March 2, 1990 -- ``Driving Miss Daisy'' is the first film I have seen this year which was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that I thought deserved that honor. ``Born on the Fourth of July'' certainly didn't deserve it even though I thought Tom Cruise richly deserves his nomination as best actor for his performance in the film.

``Driving Miss Daisy'' is a finely-crafted film about the long-term relationship which develops between Jessica Tandy, a rich widow, and Morgan Freeman, her chauffeur. The two lead performances are marvelous and the music, photography and editing are all first-rate. This low-key film sustains the viewer's interest throughout with compelling human drama.

This is a very rare film. It resorts to no cheap melodramatic tricks and it pulls no punches. Dan Aykroyd has a nice supporting role, for which received an Oscar nomination, as Tandy's son.

This film is in the best tradition of Hollywood, a warm and honest film, well-written and directed with a lot of style and flair. It is not quite the real world, with Freeman's character being almost saintly, and there is an unnecessary bit thrown in the story about the bombing of a Jewish temple, but other than that the tone of the story was dead on target.

This is a fine film. On a scale of one to 10 it rates an eight.