Scarecrow

Jerry Schatzberg's Scarecrow (1973) is definitely of the New School of 70s American film making and I'm surprised I've never heard of it until recently. It stars Gene Hackman (Max) and Al Pacino (Francis), both in great form, as two drifters who meet on the road in California and team up with plans to start up a car wash in Pittsburgh. But first they visit friends in Denver-get locked up for a month and then hit the wall in Detroit. Max is a brawler with a temper and Francis' humorous side wins him over and gets them out of a few jams, but he may be too sensitive for what the world has in store as he is also naive and immature in many areas. Perhaps, the "scarecrow" metaphor was too on the nose and the ending seems a bit melodramatic for the film as well. I was surprised to learn it shared the Cannes Palm d'Or with The Heirling in 1973. However, it is a road film of Americana and I could see how that was probably appealing to European audiences. Much of this was due to the excellent location cinematography of Vilnos Zsigmond.