Scent of a Woman (1992)

A prep school student needing money agrees to "babysit" a blind man, but the job is not at all what he anticipated.

Director:

Martin Brest

Writers:

Giovanni Arpino (novel), Bo Goldman (screenplay)

Stars:

Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Al Pacino	...	Lt. Col. Frank Slade
Chris O'Donnell	...	Charlie Simms
James Rebhorn	...	Mr. Trask
Gabrielle Anwar	...	Donna
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	George Willis, Jr. (as Philip S. Hoffman)
Richard Venture	...	W.R. Slade
Bradley Whitford	...	Randy
Rochelle Oliver	...	Gretchen
Margaret Eginton	...	Gail
Tom Riis Farrell	...	Garry
Nicholas Sadler	...	Harry Havemeyer
Todd Louiso	...	Trent Potter
Matt Smith	...	Jimmy Jameson
Gene Canfield	...	Manny
Frances Conroy	...	Christine Downes

Storyline

Frank is a retired Lt. Col. in the US Army. He's blind and impossible to get along with. Charlie is at school and is looking forward to going to university; to help pay for a trip home for Christmas, he agrees to look after Frank over Thanksgiving. Frank's niece says this will be easy money, but she didn't reckon on Frank spending his Thanksgiving in New York.

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Plot Keywords:

blind character | private school | tango | philogyny | loss of eyesight | 

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Taglines:

Col. Frank Slade has a very special plan for the weekend. It involves travel, women, good food, fine wine, the tango, chauffeured limousines and a loaded forty-five. And he's bringing Charlie along for the ride.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

As a guest on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) (Oct. 2, 2006), Al Pacino recounted to host James Lipton how he'd had an embarrassing moment in a crowded elevator after winning his first Oscar. Unbeknownst to Pacino was that the head of his statuette was poking a well-known actress in her posterior. When she turned around, Pacino quickly explained that his Oscar, not he, was to blame for her discomfort.

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Goofs

In the scene where Slade is threatening to commit suicide, he has tears coming out of his left eye and not his right. When the camera breaks away and then returns, the tears are flowing down his right cheek and not his left.

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Quotes

[Charlie refused to come clean with the names of the students responsible for the prank; Mr. Trask is furious]
Mr. Trask: [furious] I am left with no real witness. Mr. Willis's testimony is not only vague, it is unsubstantiated. The substance I was looking for, Mr. Simms, was to come from you.
Charlie Simms: [remorseful] I'm sorry.
Mr. Trask: I'm sorry too, Mr. Simms, because you know what I am going to do. In as much as I can't punish Mr. Havemeyer, Mr. Potter, or Mr. Jameson, and I won't punish Mr. Willis. He's the only party to this...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

The heavily edited network TV version was disowned by director Martin Brest, and credits "Allen Smithee" as director.

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Connections

Referenced in American Dad!: Less Money, Mo' Problems (2012)

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Soundtracks

Evangeline
Written by Robbie Robertson
Performed by Emmylou Harris

User Reviews

The two best syllables in the world are...hoo-ha!

Movies often have lines that become part of our culture. The line from this one is hoo-ha! I don't know why for sure Pacino says that. He does though and it's great. Whenever I ask anyone about this movie, those who have seen it 99% of the time answer with a hearty hoo-ha!

As for the performances: Pacino, I dare say, gave his best performance ever. It was also the riskiest. We're not supposed to like him, but we do. We can tell he doesn't think that Charlie is a moron. We can tell that he likes him in fact as a son. It strikes us as sad though. We can sense that this man has always been lonely. But then he lost his sight because of his mere stupidity and fondness for booze. He became even more lonely and sarcastic. Mean in fact, but funny. I was laughing my $ss off when he drove the Fararri, yelling hoo-ha! at every turn. Charlie has what Slade attempted to achieve his whole life: integrity. As he says, Slade did stuff just to do stuff. Charlie does it because he means it. Chris O'Donnell, as Charlie Simms, is good. Albeit a bit understated. As I said before, Pacino is masterful. The actor who played the rich boy George is funny too.

When I first saw this, I thought the ending ruined it. It seems a bit trite and cliche ridden, but the final speech is good. Brilliant, in fact. Pacino's character comes to his own realizations and ultimately his climax in the speech. Brilliantly acted by Pacino, I may add. He takes several stupid lines in the speech and makes them forceful.

This is a good movie. Great really. It ranks on my top 10 of all time. Number 1 being Saving Private Ryan. If you want to see what Academy voters are swayed by, see Unforgiven. If you want to see a masterful movie that contains one of what I consider to be the best performance by an actor ever(the real best being Charles Sheen in Major League 2)see Scent of a Woman. The script does have its errors. The time duration is often unclear. Slade tells Charlie that his gun is not a gun, but a weapon or a piece. Seconds later, Charlie asks for it and Slade refers to it as his gun. Just little stuff like that are the reasons why the Academy didn't give it their vote. I don't care about that though. See it. Remember, the two best syllables in the world are....oh wait. I can't print that. If you've seen the movie, you get the joke.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 January 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Scent of a Woman

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$31,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$357,468, 27 December 1992

Gross USA:

$63,095,253

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$134,095,253

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, City Light Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

156 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1