Scent of a Woman"Charlie Simms is a boy from Oregon who attends Baird School a Boys boarding school. Not unlike most of the other boys who come from affluent backgrounds Simms is there on a scholarship. He hangs around with George Willis, who's a daddy's boy, and his friends. Now George's friends decides to pull a little prank on the pompous headmaster. The headmaster learns that Charlie and George know who pulled the prank and they refuse to say who. He gives the Thanksgiving Holiday to think about it. He also tells Charlie that he's recommending him to an Ivy League College. Charlie then goes off to a Thanksgiving job--taking care of retired Colonel Frank Slade who's blind when his family goes to visit some family for Thanksgiving. After they leave Slade tells Charlie that he's taking him to New York for his own Thanksgiving celebration."
4.5 stars
Lt. Colonel Frank Slade: Clear them little bottles off. And when I get off the phone here, call the bell man and tell him I want it wall to wall with John Daniels.
Charlie Simms: Don’t you mean Jack Daniels?
Lt. Colonel Frank Slade: He may be Jack to you son, but when you've known him as long as I have...
This was one of the quotes from the first 30 minutes of this film. Needless to say, after this line I WAS IN. Not only does Lt. Colonel Slade (Al Pacino) appreciate the finer things in life like the decadence of a hotel room at The Plaza or the taste of a freshly cut Montecristo cigar, he shares my infatuation with all the mysteries that are women; the way they move, the way they laugh, and (most important to a blind man) the way they smell.
Now, I realize this is an old movie, but I have really never seen the entire film. Sure, I have caught pieces of it while flipping through the channels on a Sunday afternoon, but that is the television version. A version, apparently, that director Martin Brest has disowned because it suffers from censorship and time editing. That’s why I wanted to watch the unabridged, unadulterated version to see what the fuss was all about. Needless to say, the movie did not disappoint. Everything worked in this movie ranging from the setting (New York, New York) to the writing to the music to the acting. Pacino was superb in his portrayal of a tortured War Hero and was able to evoke scenes of such raw emotion that I found myself going 3-4 minutes without blinking. I do feel that I was slighted a little bit just because I am so late to the party in viewing this film. His exclamation of “Hoo-wah!” and unique speaking style in the movie have been emulated and parodied so many times since the movie was released in 1993 that it almost elicited a comedic reaction for me at several points that should have come across as more dramatic. But I can’t place any blame on him because if I had seen the movie when it actually came out I probably would have had a more appropriate response. Then again, I was only 8.
The only two complaints I have with the film are relatively minor. For about 2 hours of the movie, I thought that Chris O’Donnell was the perfect casting choice for the role of Charlie Simms. His boyish demeanor and glaring insecurities were consistent with that of a small town kid from the wrong side of the tracks trying to assimilate into the world of over-privileged children and their powerful families. But the whole point of the movie is to witness Charlie’s transition from adolescence to manhood. While I think O’Donnell did the best he could, the transition is supposed to be exhibited in the penultimate scene of the movie. Well, Pacino definitely puts forth his all and THEN some in the scene, but O’Donnell just doesn’t dig quite deep enough and it left me wanting. My second complaint is about the nature of the “crime” itself. The final scene has a great message about leadership and integrity, but I felt like the actions of Charlie’s colleagues could have been more sinister and, in turn, produced a more complicated and powerful moral dilemma for him. As it stands, the “crime” is just pouring paint on the car of the Headmaster.
Nevertheless, it is a great film worthy of our time and appreciation, if only for the appearance of Gabrielle Anwar. Honestly, I thought she was going to be in the entire movie based on her billing and the fact that she is the main thing I remembered about the movie before watching the entire version. It turns out she is only on the screen for literally 5 minutes. But, needless to say, she makes the most of them.
Pacino basically personified the term “pimp” when it came to his dealings with women in this movie and I think every guy out there would admit either openly or just to themselves that his swagger is something we all want to have. This personification may best be described in the advice he give his cat when Charlie and he are about to leave the house for New York. “When in doubt . . . fuck.”
This was one of the quotes from the first 30 minutes of this film. Needless to say, after this line I WAS IN. Not only does Lt. Colonel Slade (Al Pacino) appreciate the finer things in life like the decadence of a hotel room at The Plaza or the taste of a freshly cut Montecristo cigar, he shares my infatuation with all the mysteries that are women; the way they move, the way they laugh, and (most important to a blind man) the way they smell.
Now, I realize this is an old movie, but I have really never seen the entire film. Sure, I have caught pieces of it while flipping through the channels on a Sunday afternoon, but that is the television version. A version, apparently, that director Martin Brest has disowned because it suffers from censorship and time editing. That’s why I wanted to watch the unabridged, unadulterated version to see what the fuss was all about. Needless to say, the movie did not disappoint. Everything worked in this movie ranging from the setting (New York, New York) to the writing to the music to the acting. Pacino was superb in his portrayal of a tortured War Hero and was able to evoke scenes of such raw emotion that I found myself going 3-4 minutes without blinking. I do feel that I was slighted a little bit just because I am so late to the party in viewing this film. His exclamation of “Hoo-wah!” and unique speaking style in the movie have been emulated and parodied so many times since the movie was released in 1993 that it almost elicited a comedic reaction for me at several points that should have come across as more dramatic. But I can’t place any blame on him because if I had seen the movie when it actually came out I probably would have had a more appropriate response. Then again, I was only 8.
The only two complaints I have with the film are relatively minor. For about 2 hours of the movie, I thought that Chris O’Donnell was the perfect casting choice for the role of Charlie Simms. His boyish demeanor and glaring insecurities were consistent with that of a small town kid from the wrong side of the tracks trying to assimilate into the world of over-privileged children and their powerful families. But the whole point of the movie is to witness Charlie’s transition from adolescence to manhood. While I think O’Donnell did the best he could, the transition is supposed to be exhibited in the penultimate scene of the movie. Well, Pacino definitely puts forth his all and THEN some in the scene, but O’Donnell just doesn’t dig quite deep enough and it left me wanting. My second complaint is about the nature of the “crime” itself. The final scene has a great message about leadership and integrity, but I felt like the actions of Charlie’s colleagues could have been more sinister and, in turn, produced a more complicated and powerful moral dilemma for him. As it stands, the “crime” is just pouring paint on the car of the Headmaster.
Nevertheless, it is a great film worthy of our time and appreciation, if only for the appearance of Gabrielle Anwar. Honestly, I thought she was going to be in the entire movie based on her billing and the fact that she is the main thing I remembered about the movie before watching the entire version. It turns out she is only on the screen for literally 5 minutes. But, needless to say, she makes the most of them.
Pacino basically personified the term “pimp” when it came to his dealings with women in this movie and I think every guy out there would admit either openly or just to themselves that his swagger is something we all want to have. This personification may best be described in the advice he give his cat when Charlie and he are about to leave the house for New York. “When in doubt . . . fuck.”
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