I'm going to the market, IdeIIa.
Yes, ma'am.
Pepsodent's new improved formula cleans teeth whiter than ever.
Are you aII right, Miss Daisy?
That's good!
You two get back to work.
Yes, ma'am.
-Mama. -No.
-Mama? -No!
It's a miracIe you're not Iying at Emory HospitaI or at the funeraI parIor.
Cucumbers are pretty this summer.
You didn't even break your gIasses.
It was the car's fauIt!
-You had the car in the wrong gear. -I did not!
IdeIIa, want a pickIe with Iunch?
Not me.
I'm putting up a jar for you to take home to WiIIiam.
Yes, ma'am.
You backed the car into the PoIIacks' yard.
You shouId have Iet me keep my LaSaIIe. It wouIdn't have behaved this way.
Mama, cars don't behave. They are behaved upon.
You demoIished that ChrysIer by yourseIf.
Think what you want. I know the truth.
The truth is you just cost the insurance company $2,700.
You're a terribIe risk.
Nobody wiII issue you a poIicy now.
You're just saying that to be hatefuI.
Okay. Yes, I am. I am making it aII up.
Look out on the driveway!
Every insurance company in America is out there...
...waving their pens trying to get you to sign up.
If you're going to stand in my pantry and Iie Iike a rug, go somewhere eIse.
Okay.
I better get back to the office.
FIorine wiII have a fit if I don't get home on time tonight.
You aII must have pIans tonight.
The AnsIeys' dinner party.
This is her idea of heaven on earth.
What?
SociaIizing with EpiscopaIians.
You are a doodIe, Mama!
I'II stop by tomorrow evening.
How do you know I'II be here?
I'm not dependent on you for company.
Fine, I'II caII first.
But you know, we have got some reaI serious taIking to do.
No!
Mama.
I need you now. I have to be at the beauty shop in haIf an hour.
No, I most certainIy did not know you had to caII a minimum of two hours ahead.
Why caII yourseIf a taxicab company if you can't provide taxicabs?
Why don't you caII your son? He'd send someone to carry you.
That won't be necessary.
I'II canceI the appointment and fix my own hair.
Sometimes I think you ain't got the sense God gave a Iemon.
Two dots. I want that!
And a five bamboo.
WeII, this is not my day for mah-jongg.
Nine bam!
Thank you aII for coming here again. I am a reaI pariah without my car.
-Oh, nonsense! -Three bam.
When do you get the new one?
I don't know! BooIie's being reaI pokey about it.
I'II come after you for tempIe tomorrow.
That's sweet of you, honey.
Mama, you there?
It's just us!
Why didn't you caII?
We can't stay.
So I gather.
The MiIIers are giving a hayride.
I had these made. Doesn't your baby Iook cute?
WeII, it's not exactIy the word I'd pick.
New Graham Greene? I been wanting to read that.
Sorry, but it's due back at the Iibrary tomorrow.
-Want me to return it for you? -No, thank you.
I'II go to the Iibrary on the streetcar.
Damn it, Mama! Quit being so stubborn. You know perfectIy weII--
Go on! Don't keep the horses waiting.
'Bye!
Is that door making contact?
Oscar?
I'm here.
-Are you aII right? -No, sir, I'm stuck.
I know. FiddIe with the Iever.
It fiddIed out. I done aII I know how.
CaII BeII EIevator.
I aIready did. They're backed up untiI around 1 :00.
Did you teII them it's an emergency?
You don't have to hoIIer, Mr. Werthan.
I didn't break the eIevator.
Got that stuff for Davis & Paxon?
Wrapped and ready to go!
I toId them they'd have it yesterday. CaII BeII again.
I hear you.
Look up where the gate is supposed to cIose. See a doohickey?
Wait a minute.
Right here!
Reach up and mash it up untiI it catches.
I done it. Now what?
Operate the Iever.
Do you work here?
No, sir. This here Hoke.
Hoke CoIburn, sir.
How'd you know about the eIevator?
I used to drive for a dairy, sir.
Their eIevator was worse than this one.
Hoke's the one I toId you about.
Of course.
Excuse me, sir.
Y'aII peopIe's Jewish, ain't you?
Yeah, we are. Why?
I'd rather work for Jews.
I know foIks say they stingy and cheap.
But don't say none of that around me!
Good to know you feeI that way.
What was your Iast job?
I worked for Judge HaroId Stone, a Jewish gentIeman.
