Plot summary

"We're in this together, you know." Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) by Robert Getchell is a Romantic Drama about a recently widowed and bullied housewife Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn), who leaves New Mexico in a station wagon with her spoiled and mouthy, twelve-year-old son, Tommy (Alfred Lutter III), to start life anew in Monterey, California, her childhood home. Alice wants to earn money as a singer, and thinks that Monterey is where she and Tommy will find happiness, but, after a short-lived gig and a psychotic boyfriend, which she first experiences on the road, she escapes, only to get as far as Tucson. It's here that she finds work as a waitress in Mel and Ruby's chaotic little diner along with new friends and a rugged and handsome cowboy, David, who all convince her to stay in Tucson. And Tommy doesn't mind either. Throughout this film, Alice struggles to be a single mom to the consistently ill-mannered and disrespectful Tommy, while also trying to find a loving man that she can stand up to. As it turns out, David lashes out at the much-deserving brat, Tommy, and challenges Alice to be a better mom and a stronger woman. Though the dramatic showdown between Alice and David in the diner is meant to convince us that Alice has finally grown a spine, it was more of a show of Alice "trying" to be tough, but not actually feeling it, especially because up until this point, she is mostly ineffectual. Everything she and Tommy says and does seems to be more of a repeat of their same bad behavior, rather than any progressive improvements. Another road stop for Alice and Tommy, in between Phoenix and Tucson, would have been a good opportunity to show Alice having a little bit of success with a man and Tommy, to show that she is learning from her mistakes.—T.B. Hayes