Release Date: May 30, 1975

Before Mean Streets' release, Scorsese was hired to direct Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, a vehicle for actress Ellen Burstyn. It was his first Hollywood production, and though it's atypical of the kind of movie Scorsese would become known for, Alice showcases the director's skill for capturing the small details in the lives of people facing adversity. Alternating between fantasy and everyday life, this intelligent dramedy found Scorsese making the most overtly feminist film of his career.

Burstyn plays Alice Hyatt, a New Mexico housewife reeling from the death of her husband. She decides to sell her possessions and hit the road, with her young son in tow, to live out her dream of becoming a professional singer. She gets a job at a seedy lounge and finds a boyfriend in Ben (Harvey Keitel), but their relationship shatters when Ben's violent temper emerges. She skips town again, taking a job as a waitress in Phoenix, where she bonds with her coworkers and begins an uncertain but strong romance with a lonely rancher named David (Kris Kristofferson). Burstyn's powerful, risk-taking performance won her an Oscar for Best Actress, and the movie was adapted into a long-running sitcom, but Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore also proved that Scorsese was no one-trick pony; he could put his stamp on more conventional material.