Scarecrow (1973 film)

Scarecrow
original film poster
Directed by	Jerry Schatzberg
Produced by	Robert M. Sherman
Written by	Garry Michael White
Starring	Gene Hackman Al Pacino Eileen Brennan Richard Lynch
Music by	Fred Myrow
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Edited by	Evan Lottman
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	April 11, 1973 (New York City only)
Running time	112 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$4,000,000 (US/ Canada rentals)

Scarecrow is a 1973 road movie starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino.

The story revolves around the relationship between two vagabonds: Max Millan (Gene Hackman), a short-tempered ex-convict, and Francis Lionel "Lion" Delbuchi (Al Pacino), a childlike ex-sailor. They meet on the road in California and agree to become partners in a car wash business, once they reach Pittsburgh.

Lion is on his way to Detroit to see the child he has never met and make amends with his wife Annie, to whom he has been sending all the money he made while at sea. Max agrees to make a detour on his way to Pittsburgh, where the bank that Max has been sending all his seed money is located.

While visiting Max's sister in Denver, the pair's antics land them in a prison farm for a month. Max blames Lion for being sent back to jail and shuns him. Lion is befriended by an inmate named Riley (Richard Lynch), who later tries to sexually assault him. Max proceeds to teach Riley a lesson, rekindling his friendship with Lion. The two have a profound effect on each other, with Lion becoming more of an adult and Max loosening up his high-strung aggression (at one point doing a tongue-in-cheek striptease to defuse a fight at a bar).

When they finally make it to Detroit, Lion calls Annie, who is now remarried and raising their five-year-old son. She is still angry at him for leaving her, and spitefully lies to him that she miscarried their son. Lion is devastated, but feigns happiness at having a son. Shortly afterward, he has a breakdown while playing with neighborhood children and becomes catatonic. Max promises Lion that he will do anything to help him, and boards a train to Pittsburgh with a round-trip ticket.