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Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell. It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow who travels with her preteen son across the Southwestern United States in search of a better life. Kris Kristofferson, Billy "Green" Bush, Diane Ladd, Valerie Curtin, Lelia Goldoni, Vic Tayback, Jodie Foster, Alfred Lutter, and Harvey Keitel appear in supporting roles. The film premiered at the 27th Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, and it was released theatrically on December 9, 1974, by Warner Bros. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing $21 million on a $1.8 million budget. At the 47th Academy Awards, Burstyn won Best Actress, and Ladd and Getchell were nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay. Plot In Socorro, New Mexico, Alice Hyatt's husband, Donald, a Coca-Cola delivery driver, is killed on the job in a traffic accident. A former singer, Alice sells the majority of her belongings, intending to take her son, Tommy, to her childhood home of Monterey, California, where she hopes to pursue the singing career she abandoned when she married Donald. Their financial situation forces them to take temporary lodgings in Phoenix, Arizona, where she finds work as a lounge singer. She meets Ben, a younger, seemingly unmarried man who charms her into a sexual relationship that comes to a sudden end when his wife, Rita, confronts Alice. Ben breaks into Alice's apartment while Rita is there and physically assaults Rita in front of Alice. He also threatens Alice and smashes up her apartment. Fearing for their safety, Alice and Tommy quickly leave town. Having spent most of what little money they had on their escape, Alice takes a job as a waitress in Tucson, Arizona, at a local diner owned by Mel. There, she bonds with her fellow servers—independent, no-nonsense, outspoken Flo and quiet, timid, incompetent Vera—and meets divorced local rancher David. David quickly becomes enamored of Alice, who is wary of pursuing another relationship, but begins to warm to him as he establishes a paternal relationship with Tommy. Their relationship is threatened when David uses physical force to discipline Tommy. Although Alice still dreams of going to Monterey, they reconcile. David offers to sell his ranch and move to Monterey, but in the end, Alice decides to stay in Tucson with him. Cast Ellen Burstyn as Alice Hyatt (née Graham), a widowed single mother who dreams of being a professional singer in Monterey Mia Bendixsen as 8-year-old Alice Alfred Lutter as Tommy Hyatt, Alice's preteen son Kris Kristofferson as David, a regular customer of Mel and Ruby's Cafe who becomes Alice's love interest Harvey Keitel as Ben Eberhardt, an abusive married man who has an affair with Alice Lane Bradbury as Rita Eberhardt, Ben's wife Diane Ladd as Florence Jean ("Flo") Castleberry, a hardened, sharp-tongued waitress at Mel and Ruby's Cafe Valerie Curtin as Vera Gorman, a shy, awkward waitress at Mel and Ruby's Cafe Lelia Goldoni as Bea, Alice's friend and neighbor in Socorro Vic Tayback as Mel Sharples, a short-order cook who owns a diner in Tucson Jodie Foster as Audrey, a girl Tommy befriends in Tucson Billy "Green" Bush as Donald Hyatt, Alice's husband, who is killed in a traffic accident early in the film Harry Northup as Joe & Jim's bartender Director Martin Scorsese cameos as a customer in Mel's diner, and Diane Ladd's daughter, Laura Dern, appears as a little girl eating an ice cream cone. Production Ellen Burstyn was still in the midst of filming The Exorcist when Warner Bros. executives expressed interest in working with her on another project. Burstyn recalled: "It was early in the woman's movement, and we were all just waking up and having a look at the pattern of our lives and wanting it to be different ... I wanted to make a different kind of film. A film from a woman's point of view, but a woman that I recognized, that I knew. And not just myself, but my friends, what we were all going through at the time. So my agent found Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore ... When I read it I liked it a lot. I sent it to Warner Bros. and they agreed to do it. Then they asked who I wanted to direct it. I said that I didn't know, but I wanted somebody new and young and exciting. I called Francis Coppola and asked who was young and exciting and he said 'Go look at a movie called Mean Streets and see what you think.' It hadn't been released yet, so I booked a screening to look at it and I felt that it was exactly what ... Alice needed, because [it] was a wonderful script and well written, but for my taste it was a little slick. You know – in a good way, in a kind of Doris Day–Rock Hudson kind of way. I wanted something a bit more gritty." Burstyn described her collaboration with Scorsese, making his first Hollywood studio production, as "one of the best experiences I've ever had". He agreed with her that the film should have a message. "It's a picture about emotions and feelings and relationships and people in chaos," he said. "We felt like charting all that and showing the differences and showing people making terrible mistakes ruining their lives and then realizing it and trying to push back when everything is crumbling – without getting into soap opera. We opened ourselves up to a lot of experimentation." The part of Alice was offered to Shirley MacLaine, who turned it down. In a 2005 interview, she said she regretted that decision. Scorsese's casting director auditioned 300 boys for the role of Tommy before they discovered Alfred Lutter. "I met the kid in my hotel room and he was kind of quiet and shy," Scorsese said. But when he paired him with Burstyn and suggested she deviate from the script, he held his own. "Usually, when we were improvising with the kids, they would either freeze and look down or go right back to the script. But this kid, you couldn't shut him up." The film was shot on location predominantly in and around Tucson, but some scenes were shot in Amado, Arizona, and Phoenix. A Mel's Diner still exists in Phoenix. The soundtrack includes "All the Way from Memphis" by Mott the Hoople; "Roll Away the Stone" by Leon Russell; "Daniel" by Elton John; "Jeepster" by T-Rex; and "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton. During her lounge act, Alice sings "Where or When" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart; "When Your Lover Has Gone" by Einar Aaron Swan; "Gone with the Wind" by Allie Wrubel and Herb Magidson; and "I've Got a Crush on You" by George and Ira Gershwin. In a film clip from Coney Island, Betty Grable is heard singing "Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine" by Otto A. Harbach and Karl Hoschna; and in a film clip from Hello Frisco, Hello, Alice Faye performs "You'll Never Know" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. Reception Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film a "fine, moving, frequently hilarious tale", and wrote that "the center of the m.... Discover the Alice Liveing popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alice Liveing books.