Copyright 1973 Warner Brothers Pictures
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Since Doctor Who has been on hiatus for the summer after their mid season break, we’ve been watching the spin-off series Torchwood to bridge the gap. With the new job, it’s a bit difficult to watch features in addition to a series, so I’m going to pull a little known film that I am very fond of from the back log to review: Scarecrow.
It’s been a few years since I’ve seen this film, so I’m not sure how hard the film is to find these days. However, about 10 years ago when I first viewed this movie, it was almost impossible to locate. In one of my cinema history books I saw a picture from the film with a young Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. Being a huge fan of both of these incredible actors, I was immediately interested in finding a copy of this film. This was before Netflix, so I had to make the rounds to all the local video stores; none of the stores had the film. Months went on with no success until I came to a Movie Gallery a few towns away. This was around the time that VHS was being fully phased out to DVDs, so they were having a huge sale on VHS movies. The store literally had hundreds of movies for sale for about $3 a piece. I bought properly 500 movies that summer that were hard to find, rare or foreign, of course all VHS, but still it was some way to view these films at the time. Deep within the droves of cassette stacks, I found a lone copy of Scarecrow. I still have it in my collection today and feel it is one of the most underrated films of the 1970s.
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg, Hackman plays an ex-convict named Max Milian and Al Pacino plays Francis Lionel “Lion” Delbuchi, an ex-sailor. They meet on a path in California near the beginning of the film and form a partnership as friends, with plans to go into business together when they get to Pittsburgh. Hackman’s character has a plan to open a car wash which he is sure will be a success. Francis agrees to be his partner in business, but first wants to stop by Detroit and make well with his wife, Annie, and the child he left behind and never saw. Essentially, the film is a road movie between these two opposite personalities and their weird friendship that develops in their travels from California to Pittsburgh. Max is quick tempered and aggressive in many situations; whereas, Francis is calm, conservative and child-like. Along the way, they visit several different places, get put in a work camp for awhile and go through both personal injury and triumph.
What really works with this film is the true-to-life dichotomy between the characters of Max and Francis’s relationship. They are complete opposites, but in some strange way need each other to survive. They learn from the other and find the only support they have ever known in life in their friendship. The story is shot in a gritty, realist nature which only adds to the believability of the characters and their complex relationship. Needless to say, Pacino and Hackman are absolutely brilliant in this film. It was at the height of both of their professional abilities and the casting choices for their respective roles couldn’t have been better.
The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973 and has been generally well-regarded by critics since it came out. In looking on Netflix, it seems this film is still hard to locate all these years later. However, if you can find a copy, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with this 1970s gem.
notesonafilm 