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Submitted by Steve

This movie is the basis for the television show Alice.

POOPER
Alice and David make up in front of the entire cafe.  Tommy finally accepts that his mother loves David and is now okay with not going to Monterey.

LONG VERSION
Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn) is a housewife living with her abusive husband Don, whom she tolerates, and her precocious 11-year-old son Tommy, in Socorro, New Mexico.  Don is killed in an auto accident, and his funeral eats up their entire life savings.  With nothing keeping her in Socorro, Alice decides to go back to her hometown of Monterey, California, and resume her singing career that she gave up when she got married.  After selling nearly everything in an estate sale, Alice and Tommy pack up the station wagon and begin the long drive to Monterey.  Unfortunately, by the time they reach Phoenix, Arizona, Alice realizes they don’t have enough money to get to Monterey.  They get a hotel room with what little money they have left, and Alice quickly finds a job at a piano bar as a singer.  While Alice works, Tommy is stuck in the hotel room all day, and constantly complains that he wants to leave, but Alice tells him this is only going to be for a few weeks, until they can get enough money to get to Monterey.  However, shortly after starting her new job, she meets the charming Ben (Harvey Keitel), and they soon begin a romance.

The romance is going well, and Alice begins to think about staying in Phoenix to be with Ben, until Ben’s wife shows up at the hotel.  Ben then shows up, and begins to beat up his wife and throws her out of the room.  He then threatens Alice, and after he leaves to take his wife back home, Alice and Tommy quickly pack up their few belongings and leave town.  They travel to Tucson, and once again they get a hotel room while Alice looks for another singing job.  However, she can only find a waitressing job at Mel and Ruby’s Cafe, a greasy spoon diner run by short order cook Mel (Vic Tayback).  Her co-workers are the foul-mouthed Flo (Diane Ladd) and the neurotic Vera (Valerie Curtin).  At first, Alice is offended by Flo and doesn’t like her, but after a while she begins to find her outbursts funny and they soon strike up a friendship.  Alice also meets local rancher and divorcee David (Kris Kristofferson), and soon after they begin a romance.  After he is introduced to David, Tommy begins to take a liking him as well, and begins to learn to play the guitar from him.  Later, Tommy befriends Audrey (Jodie Foster), who he meets at the local music shop.

As time goes by, Tommy is continuously asking his mother when they are going to go to Monterey.  But just like with Ben, Alice is now thinking of staying in Tucson to be with David.  This frustrates Tommy, who lashes out while he and Alice are at David’s ranch celebrating his 12th birthday.  Tommy’s insistence of playing rock music at a high volume bothers the country music-loving David, and he spanks Tommy.  He then yells at Alice for raising a bratty son.  This causes Alice to break up with David and they leave.  On the way back to the hotel, Alice and Tommy get into an argument and she kicks him out of the car and drives off.  Hours later, she’s cooled off and begins to panic when she cannot find Tommy.  She later gets a call from the police, who picked up Tommy and Audrey for being drunk on ripple.  Alice apologizes to Tommy for her behavior, and promises they’ll go to Monterey once she has enough money to do so.  Because she is so exhausted, Alice oversleeps the next morning and is late for work.

At the cafe, Alice is struggling and is about to have a meltdown when Flo pulls her into the ladies room.  A crying Alice tells Flo that she has spent her entire life being dependent on men, and that has led to one bad decision after another.  First Don, then Ben, and now David, and it’s affecting her relationship with her son.  Flo tells her that she is also a single mother, and she has problems as well, but she has learned to step up and take care of herself so she can take care of her daughter.  Once Alice is feeling better, she and Flo return to work, only to see David sitting at the counter.  In front of all of the customers, as well as Flo, Mel, and Vera, Alice and David hash out their differences and make up, culminating with the entire cafe applauding them.  The movie ends later that day with Alice talking to Tommy, who finally accepts that his mother is in love with David and wants to stay in Tucson with him, and he is now okay with not going to Monterey.