Director Jerry Schatzberg's 1973 'guys on the road' movie Scarecrow seems to get overlooked a lot when discussing the collective filmographies of legendary actors Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, but it isn't deservedly so – its' a fine film. It's possible that because it was made so close to The Godfather and The French Connection, both of which are better though very different movies, that it's hard to come out from under their heavy shadows but Scarecrow is a very solid film with two great performances from its leads.

The movie tells the story of an ex-convict named Max (Hackman) who has just gotten out of the big house for beating someone up. Now that he's a free man, Max wants to head back to Pittsburgh so that he can clean up his act and open up his own business – a fancy car wash. He's saved up pretty much every penny of the minimum wage he earned in prison and it's all sitting in a bank in Pittsburgh just waiting for him to show up and claim it. He finds an unlikely traveling companion in the form of Lionel (Pacino), who has just spent the last five years of his life at sea. He's a sailor and now that his tour of duty is up, he's heading back home to his wife in Detroit to see the son who was born while he was on the boat for the first time. They hang out and strike up a friendship as they make their way back to their respective east coast homes, and we learn about them as they learn about each other along the way.

A fine dramatic film, Scarecrow suffers from some out of place experimental cinematography but benefits from two excellent and understated performances. The camera work in the film seems to favor shooting scenes through a haze for some reason, and while this might have been a nice accent here and there it becomes very repetitive very quickly to the point where after the third or fourth time we've seen it, it's a little annoying and it rarely suits the tone of the movie we're watching. Other than that though, Scarecrow works nicely. Pacino and Hackman have got an excellent down to Earth camaraderie in the film that does wonders to make it not only palatable but downright enjoyable. Much of the strength of the film comes not from Schatzberg's direction or pacing but rather the lack thereof, which allows these two excellent actors to just 'do their thing' so to speak. Much of the dialogue between the two of them seems so natural and fluid in some spots that you almost wonder if it was improvisational rather than scripted.

As the movie plays out, we are treated to some interesting little nuances to help us get to know, and therefore care about, the characters a little bit. We learn about Max's sister and we're given some details about Lionel's wife and child. While it doesn't all end on a happy note, as if often times the case in real life, it does end on an interesting one and it only feels slightly out of place considering where these two guys are each coming from.

Comparisons to Easy Rider and Midnight Cowboy are certainly valid but Scarecrow is very much its own film. If at times the plot seems to throw in a few unnecessary twists it's easy to overlook them and just simply enjoy two excellent performances from two of Hollywood's best.

Video:

Warner Brothers does their usual fine job on this 2.40.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The colors look quite nice for an early seventies film and while there is some moderate grain in a few scenes (you'll notice it in the 'foggy' sequences), there aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts. Print damage is kept to a minimum and it's really only noticeable as the odd speck or scratch here and there, there aren't any glaring instances of damage to report. The black levels throughout the film look quite nice and the flesh tones look lifelike and natural. There is some mild edge enhancement and noticeable line shimmering in a few scenes but it isn't overpowering and for the most part this DVD does look quite good.