I thought, incorrectly, that "Scent of a Woman" was a film that involved a character played by Al Pacino and some woman. Well, there really are not that many women in the film and fourth-billed Gabrielle Anwar is barely in the film at all. This isn't a complaint...just a surprise.

Charlie (Chris O'Donnell) is a poor kid who received a scholarship to go to a fancy prep school. But since his family lives on the other side of the country and he's poor, he takes a short-term job to look after a blind man during the Thanksgiving break. However, it's NOT an easy task, as the Colonel (Al Pacino) is a dynamic and weird man. After meeting, Charlie isn't sure he's up to the task. Something else happens to Charlie. On his way back to the campus after meeting the Colonel, he witnesses a prank being set up by some of his fellow students....and after the prank is revealed the head of the school is furious and threatens to punish Charlie because he refuses to be a snitch. This weighs on Charlie's mind during these several days vacation.

While the plan is to remain at the Colonel's home with him, the Colonel announces that they're going on a road trip to New York City....and he's going whether or not Charlie approves. What follows is a bit of adventure for the two of them...though the good time is shattered when he learns that the blind man is going to kill himself after this trip concludes! What's next? See the film.

As you'd expect, Al Pacino's performance is a bit over the top at times....not bad but certainly bigger than life. As for O'Donnell, he just seems to be there for the ride during much of the film...and that works with his character. Overall, a very unusual film that ends well and offers some shreds of hope. Well worth seeing.

Scent of a Woman may be very lengthy, but it is also a very impressive film. The film looks beautiful, Martin Brest's direction is quite excellent, the script avoids being too melodramatic or soapy it is actually quite poignant when it needs to be and the story while very loosely based on the 1974 Italian film is always believable.

The acting is top-drawer. Chris O'Donnell is surprisingly impressive, I've known him to be bland before but he is quiet and understated here, and Gabrielle Anwar is lovely. But it is Al Pacino that makes the film as good as it is, he is just extraordinary. Whether tangoing with Anwar, berating O'Donnell's cowardly schoolmates or uttering his infamous laugh, Pacino whatever he's doing on screen gives one of his greatest performances.

In conclusion, very impressive elevated more so by Pacino. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In Scent of a Woman Young Chris O'Donnell at the Baird Prep School on a scholarship, has to earn the money he needs for a round-trip back to Oregon to see his family at Christmas break. He takes a job posting off a bulletin board at school advertising for a companion to a blind man. The blind man turns out to be Al Pacino whose sister and her family want to unload him so they can go away for Thanksgiving.

Pacino is no helpless invalid however. He's a former lieutenant colonel in the army and used to being obeyed on command. But he's facing a crisis in his life, he's just tired of being an invalid and dependent on people.

O'Donnell's having a crisis too. Headmaster James Rebhorn feels he and another student, Philip Seymour Hoffman, saw an act of vandalism committed on the school grounds. It goes against O'Donnell's grain to be an informant. But these other kids, Hoffman included come from old money and can buy their way out of most things. If the ax has to fall as Pacino tells him, it's going to fall his way.

The film is a touching story involving a generation gap of values that is bridged when Pacino and O'Donnell discover a genuine respect and affection for each other. Pacino's iconoclastic retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade finally won for him an Oscar for Best Actor that his peers had not voted him, despite being nominated 7 previous times in both the lead and supporting categories. In fact that same year Pacino was also up in the Supporting Actor category for Glengarry Glen Ross.

Chris O'Donnell had a breakout performance as the young preppie who has far more integrity than his richer and more privileged classmates. And Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as the kid who rats under the financial umbrella of daddy's millions.

Scent of a Woman is a great part for Al Pacino, not my favorite role for him. That one for me is ....And Justice For All. Still this award like the one given to Paul Newman for The Color of Money is more for Pacino's lifetime of artistic achievement in the cinema. And that's one artistic life anyone could envy.