MovieChat Forums > Scent of a Woman (1993) Discussion > what really annoys me about the movie

what really annoys me about the movie

posted 11 years ago by bipbeepboop
60 replies | jump to latest

Those who claim it is a classic or a masterpiece, I just don't get it.

Granted, it is entertaining, but there are so many things that for me disqualifies the movie as a great movie:

1) the scenario is unrealistic. First of all, no way that any school would have made such a public hearing for such an affair, and no way that the students would have been interested in the matter (but the film makes it look like all the students are so passionate about that affair, and when charlie wins, you can even see the students jumping for joy at the exit). Then, the blind man was way out of line and wouldn't have been granted as much speech time as he was, especially considering that he was threatening the school. In real life, it isn't about how loud you speak or how many "f.ck" you can place in a sentence that gives you credibility. Finally, no way the disciplinary comity would have taken a decision on the spot based on how enthusiastic students were towards the colonel's speech. Are we forgetting that there was damage of property and that it is absolutely normal to expect and demand compliance from material witnesses? So what are the principles the school should be built on? that student camaraderie is more important than compliance with the school rules or the law? Whether you agree or not, the discipline comity bears its name well: it is there to apply DISCIPLINE, and that is exactly what it would have done in real life.

2) the characters are stereotyped. Too much emphasis on the fact that the colonel is blind. The scene that made me cringe is when he crossed the street without waiting, and he ends up tripping and falling in a garbage can or something (rolling my eyes). So if he is blind he can't be anything else? I found there was such little finesse in the creation of the characters. So he is blind and he is loud, and rude and annoying (in real life no one could have stood 5 minutes around a man like this). I felt it was acting withing acting. The character itself was playing a role. Didn't feel right to me.

3) the ending is so cliché.

- the man ends up with the woman in the end. They just HAD to give it a complete happy ending. Like 90% of all american movie, the hero DESERVES a woman, so the colonel right after his victorious speech, has to come back home with a woman, or at least with the promise of a woman.

- happy colonel becomes happy grandaddy. So you've been neglecting your grandson and granddaughter all this time, and now you talk about hot chocolate with marshmallows, while your new pal Charlie tenderly watches from afar (yawn).

4) what is the morale, the values of the movie? Be true to yourself (don't you be a snitch against a bunch of ungrateful criminal spoiled brats even if you lose your chance of Harvard!)? life is worth living even if you're a handicap person (Charlie opens up the eyes of the colonel to the beautiful flowers of life, like a blind person can't be happy or find happiness on its own??)?

Im a queen b!tch!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bipbeepboop 11 years ago

Thank you for your opinion.

In response, I will say that I am still not convinced about the status of "classic" this movie was given, for the following reasons:

1- your point about the school being strict makes sense "logically" but not in reality. In reality, the school system does not make disciplinary hearing public-- it's a fact. A reason for this is that a student is entitled to the privacy of his school records, hence whatever disciplinary measures won't be made public, no matter how much the school wants to "teach a lesson by example". Eventually, the students all know what happen, but that is through the concerned student himself. It's actually within the law that personal information will be kept confidential.

2- I never said Slade could not be loved if you get to know him. But during his speech at the disciplinary hearing, people attending don't know him, they've just seen him for the first time and for a first time, the only big impression you get is that the guy is using vulgar language and is a bit too intense. Maybe in movies does such intensity entertain the mass, but if you examine the greatest attorneys, you will notice that they never win a case by raising their voice or using profanity. My experience in a courthouse definitely defines why I think it is absolutely out of touch with reality that any committee would let the man finish his sentence without telling him to respect the decorum. I not only have a problem with the presentation of his speech, but with the content as well. It is inconceivable that a witness to a crime (let's not forget we are talking permanent paint on a very expensive car) should not be compelled to testify. This is why the justice system has invented subpoenas, because most people don't want to get involved or get through the trouble of denouncing what they know or what they have seen. I am not saying it is fair that a student should be punished in lieu of the students who actually committed the crime, but compliance is definitely to be expected.
As for his being blind, I agree it's a huge part of the plot, but I feel like it's overdone. It is simply however my personal perception, as I have a lot of close acquaintances that live with severe handicaps and function very close to normality.

