Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

"We're in this together, you know." "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974) by Robert Getchell is a romantic drama about Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn), a recently-widowed homemaker whose marriage wasn't the happiest, although it did produce her son Tommy. She and Tommy, now a spoiled, mouthy 11-year-old (Alfred Lutter III), leave New Mexico in a station wagon to start life anew in Monterey, California, her childhood home. She wants to earn money as a singer and thinks that Monterey is where she and Tommy will find happiness, but, after a short-lived gig and a psychotic boyfriend she first experiences on the road, she escapes, only to get as far as Tucson, where she finds work as a waitress in Mel and Ruby's chaotic little diner along with new friends and handsome, rugged cowboy David, who all convince her to stay in Tucson. And Tommy doesn't mind either. Throughout this film, Alice struggles to be a single mom to the consistently ill-mannered and disrespectful Tommy, while also trying to find a loving man. As it turns out, David lashes out at much-deserving brat Tommy and challenges Alice to be a better mom and a stronger woman. Though the dramatic showdown between Alice and David in the diner is meant to convince us that Alice has finally grown a spine, it was more of a show of Alice "trying" to be tough, but not actually feeling it, especially because up until this point, she is mostly ineffectual. Everything she and Tommy says and does seems to be more of a repeat of their same bad behavior, rather than any progressive improvements. Another road stop for Alice and Tommy, in between Phoenix and Tucson, would have been a good opportunity to show Alice having a little bit of success with a man and Tommy, to show that she is learning from her mistakes.