Scent of a Woman

It’s time to talk about one of the greatest films ever made, “Scent of a Woman,” released in 1992, which had the famous, “Hoo-ah!” quote.

The colonel sits alone in his room, drinking and nursing his self-pity. He is a mean, angry, sarcastic person. We get the feeling he has always been lonely, but not as lonely as he is now, when he is stuck inside being blind. He lost his ability to see late in his life, through his own lack of common sense, and now he gets intoxicated and waits for victims. However, a ray of hope arrives because two fugitive threads in his personality: He is a romantic and also has a grudging sense of humor.

The colonel is named Slade but does not like to be called “Sir,” and is played by Al Pacino in one of his best and riskiest performances. This is risky because at first the character is so rough we can’t stand him, and only slowly do we begin to understand how he works and why he isn’t as miserable as he looks.

He definitely looks like a sad, sorry jerk that first day when Charlie goes to housesit for him. Charlie, played by Chris O’Donnell (pre-Schumacher Batman movies, which destroyed his career), is a student at the exclusive local prep school. He’s a scholarship student who originates from the West who doesn’t have money to waste and is happy to have a weekend job, watching over the old guy. Charlie is in a lot of trouble at school. There’s going to be a penalizing hearing on Monday about whose idea was the prank to damage the headmaster’s, played by James Rebhorn, new Jaguar, and Charlie, who knows who it was, doesn’t want to be a snitch. He could get expelled for that.

Roger Ebert said in his review, “Martin Brest's "Scent of a Woman" takes Charlie and the colonel and places them in a combination of two reliable genres. There's the coming-of-age formula, in which an older man teaches a younger one the ropes. It's crossed here with the prep school movie, which from "A Separate Peace" through "If," "Taps," "Dead Poets Society" and "True Colors," has always involved a misfit who learns to stand up for what he believes in.”

The two genres make a good combination in “Scent of a Woman,” maybe because the one thing Charlie needs in school is a role model, and the one thing the colonel has always known how to do is provide one.

The screenplay is by Bo Goldman, who is more interested in the people than the plot.

Charlie thinks the weekend will be spent in the colonel’s depressing little cottage, watching the old guy drink and hearing his insults. The colonel has other ideas – more than Charlie can even begin to guess. He buys them a couple of tickets to New York and says that they are going to party in the big city. Particularly, he wants to instruct this young boy with his ideas about women and how they are the most wonderful beings in all of God’s creation.

Ebert mentions, “The colonel's ideas are not Politically Correct. On the other hand, he is not a sexist animal, either; he has an old-fashioned regard for women, mixed with yearning and fascination, and the respect of a gentleman who has lived his life in the military and never known a woman very well. He almost believes he can inhale a woman's scent and tell you all about her - what color her hair is, or her eyes, and whether she has a merry light in her eyes.”

All of this is done against the backdrop of very serious drinking, which Charlie sees with astonishing alarm. The movie does not make the mistake of making the colonel and the student friends with instant companionship. Charlie stays far away. He is a little scared of the colonel, and very afraid of what might happen to him.

They rent a limousine. They purchase a suite at the Waldorf. They talk. The colonel lectures. Charlie, who distrusts him, answers politely, and remains cautious. The colonel does not notice.

They drink. They go to the hotel ballroom, where Charlie sees a beautiful young woman, played by Gabrielle Anwar, and the Colonel insists her in conversation and talks her into dancing the tango with him. He’s a pretty good dancer. Ebert describes him as, “He is even better as an old smoothie.”

There is something so moving about him. His entire life, he tells to Charlie, he has dreamed of waking up next to a good and beautiful woman. The limo driver takes them to the address of a highly recommended call girl. Charlie waits in the car. The movie could have spoiled everything by going inside with the colonel, but it stays outside with Charlie, and when the colonel comes out again he says very little, but in it we can guess that he regards woman as the undiscovered country of everything good and encouragement, a country he will never live in.

They arrive at a disaster, and Pacino and O’Donnell take on something that is just as powerful as the showdown between Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Man.” It’s the best scene – the real conclusion of the movie, however Charlie’s story still has to find its own conclusion, when they both go back to the prep school. By the end of “Scent of a Woman,” we have come to the usual conclusion of the prep school movie. However, rarely have we been taken there with this much intelligence and skill.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, you are definitely missing out on it. Check it out because it's one of the greatest movies ever made, and another one of my favorite movies. Stay tuned this Friday for the next installment in "Al Pacino Month."