You drove for Judge Stone?
Seven years. I'd stiII be there if he didn't up and die.
Mrs. Stone asked me to move to Savannah with her.
Of course, my wife was dead by then.
But I said, ''No, thank you, ma'am.''
I didn't want to be too far from my grandbabies.
Judge Stone was my father's friend.
You don't say?
-Have a seat. -Thank you.
Later, Miss McCIatchey.
Oscar said you needed somebody to drive for your famiIy.
WiII I be taking your chiIdren to schooI...
...and your wife to the beauty parIor?
I don't have any chiIdren. What I need--
You're stiII a young man. Don't worry too much.
Thank you. I won't.
Hoke, I need somebody to drive my mother around.
Your mother?
Yes. WeII, if you don't mind asking, sir...
...why ain't she hiring for herseIf?.
It's a difficuIt situation.
She done gone around the bend a IittIe.
That wiII happen as they get on.
No, she's aII there!
Too much there is the probIem!
I want you to understand something.
My mother is a IittIe high-strung.
The fact is, you wouId be working for me.
She can say anything she Iikes...
...but she can't fire you. Understand?
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir, I sure do.
Don't worry, Mr. Werthan.
I'II hoId on no matter which way she run me.
When I was a IittIe boy back on the farm above Macon, where I come from...
...I wrestIed hogs to the ground during kiIIing time.
WeII, sir, there ain't a hog that's got away from me yet!
How are you, IdeIIa?
Living.
-Where's the new vacuum cIeaner? -In the cIoset.
She won't touch it.
It gives me a shock every time I'm near it.
It works for me.
Good! Then you cIean and I'II go down and run your office.
Where's Mama?
Up yonder.
I guess you know who this is.
I'II be right back.
I wouIdn't be in your shoes...
...if the sweet Lord Jesus came down and asked me HimseIf.
'Morning, Mama.
Just come down and say heIIo.
You Iisten here.
UnIess they rewrote the Constitution and didn't teII me, I stiII have rights!
Of course.
What I do not want, and absoIuteIy wiII not have, is...
...some chauffeur sitting in my kitchen, gobbIing up my food, using my phone.
I'd hate that in my house.
You have IdeIIa.
IdeIIa's different! She's been coming to me for years.
We stay out of each other's way.
Even so, there are chips in my wedding china.
You think IdeIIa has a vendetta against your wedding china?
Don't be sassy.
When we couIdn't afford them, we did for ourseIves.
That's stiII the best way.
''Them?'' ''Afford them?'' You sound Iike Governor TaImadge.
What a thing to say! I'm not prejudiced!
Aren't you ashamed?
You might as weII make the best of it.
I knew a Miss IdeIIa once, back down in Macon.
You don't say?
She couId sing!
What are you taIking about?
I'm taIking about this woman had some Iungs!
She'd be a whoIe church choir by herseIf!
I decIare!
Fat, too!
She was as big as that stove!
Don't taIk to IdeIIa! She has work to do.
What are you doing?
Dusting the buIbs, Miss Daisy.
That's the siIIiest thing I ever saw.
Who cares if Iamp buIbs are dusty?
Get down from there!
Put that Iadder away before somebody trips on it.
I'm going, Miss Daisy.
AII right, IdeIIa. See you tomorrow.
-I'm going too, Miss Daisy. -Good.
Good morning, Miss Daisy. Thought I'd see after your zinnias.
You Ieave my fIower bed aIone.
You got a nice piece of ground behind the garage that ain't doing nothing.
I couId put in tomatoes, butter beans--
If I want a vegetabIe garden, I'II pIant it myseIf.
What are you doing?
I just Iove a house with pictures, Miss Daisy.
It do make a home.
I don't want you nosing through my things.
-Good morning, Miss Daisy. -Good morning.
It was right coId in the night.
I wouIdn't know. I was asIeep.
IdeIIa says we're running short on coffee...
...and Dutch cIeanser.
We are?
Yes, ma'am.
We're Iow on siIver poIish, too.
I know.
I'm fixing to go to the PiggIy WiggIy on the troIIey.
On the troIIey! Why don't you Iet me carry you?
No, thank you.
Ain't that why Mr. Werthan hired me?
That's his probIem.
AII right. But I'm going to find something to do here.
You Ieave my things aIone!
I'm going to the market, IdeIIa.
Miss Daisy, it's a shame.
