Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his role from the original Off-Broadway production. The story defines Daisy and her point of view through a network of relationships and emotions by focusing on her home life, synagogue, friends, family, fears, and concerns over a twenty-five-year period. Driving Miss Daisy was a critical and commercial success upon its release and at the 62nd Academy Awards received nine nominations, and won four: Best Picture, Best Actress (for Tandy), Best Makeup, and Best Adapted Screenplay. , it is the most recent PG-rated film to have won Best Picture. Plot In 1948, Daisy Werthan, or Miss Daisy, a 72-year-old wealthy, Jewish, widowed, retired schoolteacher, lives alone in Atlanta, Georgia, except for a black housekeeper, Idella. When Miss Daisy drives her 1946 Chrysler Windsor into her neighbor's yard, her 40-year-old son, Boolie, buys her a 1949 Hudson Commodore and hires 60-year-old Hoke Colburn, a black chauffeur. Boolie claims to Hoke that Miss Daisy may not appreciate his efforts, but she cannot fire him, as Boolie himself is his employer. Miss Daisy at first refuses to let anyone drive her, but Hoke convinces her to be driven. She reluctantly accepts the first two trips, but tries to get Boolie to fire Hoke after discovering a can of salmon missing from her pantry. However, she relents when Hoke, unprompted and before she is able to confront him, admits to eating the salmon and offers her a replacement can he had bought.