3- You are asking me what I think is wrong with the promise of a woman. Nothing in itself is wrong. But does every single american movie need to have the hero triumphant with a woman by his side? Even if the movie isn't about romance, whenever a hero in an american movie does something good, wins at something, or has succeeded something, then he has to get the woman as well. It's like it goes hand in hand with any type of story. Movies do not need to be close to reality, they are here to entertain. But I think this type of mentality -- the hero gets the woman in the end-- is kind of even dangerous for the public perception of women in general. Women are not prices to be expected if a man succeeds in life. I will refer to the excellent article written by David Wong on that topic (point 5 of: http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-trained-to-hate-women.html)

And yes I went through the entire movie. I guess I forgot the detail about the kids being his nieces' kids. However it wasn't pertinent to my point. He is still living with them, grankids or not. He is still liable to have a certain family relationship with them, which he did not maintain. Now all of a sudden, he loves life, and the birds are chirping, so everybody has to be happy! hot chocolate with marshmallows! however, you can't catch up for lost time in matters of minutes with a child that seemed to dislike you at the beginning of the movie. And this whole overjoy at the end of the movie was almost annoying. Right after the hearing, when Slade and Charlie leave the auditorium, you even see students running outside, jumping with enthusiasm. Slade gets approached by a beautiful woman, then Slade decides he loves his nieces' kids and all ends well that ends well, with Charlie tenderly watching the "touching" scene from afar.

4- I've got nothing against the message. I just didn't think the movie was any different than those hundreds of other movies that are ordinary in the theater each year. I can't see how you can compare this movie to citizen kane.

Im a queen b!tch!

[–] sfrsez 10 years ago

it needed someone else in the role of charlie. yes, i understand it was a flat role and a prudish character, but any1else slightly more lively.

[–] slidell333 7 years ago

I just watched it again and still can't get over how AWFUL O'Donnell is in this. Some people are blaming it on The Director, and maybe for making him so one-dimensional but his actual reading of lines and the looks on his face are so bad it's like he's getting his lines in his ear through a recorder or something...long pauses before he talks back to Slade, etc..I mean nobody is claiming he's a great or even good actor but many posted here saying this was "his best role" and so forth. I know trying to be on par with Pacino is hard but it's bad...literally soap operas have better acting.

[–] neilbus-1 11 years ago

1) Some schools would, if it were serious enough and annoyed one of the big shots. As for not making disciplinary actions public, mine posts a list of offenders in the corridor everyone has to pass to get to class. In the film, the students were required to be there and cheered because Trask was an unpopular bastard whom everyone was glad to see put in his place.

2) By that scene, he was pissed off and incredibly depressed. He handled himself pretty well up till and after that point, even managing to *beep* a cop into thinking he could see. Hardly a stereotype. The blindness is not his defining characteristic; his being a loud, irritating SOB is, although he could be charming as hell and extremely charismatic when he wanted to be.

3) Most films have one. Still, I concede that this is a valid point.

4) The morals, I think, would be to maintain your integrity and stand up even when you've fallen down. Remember that the Colonel wasn't born blind; it wasn't something he'd always had to deal with and get used to. Up until recently, he'd been living a very different life and suddenly had it taken from him - partially through his own stupidity - which is why he felt he could no longer be happy. His lesson was that even after losing everything that he thought was important, he could still enjoy himself.

Regarding Charlie, he didn't sell out because he thought it was wrong from the very beginning, and Trask only made it worse by dangling a Harvard endorsement. It was why he was tempted to snitch, not on whom. He made the decision he thought was right, and that's integrity.

[–] SilasTalbot 10 years ago

On #3 -- the reason this happens is to show that he was healed through the process and is now interested in loving and accepting love from others.

He was a very charismatic man when he wasn't being a complete a-hole and feeling sorry for himself. As soon as he moved on, a world of opportunities opened up to him.

He likely ran into opportunities like this all the time, but he let them pass him by because he wasn't able to handle them.

[–] siobanphotogirl 11 years ago

You make some valid points here....

But it's 'committee', not 'comity'. That would sound more like 'comedy' than 'committee'.

[–] duffifi2 8 years ago

Amusingly, 'comity' actually is a word, even though of course 'committee' was intended. It means "courtesy or considerate behavior", often in a legislative context of one nation acknowledging to another the justice or validity of the other's laws or actions, as a kind of courtesy. (And pronounced very much like 'comedy'.)

[–] beatleguy64-429-364588 11 years ago

I've got a .45 and you got pimples.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JaneSchmo 11 years ago

Totally agree. I know way too much about how most high schools function to enjoy this.

First of all, a real school does everything to KEEP the other kids out of it! If there's an issue with a student, they usually keep the investigation behind closed doors. They don't hold a f'ing PUBLIC TRIAL! They don't have public hearings, as if the students were charged with rape and murder!

As for the whole thing about whether to drag your parents into it or not- the decision would be out of their hands. If the students were minors, the school would most likely call the parents themselves to let them know that their son was on the verge of being expelled. Charlie wouldn't have a choice.

Slade's speech, far from being a crowdpleaser, would be the best possible assurance of Charlie's expulsion. Yeah, telling the school how incredibly lousy they are and cursing out the principal, board and student body and threatening them with bodily injury for several minutes, your amp cranked to 11 is really going to win them over!

