year's Dances With Wolves, but because even for them it's just not up to their standards. Based on a play, and it should've stayed on the stage despite the freedom film gives to driving, it's really stale and bland. Quite backwards and overly simplistic especially among a field of more progressive films of its time. The quirky 'odd couple' relationship between an old lady and black man provides clichéd conflict and saccharine drama, touching on light racial themes as delicately as possible as to not disturb anyone. It has mildly amusing moments, nothing original in the slightest, just flukes where the charm clicks, though it ruins it with something eye rolling inducing shortly afterwards.It actually wouldn't be quite so bad if the ensemble wasn't so unbearable. I've never found Morgan Freeman this intolerable, from top to bottom he comes off as false and irritating. The only moments he's decent are the somber reflective ones, this tone he later took throughout the better part of his career, but otherwise it falls flat. Jessica Tandy is no help to him either being merely okay and Dan Akroyd always looks and feels out of place, one take away from anything natural. It has a clunky contrived rhythm about it that doesn't make anything believable. It's just a sentimental lifetime movie with no real justification of why we have to spend it with these insufferable characters. There's a reason Bruce Beresford wasn't nominated for Director or done anything worthwhile since, he has no vision, if only they realized it for the Picture lineup too. I'm just glad to have gotten it out of the way.5/10