Movie Review: Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

This movie beat out Dead Poets Society and Field of Dreams to win Best Picture.  I would agree with that, but I have trouble explaining why - it just seems brighter and more entertaining.  The acting is really great.

Early in the movie, I was talking about how "this is taking place before Martin Luther King", and then it turned out that he is a part of the movie. I didn't really know race was going to be part of it, or that it was in the South.  But those were really good qualities - it made it more than just a movie - it had a message to it.  I don't really research these movies before I see them.

In the special features we learned that this was a Pulitzer prize winning play, and that they had trouble getting the funding to make the movie.  Also, the director was not nominated for Best Director.  From wikipedia: 

• it is the only film based on an off Broadway production ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture
• it is the last Best Picture winner to date to receive a PG rating
• it is the last film to date (and one of only three films ever) to win Best Picture without having received a Best Director nomination;and
• Jessica Tandy, at age 80, became both the oldest winner and the oldest nominee ever in the history of the Best Actress category.