Text/Western Brother
American cinema has an interesting feature, the same is a crime film, the cultural atmosphere of the Northeast is famous for gangster movies, and the western wilderness principle has given birth to the unique Western film in the United States.
The former has classic films such as "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Good Guys", with actors such as Robert De Niro and Al Pacino becoming its representative figures; the latter is represented by John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Kevin Costner, producing countless excellent films. Gangster movies and Westerns are the mainstream of American cinema.
Interestingly, veteran actors in their respective fields seem to be reluctant to set foot in each other's "turf", such as "gangster film professional" Robert De Niro only has one road movie "Midnight Run", which is an alternative continuation of Westerns, which is also related to the West.
Today's brother wants to introduce you to Al Pacino's only western road movie - "Scarecrow", also known as "Wandering Strange Man".
Stills from Scarecrow
Director: Jerry Schatzberg
Writers: Garry Michael White
Starring: Jean Hackman / Al Pacino
Release date: 1973
Runtime: 112 minutes
Douban score: 8
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival – The Crown for Best Picture
The famous Al Pacino will not be introduced, the other protagonist of this film, Gene Hackman, is also a veteran Hollywood movie emperor, born in 1930, he is nearly ninety years old this year, and the tall man of 188 makes Al Pacino, who is less than 170 tall, look like a dwarf in front of him.
Jean Hackman's brilliant performance in the classic Western film "The Male and Female Thief" led to his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and then won the Oscar for Best Actor for "French Drug Network", and he played the fierce sheriff "Bill Jr." in "Unforgivable", for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2003.
Gene Hackman
The tall max (Gene Hackman), who served six years in California's infamous "St. Quentin" prison, has a grumpy personality that likes to solve problems with his fists and does not agree with a word, typical of the American maniac.
Lane (Al Pacino) is a sailor who has just disembarked from the ship, he is optimistic and humorous, with a beautiful vision for the future, when he was young, in order to pursue free choice to wander, abandoned his pregnant wife Anne, five years later, he wanted to visit a child he had never met with a gift.
The film opens with a scene where the two meet.
On the california country road, Max, who had just been released from prison, was embarrassed by climbing over the barbed wire, and the tramp Lane hid behind a tree to secretly observe.
Ryan stepped forward and almost, the irritable Max was reluctant to take care of the little man, Ryan was not discouraged, through funny fun and great dedication, Max finally agreed to go with Ryan.
Learn to gorillas
Light a cigarette
We noticed that in the fast food restaurant, the two people constantly poured sugar and milk into the coffee, and smoked a lot of napkins, which showed the style and habits of the american people at the bottom.
Max mentioned his entrepreneurial plans to open a car wash in Pittsburgh, where he had nine years of savings in the bank, and invited Ryan to join him, so that he could make money to travel. Ryan agreed to the nice offer and stopped by to see his ex-wife and children.
During the conversation, Max said to Ryan: "I don't like anyone, I don't trust anyone, I just want you to be sincere, otherwise I'll hurt you." He then bent a spoon to warn Ryan.
Max's upright nature embarrassed Ryan a little, and he said wittily: Don't spoil my gift. The personalities of the two men are somehow complementary.
On the way east, the two are kicked out while working at a restaurant, Ryan is splashed with dirty water by the kitchen, and Max is furious and punches through the back door of the restaurant to avenge his friend.
After this incident, Max said that he would not go to work again, and his temper was not suitable, so he chose to open a car wash shop to start a business. He also mentions to Ryan that his first bankruptcy was because of a fight.
In the face of his friend's grumpy style, Ryan advised Max: If you want to fight, fight with me, don't fight with others, it will make people see jokes.
Ryan tells the story about the Scarecrow:
Do you think the crow is afraid of the Scarecrow? No, in fact the crow was laughing at it. The farmer made a scarecrow, put a funny hat on it, the crow will peck at it after seeing it, in fact, the crow is not afraid at all, the crow will say happily: The farmer's gift to us is too good, this guy can make us happy, let's not bother him.
The implication is that when you fight, you are like a scarecrow made up by a farmer, thinking that others will fear your violence, but in fact they will laugh at you and make fun of you in their hearts.
