Driving Miss Daisy

Based on Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Bruce Beresford's Oscar-winning 1989 adaptation spans a 25-year-period from the late forties to the early seventies chronicling the relationship between Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy), a crotchety Jewish elder, and her black chauffeur Hoke (Morgan Freeman). Best Picture kudos notwithstanding, both characters are basically two-dimensional: Daisy rarely steps out of her terse-lipped loveable grouch stance, and 50% of Hoke's dialogue is "Yes'm," "No'm," and a gradually annoying high-pitched chuckle. The whole shebang is seen through misty focus, with lots of pastels and tons of sentimental strings on the overbearing soundtrack that bring to mind those Bell telephone commercials with the grandkids calling the grandparents. Nevertheless, Driving Miss Daisy picked up four Academy Awards and 40 nationally noted critics placed it their annual 10 best lists. Originally released on DVD in a bare bones full screen edition way back in 1997, Warner's new "special edition" features a fresh digital widescreen transfer, as well as a solid commentary track by Beresford, Uhry, and co-producer Lily Fini Zanuck; the new 19-minute featurette "Miss Daisy's Journey From Stage to Screen," a seven-minute tribute to Jessica Tandy, and the original six-minute making-of featurette. In my opinion, Driving Miss Daisy is still a great argument against those collection policies built around buying only award-winning films (Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, a far superior film about race relations released the same year, wasn't nominated for Best Picture, and took home no statues), but given its popularity, critical success, and awards, this is easily recommended (just make sure you also own Do the Right Thing). (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray Review—Mar. 12, 2013—Warner, 99 min., PG, $27.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1989's Driving Miss Daisy sports a fine transfer and a DTS-HD stereo soundtrack. Packaged in a 32-page digi-book (with production history and photos), the Blu-ray features the new retrospective featurette 'Things Are Changing: The Worlds of Hoke & Miss Daisy' (29 min.). Extras carried over from previous releases include audio commentary by director Bruce Beresford, writer Alfred Uhry, and producer Lili Zanuck, 'Miss Daisy's Journey from Stage to Screen' (19 min.), a tribute to star Jessica Tandy (7 min.), a 'making-of' featurette (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: this multiple Oscar winner (including Best Picture) makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]