Driving Miss Daisy (1989) (WS)

Director Bruce Beresford's affinity for the subtleties of southern life is apparent in this adaptation of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Starring Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan and Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn, the film opens in late-1940s Atlanta. Since Miss Daisy is becoming a menace behind the wheel, her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), ignores her protests and hires Hoke, a black chauffeur. When the feisty matron decides to resist necessity and walk to the store, the equally stubborn chauffeur follows her in her car. As he says to Boolie, "I used to rassle hogs down to the ground...ain't nary a hog got away from me yet." But Hoke's methods are gentleness and patience, and as the years elapse in his ongoing tug-of-war with the temperamental Daisy, she begins to tacitly acknowledge his wisdom. When she expresses annoyance over the demands of the nascent civil rights movement, Hoke points out to the Jewish woman the similarity between the attack on her synagogue and Klan attacks on black churches. But it is only after many years together that they can finally admit to the depth of the friendship they have shared. The two stars give unforgettable performances, and Beresford's direction is a model of restraint.