GENE HACKMAN AND AL PACINO TRAPISE THROUGH 'SCARECROW'

Title: SCARECROW Stars: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2

In a roundabout way, independent director Jerry Schatzberg made Al Pacino a star by providing him a zesty role in the low-budget street-addict-drama THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK that inspired Francis Ford Coppola to cast him as Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER... while Gene Hackman had already won an Oscar for THE FRENCH CONNECTION, leading to their combined 1973 offbeat road movie SCARECROW...

Where Hackman and Pacino seem like if Jack Kerouac had written MIDNIGHT COWBOY as the duo are already ON THE ROAD as polar-opposite tall-and-short vagabonds venturing across rural America (from traipsing feet to freight trains) where, serving as the only actual plot-line, Hackman's Max wants to open a gas station while Pacino's Lion has a child somewhere that he yearns to connect with, or something...

Gene Hackman, Ann Wedgeworth, Dorothy Tristan and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Overall, Pacino's character is as enigmatic as Hackman is upfront and in-your-face, a kind of unpredictably incessant brawler to Pacino's more passive tagalong... and their connection relies on what's never actually explained, providing an under-vibe of suspense concerning what could happen next...

While footloose and free, and despite the early 1970's timeframe and colorful clothing, they're not hippies, proven during Max's refusal to be taken very far by a vanful (featuring Rutanya Alda) of the kind of counter-culture dropouts that NEEDLE PARK centered on: instead, these fellas also seem part of a rural Steinbeckian odyssey that needs no destination beyond the sheer desire to keep moving forward...

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

In what's a good film but not a great one, that improves after a tryst with two loose, home-dwelling women when the pair end up imprisoned with initially affable inmate/grooming-wolf Richard Lynch, finally putting Pacino's otherwise jovial, childlike character into a narrowed corner while Hackman's brutal strength finally comes to effective use... before both veer into bickering melodrama that often feels like rehearsals at an intensive actor's workshop...

And yet, following Pacino's groundbreaking THE GODFATHER role and right before Hackman's underrated performance (in the same director) Coppola's THE CONVERSATION, the uncompromisingly unconventual Schatzberg provides two legendary actors a deliberately bleak canvas created more for the characters to fill than their audience to enjoy — so what's ultimately satisfying relies on the avant garde process beyond any mainstream payoff. 

Gene Hackman in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Richard Lynch and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow with Rutanya Alda

Al Pacino in Scarecrow with Rutanya Alda

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow

Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow with Rutanya Alda