Most people are probably familiar with the American remake if only because Al Pacino finally won his Oscar for it but how many people have seen this superior Italian original? "Profumo di Donna" or "Scent of a Woman" was directed by Dino Risi in 1974 with Vittorio Gassman in the role of the blind former soldier being guided around Italy by a young private, (Alessandro Momo, tragically killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after the film was completed).
Whereas Pacino cut the ham fairly thickly in an Oscar-bait performance, Gassman plays the part in a much lower key, (he won the Best Actor prize at Cannes), making his character largely sympathetic and likeable from the get-go. Momo, too, is excellent as the poor lad who would seemingly be rather doing anything else than chaperoning Gassman. It's a slight film with a rather improbable plot, and one that's very different from the American version, but it has a lot of charm and none of the sentimentality you associate with American movies of this ilk.
Whereas Pacino cut the ham fairly thickly in an Oscar-bait performance, Gassman plays the part in a much lower key, (he won the Best Actor prize at Cannes), making his character largely sympathetic and likeable from the get-go. Momo, too, is excellent as the poor lad who would seemingly be rather doing anything else than chaperoning Gassman. It's a slight film with a rather improbable plot, and one that's very different from the American version, but it has a lot of charm and none of the sentimentality you associate with American movies of this ilk.