MovieChat Forums > Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975) Discussion > tcm was wrong! SPOILER

tcm was wrong! SPOILER

posted 15 years ago by whimsical5
7 replies | jump to latest

Robert Osbourne was explaining how they could not decide on the ending. He said Kris Kristofferson came up with "the ending we just saw" where David gives up the ranch and moves to Monterey with Alice and Tommy. That is NOT what happened!! THey all stayed in Tuscon and Alice was still going to get a singing job....WTF??

nice socks, man.....

[–] gbennett5 15 years ago

In the very last shot, as Alice and the boy are walking and hugging, the
sign above them clearly says MONTEREY.

[–] whimsical5 15 years ago

Yeah it says Monterey Shopping Center, which is located in Tuscon. Irony. She just got done telling him they were NOT going to Monterey.

nice socks, man.....

[–] xylonian-1 15 years ago

I was confused as I thought sure they had stayed in Tulsa and thought I missed something....The "Monterey" sign made a great play on that....Thank you

"Wait. Where are you going? I was going to make Espresso."

[–] naladog77 15 years ago

I was also very confused as TCM never seems to make a mistake. The last dialogue is between Alice and her son, and she asks him if it's ok that she doesn't get him to Monterrey by the beginning of the school year and he says that it was her idea anyway and he doesn't mind going to Tuscon schools. The Monterrey shopping sign was obviously to illustrate the irony. I thought the whole point was that because her boyfriend offered to give it all up for her that it wasn't as important to have to leave and that she could try her signing anywhere anyway.

It's a good movie but I never quite understood why they had to make stops for her to get a job before they could go to Monterrey. Isn't it only a 2 day drive from Arizona, and didn't she say that they had $90 when they stopped in Tuscon? It seems that would have been more than enough for a 2 day drive...

Amanda

"She was drunk or he was crazy."

[–] Local Hero 15 years ago

I was also very confused as TCM never seems to make a mistake.

Well, I like Robert Osborne, but I'd have to disagree that he and his staff don't make mistakes. I think they make little ones all the time. In fact, in the same speech at the end of the movie, Osborne also calls the son character a teenager, whereas his turning twelve by film's end is a prominent motif. Also, for what it's worth, Osborne identifies the film as being from 1975, whereas imdb lists it as 1974.

The last dialogue is between Alice and her son, and she asks him if it's ok that she doesn't get him to Monterrey by the beginning of the school year and he says that it was her idea anyway and he doesn't mind going to Tuscon schools. The Monterrey shopping sign was obviously to illustrate the irony.

Two posters have now called that sign "ironic." I don't know if it's just a matter of semantics, but I wouldn't call its use ironic. I would be more inclined to call it symbolic. She does, in a sense, reach her Monterey.

I thought the whole point was that because her boyfriend offered to give it all up for her that it wasn't as important to have to leave and that she could try her signing anywhere anyway.

I agree entirely. Even if this final scene was ad-libbed, it works because David is willing to give up his dream for her, something no man in her life thus far would ever have done. It signals the possibility of a truly equal and intimate relationship.

didn't she say that they had $90 when they stopped in Tuscon? It seems that would have been more than enough for a 2 day drive...

Yeah, such thoughts did cross my mind, too, but I guess I just made a suspension of disbelief as it was necessary to the plot. Then again, while $90 was definitely enough for gas, food and lodging to go from Arizona to Monterey in the mid-70s, it would mean arriving with almost nothing left, perhaps not even enough for a place to stay when she gets there. Maybe the idea was that she had to have at least a tiny cushion to live and get set up when she got there.

[–] Ezreal 15 years ago

SPOILERS!

The reasons for the stops were two-fold. One, she needed to get the extra money, since they had nothing left after the funeral. She spent most of the money from the yard sale on clothes so that she could find a job. I-10 was almost 15 years away from being completed from Phoenix to Los Angeles, so the time to get to Monterey would have been quite a bit more. Two, that station wagon got at most 10 miles to a gallon, and they did have to stay at hotels along the way.

Tucson is only about a 90 minute drive from Phoenix (60 if you drive like I do, get a rare day when it's not congested and don't run into the DPS), so it was an obvious second choice. Phoenix was chosen as a halfway point, but she couldn't stay there because of Ben.

The truth is, she could have headed to Monterey after a few weeks working at the diner. She probably had enough to gas it there and find a hotel to stay in while she found work there, and then a place of her own. However, it is obvious that after a few weeks she really didn't want to go. She wanted to stay with David, and was happy to pursue her career anywhere. The only reason she chose Monterey in the first place is because she was from there.

[–] liscarkat-2 10 years ago

Nobody knows what irony means any more. It's usually used mistakenly to refer to a coincidence, or to sarcasm. In this case, as you said, what is really meant is "symbolic".