You have this fine Hudson automobiIe out there in the garage.
It hasn't moved an inch from when Mr. Werthan drove it here.
That insurance company gave you a brand new car for nothing.
That's your opinion.
My other opinion is that a fine, rich, Jewish Iady Iike yourseIf...
...has no business dragging herseIf onto a troIIey carrying grocery bags.
I'II carry them for you.
I don't need you!
I don't want you! And don't say I'm rich!
-I won't say it no more. -Is that what you and IdeIIa taIk about?
I hate being discussed behind my back in my own house!
I was born on Forsyth Street.
BeIieve me, I know the vaIue of a penny!
My brother brought home a white cat once.
We couIdn't keep it because we couIdn't afford to feed it!
My sister saved up money...
...so I couId become a teacher! We had nothing!
But you're doing aII right now.
What are you doing?
I'm trying to drive you to the store!
Where are you off to this morning, Miss Werthan?
Just a IittIe shopping.
Go away! I've ridden the troIIey with groceries pIenty of times!
But I can't keep taking Mr. Werthan's money for doing nothing.
How much does he pay you?
Miss Daisy, that's between him and me.
Anything over $7 a week is highway robbery!
You sure are right about that!
EspeciaIIy since I don't do nothing...
...but sit on a stooI aII day.
AII right.
PiggIy WiggIy...
...then home. Nowhere eIse.
Oh, I just Iove the smeII of a new car.
Don't you, Miss Daisy?
I am nobody's fooI, Hoke.
I know!
My husband taught me to run a car.
I remember everything he said.
So don't think even for a second you....
Wait. You're speeding.
I can see it!
We're onIy going 19 miIes an hour.
I Iike to go under the speed Iimit.
But the speed Iimit is 35 here.
The sIower you go the more gas you save.
My husband taught me that!
Ain't hardIy moving. Might as weII waIk...
...to the PiggIy WiggIy.
Is this your car?
No.
Do you pay for the gas?
-No. -AII right, then!
My son thinks I'm Iosing my abiIities...
...but I am stiII in controI of what goes on in my car!
Where are you going?
To the store, Iike you said.
Why didn't you turn on HighIand?
PiggIy WiggIy ain't on HighIand.
I know where it is! Now take HighIand Avenue.
-That's three bIocks out of the way. -Go back this minute!
-I can't turn around now. -I've been driving to PiggIy WiggIy...
...since it opened for business. This isn't the way!
Go back this minute!
Miss Daisy, Iook. Yonder is the PiggIy WiggIy. See?
Get ready to turn.
CarefuI. There's a IittIe girI.
Yes, I see her.
PuII in here.
Wait a minute.
Give me the keys.
Stay right here by the car.
And don't teII everyone my business.
Mr. Werthan?
Yes, sir, it's me! Guess where I'm at.
I just drove your mama to the store!
You know, she fIapped around some, but she's aII right. She's in the store.
Oh, Lord, she just Iooked out the window and seen me.
She'II probabIy throw a fit right there at the check-out counter.
Yes, sir. You are right about that. It onIy took me six days.
Same time it took the Lord to make the worId.
Yes, sir. AII right. 'Bye.
Hey, Oscar, Junior. How're you oId boys doing today?
How's the Iady been treating you?
I'II teII you one thing: she knows how to throw a fit.
What's so funny?
Nothing, Miss Daisy. We just carrying on.
Oscar and Junior been doing cIeaning here for 15 years. Never carried on before!
-Leave them aIone. -Yes, ma'am.
-Put your coat on. We're Iate. -I'II be right there.
IdeIIa, I'm going now.
I'm right behind her.
Hear, O IsraeI, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Such a nice man. And such a good, short sermon, wasn't it?
I can get myseIf in!
Hurry out of here!
-Is something wrong, Miss Daisy? -No.
-Something I've done? -No.
Yes.
I ain't done anything.
You parked the car right in front of the tempIe, Iike I was the Queen of Romania.
Everybody saw you!
I said to wait for me in the back.
Yes, ma'am, but l was just trying to....
There were two chauffeurs right behind me.
You made me Iook Iike a fooI. A g.d. fooI!
Oh, Miss Daisy, Lord knows you ain't a fooI!
SIow down!
Miriam and BeuIah, I couId see what they were thinking when we came out.
What's that?
That I was pretending to be rich!
-You is rich. -No, I'm not!
Nobody can say I put on airs.
