MOVIE OF THE WEEK #1

You think you've seen them all and then 'Scarecrow' (1973) comes along and knocks you off your smug, faux cineaste perch.

I have to thank the actor Cillian Murphy for this recommendation even though I'm still refusing to watch his performance in 'Oppenheimer' (2023) due to my phobia of Christopher Nolan movies which I previously wrote about in my essay analysis of the director 'I Am Become Dull' (20th July 23). Nevertheless, the actor's championing of this criminally lesser-known film is worthy of praise for spreading the gospel about what I believe is a genuinely miraculous little gem from that classic 1970s era of filmmaking.

'Of Mice And Men!'

'Samuel Beckett!'  

'Harold Pinter'

'I can also see a Marx Bros influence in this.'

Myself and a close friend, both 'Scarecrow' virgins were shouting out references at the screen as we watched Schatzberg's movie at his place (not Schatzberg's place) on Monday night. We were like two restaurant critics trying to identify and break down the chief components of an exceptional meal that had been expertly cooked for us and yet still finding more flavours to consider with each new scene.

'The Odyssey!'

'Wizard Of Oz!'

Eventually, we piped down and stopped throwing references at each other to see who could most accurately compare the film to something we'd seen before. We'd finally been defeated by the film's freewheeling originality. Admiring the ad hoc nature of the movie that has a strangely satisfying cohesion to it regardless of its shaggy dog appearance, the most compelling thing about the whole thing is the ingenious casting of Gene Hackman as Max - a man with a dream to start up a car wash in Pittsburgh and Al Pacino as Lionel, a former sailor who wants to see the child he's never met in Detroit. This unlikely pair travel from California to their respective destinations in the hope of achieving both their goals eventually planning to go into business together though just like all good plans they're clearly vulnerable to ruin.

Without spoiling the story, all I will say is that there is a bold and decisive shift of tone just over halfway through the movie that in lesser hands would be almost unrecoverable. But such is the unwavering confidence of the director's assured vision and the actors' incredible character work that it all comes together in a devastating and brilliant fashion. Pacino does some of his best work ever on-screen (including one scene where he uses the full expression of his eyes that seemed a direct precursor to a famous scene from Godfather 2 (1974)) and shows a complete range of his talents from the comic (echoes of 'La Strada') to the tragic ('echoes of 'From Here To Eternity').

As for Hackman, well, he just gives possibly his most Hackman performance ever. It's a thing of beauty.

Sated from our first watch of 'Scarecrow', my friend and I have since become fanatical zealots of the film, insisting everyone close to us see the thing just so we can indulge in some cultural ownerism of our own. ^^

After all, who doesn't like to get a piece of someone else's pie?

You're all welcome! ;-)