Yes, Ellen Burstyn was my main attraction to this film as well, as she is to every film she's in. It really doesn't seem like a Scorsese picture, does it? At least certainly not like the movies he does now. But in the '70s, he was all over the map thematically and taking more chances than he does now. I think he also had fewer expectations placed on him.
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MitchumsGal
12 years ago
The reason Scorsese hasn't focued on framle characters is because he had no intenetion of making Alice. Ellen Burstyn was looking for recommendations for new and exciting directors. Coppola recommended she watch Mean Streets. She had a meeting with Scorsese and asked him what he knew about women. He said not much but I'd like to learn. It was very much a collaborative effort all the way through filming in terms of the content. The studio insisted on a happy cinematic ending and that was the compromise they made - Kris would say he'd go with her to Monterey. That came out of some improv sessions the actors did. Originally Alice was going to leave without him.
So really it's not about Scorsese losing interest, he never really had any. He was taking more chances back then as young filmmakers do and doing different genres. He was presented with this challenge and took it on. But it was not all him on the finished product by any means. Get the dvd and watch the intereviews and limited commentary and you'll get an idea of what really happened.
Surprise! There's an airplane here to see you! MM
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