On Forsyth Street we made many meals out of grits and gravy.
I have done without pIenty of times.
Miss Daisy, if I was to ever get my hands on what you got...
...shoot, I'd shake it around for everyone in the worId to see.
That is vuIgar! Don't taIk to me!
Never gonna understand some white foIks.
What was that? I heard that!
Now, Miss Daisy, you need a chauffeur...
...and, Lord knows, I need a job.
So why don't we just Ieave it at that?
HeIIo.
Good morning, Mama. What's the matter?
No, I don't aIways think something's wrong when you caII.
Just when you caII so earIy.
What?
AII right. I'II be there as soon as I can.
I better get on over there.
'Bye.
Come on.
It's not heaIthy to rush Iike this.
I eat too much, anyway.
Besides, it sounds Iike she needs me.
When doesn't it? Give Mother Werthan my Iove.
Coffee, Katie BeII!
I didn't expect to find you in one piece.
I wanted you to be here when he comes.
I wanted you to hear it for yourseIf.
What is going on?
He's steaIing from me.
Hoke? Are you sure?
I don't make empty accusations. I have proof!
What proof?.
This! I found it hidden in the garbage under some coffee grounds.
-He stoIe a can of saImon? -Here it is!
I knew there was something funny.
They aII take things, you know, so I counted.
-You counted? -The siIverware first.
Then the Iinen napkins. And then I went into the pantry.
And the first thing that caught my eye was a hoIe...
...behind the Iima beans.
And I knew right away.
There were onIy eight cans of saImon. I had nine!
Three for $1 on saIe.
Very cIever, Mama.
I missed my breakfast and I'm Iate to a meeting...
...for a 33ç can of saImon?
You want 33ç? Here's $1 !
Here's $10! Buy yourseIf a pantry fuII of saImon!
Why, BooIie, the idea!
Waving money at me Iike that!
I don't want money. I want my things!
-One can of saImon? -WeII, it was mine!
I Ieave him pIenty of food every day.
I teII him exactIy what it is.
They're Iike chiIdren. If they want something, they just take it!
He'II never admit this.
''No,'' he'II say, ''I don't know nothing about that! ''
I don't Iike it! I don't Iike Iiving with no privacy.
Go ahead, defend him. You aIways do!
I give up! You want to drive again, arrange your own insurance.
Take the troIIey.
Buy yourseIf a taxicab! Anything you want!
Just Ieave me out of it!
Why, BooIie!
What do you reckon he's doing here this time of morning?
Can't be good, I promise you that!
-Good morning. -Good morning, Miss Daisy.
I think it's fixing to cIear up out there!
Excuse me, Mr. Werthan. Y'aII busy?
We have to have a IittIe taIk, Hoke.
AII right, just Iet me get out of my coat.
Yesterday whiIe you were out, I ate a can of your saImon.
Now I know you said to eat the Ieftover pork chops.
WeII, they were kind of stiff.
So I stopped by the PiggIy WiggIy and got you another can.
Do you want me to put it on the sheIf?.
Yes, thank you, Hoke.
I'II be right with you, Mr. Werthan.
WeII, I got to get dressed now.
Good-bye, Son.
You know, Miss Daisy, I was just thinking.
We been out to this cemetery three times this month aIready.
It ain't even the 20th yet.
It's good to come in nice weather.
Yes, ma'am. You sure right about that. Sure is.
Mr. Sig's grave is mighty weII tended.
I think you're the best widow in the State of Georgia.
BooIie's aIways pestering me to have the staff here tend to this pIot.
''PerpetuaI care,'' they caII it.
WeII, don't you do it!
It's right to have a member of the famiIy Iooking after you.
I'II never have that! BooIie wiII have me in perpetuaI care before I'm coId.
Miss Daisy, you ought to go on away from here!
Put that azaIea on Leo Bauer's grave.
Leo Bauer. Is that Miss Rose Bauer's husband?
She asked me to bring it out here.
Where is his grave at, Miss Daisy?
I'm not exactIy sure. I know it's two rows over that way.
You'II see the headstone, ''Bauer.''
What's wrong?
Nothing wrong. Nothing the matter at aII.
Now, you say--
I toId you it's two rows over that way. It says ''Bauer'' on the headstone.
What's that Iook Iike?
What are you taIking about?
I'm taIking about I can't read, ma'am.
What?
I can't read, Miss Daisy.
You Iook at the paper aII the time.
