From: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: scent of a woman
Date: 11 Jan 93 22:27:49 EST
Reply-To: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

     Now, in the hands of most other actors, this would be a typical
Hollywood "odd couple learns to trust each other and each is changed
by the experience" movie.  But Pacino turns Slade into a real human
being, able to tell a woman's brand of perfume just by taking a sniff,
and keeping the whole world on its toes when he enters the scene.
He's a world-wise man, able to live by his wits.  He figures out
immediately that Charlie has a dilemma of his own; the advice he
offers is to take what you can, and forget the other people.  That's
the code he's lived by all his life, because the world is a tough
place.
     One of the film's best moments occurs when he and Charlie drop in
on his brother uninvited for Thanksgiving dinner.  Slade walks in the
door and announces his presence with a roar, and his brother sitting
upstairs immediately recognizes his voice with a start; it's obvious
that he's been putting up with Slade all of his life.  When the
Colonel sweeps a shy young girl off her feet at a fancy New York
restaurant, we feel the magic in the air.  He can make things happen -
but because he's blind, he feels useless and wasted.  (The movie
doesn't go out of its way to present Pacino as a blind man; it's done
naturally in a fashion that doesn't force his disability on us.  This
is one of the film's strengths: it doesn't hit us over the head with
the story, until the very end.)
     Chris O'Donnell had his hands full keeping up with Pacino, one of
the greatest actors of our time.  It would have been easy for him to
be overwhelmed by Slade's character, especially since most of the
script calls for him to be quiet and meek.  But he holds his own, as
he sees the Colonel's time rapidly running out.  The old soldier is
becoming distraught and careless about himself, and Charlie knows that
he has to teach him to love life once again.  But because his
character is developed so well, we believe him as he asserts himself
and does what he can to help the Colonel.  Charlie's not as simple as
he looks, and the Colonel's desperate grasps for attention bring out
the best in him, even as he's changing the old man for good.
     But after all this buildup, it's a disappointment when the
movie's climax has Slade giving a cornball speech in Charlie's
defense, trying like so many other movies to capture the magic of MR.
SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON.  After two and a half hours of wonderful
character development, to wrap everything up neatly in typical
Hollywood fashion is nothing less than a cop-out.  Even Pacino
descends into overacting here, and the film ends with your typical
"I've been through a crisis, but now my life is perfect" note that we
get all too often from Hollywood films.  If the rest of the movie
wasn't so good, this would be irritating.
     However, Pacino must have realized what a waste this final scene
is, however, because he caps it off with a one-liner that I won't
reveal, saving the movie from descending into pure kitsch the way A
FEW GOOD MEN did.
     The movie is a full two hours and forty minutes long, though
there are very few moments that don't contribute to the story.  I
certainly wasn't bored, and yet I had the feeling that the story could
have been shortened by as much as an hour.  Brest tried screening
shorter versions of the film to preview audiences, and they were
confused or disappointed with the results, so the movie was released
at full length.  The problem lies with the screenplay's pacing: it's
leisurely paced when it should be rushing forward at breakneck speed.
SCENT OF A WOMAN is an enjoyable exprience, but it could have been a
truly great motion picture if it picked up the tempo in the way
Jonathan Demme's SOMETHING WILD did.
     Depite its length, however, you won't be looking at your watch
when you see this movie.  Brest may be a Hollywood director at heart,
but he cares about his characters, and because he does, we do.  SCENT
OF A WOMAN is a movie you won't regret seeing, thanks to a great
performance by Al Pacino that you'll remember for a long time.
---
  SLMR 2.1a  I'm MAD as HELL and I'm not going to take it anymore!
--
Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA

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