After her husband dies, Alice (Ellen Burstyn) and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make it as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner. She intends to stay in Arizona just long enough to make the money needed to head back out on the road, but her plans change when she begins to fall for a rancher named David (Kris Kristofferson).
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year - was Marcia Lucas's first sole editing credit on a feature. Remembers Lucas: "Marty called, and asked if I would do his first studio feature. He was terrified of the studio executives, that Warners was going to give him some old fuddy-duddy editor or a spy--the studios were known for having spies on such projects. Marty liked to edit, and I felt like I was being hired to cut a movie so I wouldn't cut it, so I'd let the director cut it. But I thought, if I'm ever going to get any real credit, I'm going to have to cut a movie for somebody besides George."
Scorsese was so impressed with Lucas's work that he insisted she cut his next film - 1976's Taxi Driver. Lucas would receive a BAFTA nomination for her work on the film and a year later would receive an Academy Award for her groundbreaking editing on Star Wars.