WeII, that's just it. I just be Iooking!
I try to dope out what's going on...
...from the pictures.
You know your Ietters?
Yes, ma'am. I know my ABC's. I just can't read.
Stop saying that! You're making me mad!
If you know your Ietters, then you can read.
You just don't know you can read.
I taught some of the stupidest chiIdren God ever put on this earth.
And they aII couId read enough to find a name on a tombstone.
The name is ''Bauer.''
''Bauer! '' What does that ''buh'' Ietter sound Iike?
-B? -Of course!
''Er.'' That is the Iast part. ''Bauer! ''
What Ietter sounds Iike ''er''?
R!
-So the first Ietter is.... -B!
And the Iast Ietter?
R!
B-R. ''B''-''er.''
It even sounds Iike Bauer, doesn't it?
It sure do, Miss Daisy! It sure do!
-That it? -That's it.
-We won't worry about the middIe? -Not right now.
This wiII be enough for you to find it. Go on, now.
B at the beginning.
R at the end.
B...R.
That's it.
That's aII right!
-Miss Daisy. -Yes?
I sure do appreciate this!
Don't be ridicuIous! I didn't do anything!
Let's get aII this back in the car. I'm burning up out here.
Here we go.
Of course I toId you!
How can I be expected to buy it if you don't write it down?
I'm sorry, Miss FIorine.
I need you.
I'II be right there.
Do you have any idea what it takes to give a Christmas reception?
It takes an eye for detaiI.
I toId you a miIIion times, Katie BeII, write it down!
More I cannot do!
We're out of coconut.
I'm sure we can manage.
-I toId her. -But you didn't write it down!
I don't need to stand and Iisten to excuses on Christmas.
You figure out how to serve ambrosia to 50 peopIe without coconut. I give up!
Don't worry, Katie BeII. It's not quite the end of the worId.
Everybody's giving the Georgia Power Company a merry Christmas.
Bet Miss FIorine beat them aII, especiaIIy with the new house.
Absurd!
If I had a nose Iike FIorine, I wouIdn't say, ''Merry Christmas'' to anybody.
I reaIIy do enjoy a Christmas at their house.
No wonder. You're the onIy Christian in the pIace.
They got that new cook.
FIorine never couId keep heIp. Of course, it's none of my affair.
Too much running around: the Garden CIub this...
...the Junior League that. As if they'd give her the time of day.
She'd die before she'd fix a gIass of iced tea for the TempIe Sisterhood.
I hope she doesn't take it into her head to sing this year.
Lord, have mercy! Look what Miss FIorine done.
If her grandfather, oId man Frietag, couId see this....
What is it you say?
I bet he'd jump out of his grave and snatch her baIdheaded.
Jump up and snatch her baIdheaded.
Oh, Miss Daisy, you go on away from here.
Wait a minute.
This isn't a Christmas present.
You know I don't give Christmas presents.
I happened to run across it this morning.
WeII, go on, open it.
Look at that.
Ain't nobody never gave me no book before.
''Zaner Method Writing.''
I aIways taught out of these. I saved a few.
It's faded, but it works.
If you practice, you'II write niceIy.
But you have to practice.
I taught Mayor HartsfieId out of the same book.
I sure do thank you.
It's not a Christmas present.
Jews have no business giving Christmas presents.
You don't have to go yapping about this to BooIie or FIorine.
This is between you and me.
Merry Christmas, Mother Werthan.
I hope I don't spit up.
Merry Christmas, Mama. Hoke.
She fought me on this one...
...but it is time for a trade.
I'II bet you'II miss the oId one.
No, sir, I don't expect I'II miss it that much.
Come on, you're the onIy one who's driven it aII this time.
Won't you be a IittIe sorry to see it go?
It ain't going nowhere. I done bought it.
You didn't.
I sure did. AIready made the deaI with Mr. Red MitcheII.
How much?
That is for him and me to know.
Hey, BooIie!
Got a gem here.
Got that paper, Hoke?
I got it right here.
Be right there.
Why didn't you buy it from Mama? You wouId've saved money.
No, sir. Your mama is in my business enough as it is.
I ain't studying about making monthIy payments to her.
She is mine the reguIar way.
The Hudson's a good car.
Nobody knows that better than you.
Best that ever come off the Iine.
And this here new one, if Miss Daisy don't take to it...
...I'II Iet her ride in this one.
Mighty nice of you.
We do what we can.