Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (DVD)

Martin Scorsese directs this classic American romantic drama. When her husband is killed in a car crash, Alice (Ellen Burstyn) leaves her home in Socorro, New Mexico and heads west with her son Tommy (Alfred Lutter), determined to return to her home town of Monterey in California and make her own way in life as an independent woman. In order to reach Monterey however, Alice will have to stop off along the way to make enough money for her and Tommy to survive. Using the only talent she has, she plans to take singing gigs wherever possible. They stop in Arizona and Alice ends up having to work as a waitress in a diner while Tommy is largely left to fend for himself as his mum lapses back into old habits, relying on men to give her fulfilment. The cast also includes Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster.