PIC of the Week – Scarecrow
Article Series by Ray Schillaci
Warner Home Video had a quiet release of a very underrated movie from the ’70s starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino, Scarecrow. Two drifters, Max (Hackman) and Lion (Pacino), with opposite personalties bond as they travel the country both chasing a dream. One wants to meet the kid he never knew with a second chance with the child’s mother and the other has aspirations of opening a car wash, running his own business after being released from prison.
Yes, this is a “road movie.” These kind of movies can be sad, poignant, funny, scary or terrible to sit through. They can also be done on the cheap which makes it appealing to investors if the script is good and even better if the cast is appealing. Scarecrow had everything going for it at the time – Wonderfully realized characters in an engrossing story that was reminiscent of Of Mice and Men and Midnight Cowboy, plus a great cast with a very capable director, Jerry Schatzberg, hot off two impressive ’70s era dramas, Puzzle of a Downfall Child and Panic in Needle Park (also starring Pacino).
But, for all the accolades and awards, Scarecrow was a box office flop. It’s possible that the studio had little faith and maintained a tight budget for P.R. It did not help the film’s chances that the competition was fierce with Papillon, High Plains Drifter, Enter the Dragon, Mean Streets, James Bond in Live and Let Die, and The Exorcist. At the same time there were other meaningful dramas that had far more talk about them: Paper Moon, Serpico, Terrence Malick’s Badlands, The Way We Were, American Graffiti, and The Last Detail. And, let’s not forget the outpour of joy over the multi-Oscar winner The Sting starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. A film like Scarecrow, under the studio fist, didn’t stand a chance.
Over the years, the film has lived on in revival theaters, cable, the home video market and thru streaming. The audience for the film has also grown with time as well. Fans have discovered a deep appreciation of the character study with the carefully laid out melancholy theme. And, viewers marvel at the talents of Hackman and Pacino that play the Everymen. They make the movie mesmerizing the moment it starts with the two finding themselves on opposites sides of a deserted long road in the middle of the day, an immediate metaphor of the personalities of these two vagabonds in the ’70s. Max has been released from prison and has anger/control issues along with claiming he’s the meanest bad ass anybody will ever meet. But, the man has had the time to lay out specific goals to be a business owner of a car wash.
After spending a little time on the road with Lion, Max decides he wants to make him a partner. Now, Lion seems nothing like management material. He’s carefree, silly and he has a heart of gold. He’s everything Max isn’t. But, Lion has the ability to make Max laugh, and Max sees in him a sincerity that he might not have ever encountered before. So, the two traverse the roads to their destinations and their future.
There will be jobs that they put up with for money for their journey. And, the two, being who they are, cannot help but get themselves in fun and serious trouble. We get sucked into the lives Hackman and Pacino create with the script by Gary Michael White. Scarecrow is a human story. A sincere tale of humanity that gets to the heart of men’s psyche. It will make you all the better to give it a view.
One does not need to try hard to make this disc look good with the cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate). This lush looking 1080p beautifully plays to the proper tone of the film itself – warm and earthy. The print is clean. No marks or scratches and just the right amount of grain for a film of the ’70s.
Don’t expect much in the sound department. Warner Brothers obviously did not want to shuck any money out for a nice stereo experience. Instead, you get a clean sounding DTS-HD Master Audio mono track. But, surprisingly the sound does have its subtleties with whistling wind blowing through tumble weeds. The big plus here, no loss of dialogue. That part is crisp and clear. Although, it does seem to have some noise distortion during some background music. That could be the age of the music itself.
Some of these studios never cease to amaze me with the way they will just defecate on one of their own if the marketing is not predictable. Thus is the case with this wonderful film. WB has granted us with special features all of 7 minutes long. That includes the trailer!
As I said before, Scarecrow never had a chance during its theatrical run. Sadly, it was buried for awhile. Then rediscovered by film lovers and now available for rent or purchase.
Rental available – $1.99 at Prime Video, AppleTV and Google Play – $2.99 at Fandango Now – $3.99 at VUDU
Lowest Price – $17.99 Amazon and Best Buy
Visit Ray’s blog at themonsterinmyhead.com
