I ticked another film off my “Films I should’ve seen by now but haven’t” list last night.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
This is another one of those films who’s trailer always seemed to appear on a load of movies I had on VHS in the early 90s.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s a comedy/drama (not so much comedy as drama) starring Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), Jessica Tandy (Cocoon) and Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters) among others.
The movie is based on the Off-Broadway play by Alfred Uhry which also starred Morgan Freeman in the same role.
Here’s what it’s about according to google:
“An old Southern Jewish lady and her African-American driver develop a bond that improves over twenty years. This teaches them about deaths, racial discrimination and other valuable lessons of life.”
I enjoyed this movie but probably not quite as much as I thought I would.
I knew it had won various awards when it was released so I knew it had to be good, and it is. It just didn’t blow me away. Probably just another case of years of expectation making it impossible to live up to what I had in my mind.
Having said that, Morgan Freeman is brilliant and utterly loveable (not to mention tolerant) as “Hoke”, and in fact all of the performances are top notch. 👌
It reminded me a bit of Green Book (a film everyone should watch), in that it’s about two people from completely different racial, social and economical backgrounds who along the way rub off on each other and become better for it in the long run.
It’s meaningful, sad, yet heartwarming, and watching it now all these years after its release, easy to see how Morgan Freeman became one of our most beloved movie stars. 🙌
Seen it? Let me know below.👇