Scent of a Woman is a 1992 film which tells the story of a preparatory school student who takes a job as an assistant to an irascible, blind, medically retired Army officer. It stars Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn, Gabrielle Anwar, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is a remake of a movie made by Dino Risi in 1974, Profumo di donna, in which Vittorio Gassman played one of his best known roles.
The movie was adapted by Bo Goldman from the novel Il buio e il miele (Italian: Darkness and Honey) by Giovanni Arpino and from the 1974 screenplay for the movie Profumo di donna by Ruggero Maccari and Dino Risi. It was directed by Martin Brest.
It won the Academy Award for Best Actor (Al Pacino) and was nominated for Best Director (lost to Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven), Best Picture (lost to Unforgiven) and Best Adapted Screenplay (lost to Howards End).
The film was also the big winner at the Golden Globe Awards winning three for: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Picture of the Year.
Portions of the movie were filmed on location at the Emma Willard School, an all-girls school in Troy, New York.
Plot summary
Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino), a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family, and who is now blind, alcoholic, eccentric, and impossible to get along with.
Charlie is distracted by a very big problem at school. Three students (and acquaintances of Charlie) have played a prank on the school's headmaster, Trask (James Rebhorn), by placing a balloon filled with plaster and bearing a profane image above Trask's new Jaguar, which was presented to him by the school's board of trustees. Trask then pops the balloon, causing the contents to rain down on him and his car in front of the entire school. Only Charlie and another classmate, George Willis, Jr. (Philip Seymour Hoffman) know the identity of the culprits, as they had seen them setting the booby trap the previous night. However, in a private meeting with Trask, both of them refuse to reveal the culprits' names. After threatening both with expulsion, Headmaster Trask tries to bribe Charlie by assuring him admission to Harvard if he names those who committed the prank. Charlie still tells him nothing, but is warned that he must or suffer the consequences for being a "cover-up artist".
When Charlie originally took the job, he was told that he would only have to stay with Colonel Slade at his niece's home and look after him. However, unbeknownst to Charlie, Slade had planned a visit to New York City, enlisting the help of Charlie on the trip after tricking him into missing his flight back. He takes a room at the Waldorf-Astoria. During dinner at the Oak Room (at the Plaza Hotel), he reveals the real purpose for his trip to New York City: to eat at an expensive restaurant, stay at a luxury hotel, visit his big brother, make love to a beautiful woman and then shoot himself in the head. Charlie, of course, is initially skeptical of Slade's suicidal intentions.
They pay a surprise visit to the Colonel's family for Thanksgiving dinner. Charlie learns from Slade's rude nephew, Randy, how Slade lost his sight - by foolishly juggling hand grenades while drunk. Slade's crude behavior at dinner further alienates his brother and other relatives. At one point, Slade throttles Randy when he repeatedly calls Charlie "Chuck", something Charlie had objected to earlier on in the film.
By this point, Charlie has become very loyal to the Colonel. During their Thanksgiving, Charlie is the sole person to stand by the Colonel, and defend him against the Colonel's own family. Charlie's loyalty is not lost on Slade, as Slade offers him advice numerous times and even comes to see him as a true friend.
Later, the blind Colonel tangoes with a girl (Gabrielle Anwar) whose perfume captivates him. He drives a Ferrari with a very nervous Charlie in the passenger seat. Slade tricks Charlie into leaving the hotel room to buy him a cigar, but a suspicious Charlie comes back to find Slade ready to commit suicide with his gun. After a few tense minutes, Charlie is able to stop Slade from killing himself.
Charlie eventually returns to school, where George, despite his previous assurances to the contrary, is about to reveal the names of the students involved in the incident to Trask. Trask conducts a courtroom-like assembly of the student body and the Disciplinary Committee. He questions George, who with the help of his influential father is able to weasel out of the jam by claiming to be only partially certain of the culprits' identity, supposedly he had removed his contact lenses and did not have the time to put them in. He also suggests that Charlie might have had a better view than he did. Charlie refuses to give the students' names, and is about to be expelled when Colonel Slade, who has come to be by his side in his parents' place, delivers a compelling speech on his behalf, revealing that Charlie had been offered a bribe to inform on the other students and that Charlie will not sell anybody out to buy his future. The Colonel further reveals that Charlie's commitment to his own personal integrity and his desire to do what's right no matter what are the true measures of leadership, not "informing on your friends to save yourself". Slade finally wins over the students and the committee. The students who played the prank on Trask are placed on disciplinary probation, George is given no recognition, and Charlie is exonerated.
Slade returns home. No longer bitter, he seems to have a new look on life and a new young friend in Charlie.
Cast
Box office
In the US Scent of a Woman earned $63,095,253; internationally it earned approximately $71,000,000.
See also
External links