Along the way, Max often loses his temper with Ryan, who is cynical about the world's deterioration, complains about the long-term failure of his plans to be realized, and angry at Ryan's cowardice, which Ryan always tolerates the stinky temper of his friends.
The two hitchhiked, pickpocketed trains, stayed in bridge holes, and worked as temporary workers—Max stopped working, Ryan did it alone—and finally arrived at max's sister, Klee' house.
Claire was excited to see her brother, whom she hadn't seen in years, and warmly welcomed him. She suggested to Max that she didn't have to go to Pittsburgh, but also to open a car wash in Detroit.
Max was angry when he heard this, he thought it was his plan, should not be changed at will, no one can stop him from completing. This shows the stubbornness in Max's personality and the determination to accomplish his goals.
The day before leaving, several people come to the bar to party, Max is sent to jail again for a fight, and Ryan is implicated, but Max blames everything on Ryan and says that he never wants to see Ryan again.
Although Ryan reassured him that thirty days would soon pass, Max still refused to speak to Ryan.
A "zealous" cellmate took him away in the name of assigning him a job and almost sexually assaulted him, but Lane resisted and escaped.
Max is furious when he sees Ryan covered in blood, and his dissatisfaction with his friend immediately dissipates, and in order to avenge his friend, he breaks the prisoner's face in the pigsty.
The worst "godfather"
Although the two reconcile as before, Ryan becomes taciturn after this incident, and Max is heartbroken by this, and in order to amuse his friends, he does not hesitate to strip and dance in the bar.
This was completely unimaginable in the past, and if others dared to look at him more, he would break the nose of others, let alone play ugly in public.
Max is inexplicably upset about Ryan's going to see his ex-wife, and in order to avoid more trouble, he suggests that the two go directly to Pittsburgh and mail the gifts over, and Ryan insists on seeing his children, which foreshadows his tragic end.
The two arrive at his ex-wife's door, but Ryan, who has always been optimistic and lively, does not dare to knock on the door, so he decides to call home first, and Max carefully teaches him how to explain the past wrongly to his ex-wife.
As soon as he heard his ex-wife's voice, Ryan got up and didn't know how to open his mouth.
Anne is surprised by Ryan's phone call, she should have married someone else, and she has a grudge against Ryan's runaway from home, and in order to get revenge on Ryan, she lies on the phone that the child has died.
And the little boy on the floor looked almost exactly like Ryan.
When Ryan heard that his child had been struck by lightning after his death, this optimistic, humorous and kind man completely collapsed, and he went crazy.
Meng Wa's eyebrows are very similar to those of al Pacino in her youth
Notice how Al Pacino expresses despair through the look in his eyes
Ryan begins to talk gibberish, excitedly telling Max, who can't tell the truth, that his own child is a boy.
He ran into the street in a frenzy, carried someone else's child into the water, and was finally taken to the hospital.
Max learns from the doctor that Ryan is seriously ill with mental illness, and that his encounter with his friend is both painful and desperate, and he understands that it was all caused by the phone call.
He decided to fly to Pittsburgh and withdraw all his savings— $26,000 — to treat Lane.
"I wouldn't have opened a car wash shop without Coming."
The film ends with Max taking money from his shoe, just as he begins with the film's awkwardness.
Max and Ryan both have their own goals, when the friend encounters misfortune, Max is willing to give up his years of planning to help him get through the difficulties, from this rough guy we can feel the preciousness of the friendship of the people at the bottom.
Discarded gifts
The title of the movie is "Scarecrow", in fact, everyone is a scarecrow in life, they are in all walks of life, they are in all walks of life, they hope that they can get the respect of others, in order to cope with danger, they wear funny clothes and hats to protect themselves, but when the wind and rain come, the Scarecrow can only stand there helplessly to bear the blow, anyone can bully him.
Just as Max suffered the misfortune of losing his friend and the shelving of his plan to open a store, he could not change anything even if he could fight anymore. Life always knocks you down in areas you're not good at.
As a cheerful and optimistic person, Ryan can face it strongly after being beaten and insulted, but he is driven to madness by a malicious lie of his ex-wife, which is the sadness of the scarecrow.