Then there's the stunning hypocrisy of how he tells them they can take their school and shove it and THEN begs them to keep Charlie and let him thrive in their environment.

Uh, didn't you just say it was a snake pit? That he should get out of as quickly as he can, if he knows what is best for him?

[–] JaneSchmo 11 years ago

If you stood up on stage and ranted endlessly, the students wouldn't be amused and moved and the committee wouldn't be brought over to your side. They would be shocked and appalled. I can just imagine the long and awkward dead silence.

Also, how exactly is making the kid your unwilling companion on a sex and booze filled escapade supposed to teach him life lessons?! How does that make him a man?!

I don't know about your family but if I were 17 and a gun-toting elderly alcoholic took me on a plane without the permission or knowledge of my parents or school to another state and exposed me to alcohol and prostitution and then threatened me with a loaded firearm, my mother would consider pressing charges. Also, she would think I was molested by my older "friend".

The very fact that he took a minor on a plane might be grounds for getting in trouble with the law. That, all by itself, would cause a scandal in the real world, I would think.

[–] thomas-begen 10 years ago

You sound like a humorless liberal twat with little life experience and who is offended by life itself.

[–] Gus-69 9 years ago

Liberal? His post is the very definition of conservative values. You don't know what you're talking about.

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http://viverdecinema.blogspot.com.br/

[–] Kariann1964 8 years ago

You're absolutely correct, Gus-69. Definitely not Liberal thinking.

[–] The-Animals 7 years ago

They might be shocked. They might laugh nervously.
What he was saying was very passionate and wasn't just a mere rant, it was emotional and would have resignated with the students.

LOL you think Al Pacino Frank Slade was ELDERLY?

How was he "exposed" to alcohol and prostitution? And he was 17.

Why would your mother consider pressing charges and not your father?

[–] hoochiemoochie 11 years ago

good movie but not great. No real message that makes any sense...but the acting saves it from being just okay.

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"Live every week like it's Shark Week."

[–] AbhiMathews 9 years ago

Maybe it's just me but I thought there were a ton of messages. There were numerous times when Charlie could have just said goodbye and gone on to live peacefully and happily. He could've made for himself a cozy future, but he didn't. The sour geezer whom seems hopeless turns around because of the life and integrity he still sees alive in Charlie, and I think their character development speaks volumes on how strongly a person can influence another--for better or worse.

[–] fiveforme 11 years ago

The scene that made me cringe is when he crossed the street without waiting, and he ends up tripping and falling in a garbage can or something (rolling my eyes).

Cringing and rolling your eyes. Perhaps crossing the street without waiting may have been too much for you, but he was suicidal. He couldn't see a car coming towards him but he obviously hoped one would hit him. In reality, tripping over the garbage can was not scripted. It was an accident. Pacino actually tripped and fell.

As far as suddenly enjoying his family is concerned, you're very lucky that you haven't had any experience with people who are suicidal. If they truly change their mind and no longer want to die, usually their entire outlook on life does change. Just as a person who has decided when and how they are going to commit suicide become calm in the weeks - or days - prior to taking their lives, those that decide not to commit suicide realize what they would have missed if they hadn't changed their mind. Instead of only seeing doom and gloom everywhere they look, suddenly things like hot chocolate with marshmallows become like seeing a rainbow at the end of a storm.

I will agree that Slade is incredibly loud and obnoxious during much of the movie, but IMO, that's what makes the movie a 'classic.' Every so often, we see a kind and gentle man, little snippets of a different life, a life before joining the military, becoming an alcoholic, and being personally responsible for losing his sight. Then again, I've watched the movie several times. Each time, I see and/or hear something I've never seen or heard before. After a while, all these things start adding up and create the Slade I see. A Slade who is like an onion with many, many layers.

On another note, I'd like to know what you say about movies you like. It seems that there's a lot going on in movies you don't like - cringing, yawning, and more yawning. It's a wonder you stayed awake long enough to have an opinion about this movie.

[–] manofsteel4455 11 years ago

People who are annoyed by the strangest things in movies have no business in watching movies at all.

You want to play the game, you'd better know the rules, love.
-Harry Callahan

[–] DingelBerry 11 years ago

How could Al Pacino trip on the garbage can accidentally? In real life he is not blind. Had to be scripted.

[–] ChrisB13 9 years ago

OMG...You really must be an idiot! How could he accidentally trip over a garbage can??? Are you serious? Have you NEVER tripped over anything in your little life? Tell me you haven't and I'll call you a liar in addition to being an idiot. You're not blind are you? Gee, so how did you trip over that thing, or bump into something, or lose your footing or hit that car in front of you or bump into that person, or step on the dog or cat??? Good God, can you not think before you write a comment like that? You have a brain don't you? So, obviously, you should be able to think! 😠😬👎