This 1974 character study stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow with a young son, with dreams of being a singer and the reality of working in a down-home local diner. Diane Ladd plays a sassy waitress named Flo, Vic Tayback plays the diner owner named Mel – and if that’s starting to sound a bit familiar, it’s because this movie inspired the long-running CBS sitcom Alice, which starred Linda Lavin in the title role, and featured Polly Holliday as Flo, and Tayback, reprising his movie role, as Mel.