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Good start, but then it gets ruined

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Max, an ex-con drifter with a penchant for brawling is amused by Lion, a homeless ex-sailor, and they partner up as they head east together. Scarecrow is one of those films that was overlooked by both critics and audiences back in the 70's and stars Gene Hackman and Al Pacino as 2 men who go on a trip and have a dream to open a Car Wash together of course both men are excellent and they both have 2 amazing scenes where they shine first Hackman's sort of "striptease" and Pacino's speech with the kids are the best moments from the film there's also a pretty shocking sequence in the Jail with Pacino. The film of course does have it's flaws for example it does drag sometimes like the scenes in the house with the girls and the ending cuts a bit fast but the 2 men are incredible and they have amazing chemistry together and unfortunately the movie was highly overlooked by everyone and it's definitely on Pacino's best alongside The Godfather Trilogy, Serpico, Scarface, Carlito's Way and Heat and the same goes for some of Hackman's most iconic films such as Superman, Superman II, Behind Enemy Lines and Mississippi Burning. (8/10)

This is an interesting character study of two drifters who meet up at the beginning of the film and then travel across the American countryside in search of adventure. Gene Hackman and Al Pacino give truly standout performances as the leading characters. It takes actors and not stars to give the drifter characters some depth. This is no glamorous kind of film either, no punches are pulled with regards to some of the dangers that Hackman and Pacino encounter as they thumb their way from one small town to another.A film that deserves more recognition.

In the opening scene of "Scarecrow," the character Max (Gene Hackman) has just been released from a six-year prison term and is walking down a hill carrying his suitcase. He then seeks to negotiate a small, barbed-wire fence, but gets enmeshed in the wire and tears his clothes. He then fails to observe a small incline ahead of him and tumbles down the hill on his ass. To add further humiliation, the entire act was observed by another hobo named Francis (or Lionel), as played by Al Pacino. Max prides himself on carefully planning everything out in advance. But he is caught in the lie in the earliest moments in the film.Hackman and Pacino create two unforgettable characters in this oddly matched pair of drifters. While both Max and Lion are running from their past, the film does not dwell on the past or even the future in their shared pipe dream of starting a car wash operation in Pittsburgh. Rather, the focus is on their present adventures, or encounters.Hackman is clearly infusing the character Max with his personal life story of a streetbrawler. At any given moment, his temper can flare and his smiling demeanor can turn on a dime. Pacino's character Lion is similarly on the edge with a disturbing proclivity to act out dramatic moments as a mask for his guilt at abandoning a woman whom he impregnated."Scarecrow" is successful in finding the right balance between the humor and the seething realities of the characters that lie beneath the surface. Nearly all of the small roles in the film are memorable, as the characters who come into contact with Max and Lion sense the danger under the congenial surface of the characters.When "Scarecrow" was released in 1973, film critic Roger Ebert wrote a mediocre review, criticizing the screenplay and the film aesthetics. But those very values are what are so striking today with the decline of quality and risk-taking in films. For this reason, it is difficult to find any "road picture" in the past half century that rises to the level of "Scarecrow."

I only recently got a chance to see Scarecrow, a film I knew very little about and I was intrigued with the casting of Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. There is a Wizard of Oz motif about this film, hence the title of the film Scarecrow.This is essentially a road film with two damaged characters that encounter each other on the road whilst they seek a destination but not sure how to get there.Hackman (Max) is an ex-convict with a short temper who wants to go to Pittsburgh and open a car wash. Pacino (Lionel) an ex-sailor who abandoned his pregnant girlfriend to go the high seas but did send money back regularly for his child whom he has never met. He also is rather childlike himself, naive and trusting. Whilst Max uses his temper and physical presence to keep people at his distance and if the occasion demands it, to get his way, Lion uses humour and slapstick.For a 1970s road film you might expect this to be grim and grey but it has gorgeous cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond, in many senses that lighting makes the film rather ahead of its time with its vibrant yellow and brown hues.Max and Lion strike an unlikely friendship Max wants Lionel for his partner in business and along the way Max mellows somewhat.Both actors play fully formed characters with Pacino getting the chance to shine with the more playful side of Lion. You do get to care about these people, they have lived rough lives but they are not bad, nasty people but just trying to make their way in the world and have modest dreams and ambitions and you really hope they go on to do well.It is a series of vignettes as they encounter other characters and ladies who they make out with although it seems Hackman is the ladies man in this film and not Pacino. There is a stint in jail where Lion's vulnerabilities are exposed but the film although keeps good pace rather starts to lose steam towards the end until Lion contacts his ex- girlfriend and she gives him a metaphorical punch in the gut.