Poster © Universal Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
|
GenreDrama
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 36 mins
ReleasedDecember 23, 1992
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMartin Brest
StarringAl Pacino, Chris O'Donnell
|
Scent of a Woman (1992)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Scent of a Woman's Details | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 12/23/1992 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 36 mins |
| Budget | $31M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Il buio e il miele 1974 novel by Giovanni Arpino |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Scent of a Woman's Interests | |
| General | Prep school blazers, fancy New York hotels, tango lessons, fast cars, Thanksgiving weekend. |
| Music | Thomas Newman, plus a tango, 'Por una Cabeza,' that steals the movie. |
| Movies | Profumo di donna (1974), the Italian original. Dead Poets Society (1989), more prep school pressure. |
| Television | Top Gear. Frank would insist on driving the Ferrari himself. |
| Heroes | Frank Slade. Blind, retired, and still the most commanding man in any room. |
| Scent of a Woman's Crew | |
| Director | Martin Brest |
| Writers | Bo Goldman |
| Producers | Martin Brest |
| Cinematography | Donald E. Thorin |
| Music | Thomas Newman |
| Edited By | William Steinkamp, Michael Tronick, Harvey Rosenstock |
| Production | City Light Films |
| Distributed By | Universal Pictures |
Be honest, you came for the tango, and it’s a tiny slice of a 156-minute movie. The rest is Al Pacino at a volume most actors save for stadium concerts. Frank Slade barks, insults his own family at Thanksgiving dinner and hollers his catchphrase, and it’s a blast and a lot. Chris O’Donnell’s Charlie mostly exists to react to Pacino for two and a half hours. The prep school subplot about the prank crawls, and the whole finale hangs on it. The New York trip is where it lands. Frank has a darker plan for the weekend, and Pacino lets the bluster crack just enough to show how lonely the man is underneath. Philip Seymour Hoffman is perfect as a rich kid who folds the second anyone leans on him. IMDb voters rate it an 8.0. A 7.2 because Pacino is a force of nature and the movie runs on him a little too long. $218 says you try a tango in your kitchen and step on your own foot by the second turn.
What works: Al Pacino is a force of nature, and the tango and the Ferrari scene show the joy hiding under Frank’s bluster.
What doesn’t: At 156 minutes it drags, the prep school plot crawls, and Charlie is so quiet he’s mostly a reaction shot.
Who it’s for: People who love a big, shouty lead performance and a story about an odd couple who end up needing each other.
Spoilers
Frank planned the trip as one last lavish weekend before a much darker plan, and Charlie talks him out of it in a tense, quiet hotel room scene. Back at Baird, Frank crashes Charlie’s disciplinary hearing and gives a thunderous speech that gets him cleared.
Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) is a scholarship kid at Baird, a fancy prep school in New England, and he needs money for a plane ticket home to Oregon for Christmas. So he takes a Thanksgiving weekend job looking after Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino), a blind, retired Army officer with a very loud personality. There's trouble back at school: Charlie and classmate George Willis Jr. (Philip Seymour Hoffman) saw some boys set up a prank on the headmaster, Mr. Trask (James Rebhorn), and Trask wants names by Monday. Then Frank whisks Charlie off to New York. Martin Brest directs. One hundred fifty-six minutes, hoo-ah.
Anyone who knows how to tango. Frank will check.
| Al Pacino | Lt. Col. Frank Slade |
| Chris O'Donnell | Charlie Simms |
| James Rebhorn | Mr. Trask |
| Gabrielle Anwar | Donna |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | George Willis |
| Sally Murphy | Karen Rossi |
| Michael Santoro | Donny Rossi |
| Nicholas Sadler | Harry Havemeyer |
| Todd Louiso | Trent Potter |
| Richard Venture | W. R |
| Bradley Whitford | Randy |
| Rochelle Oliver | Gretchen |
| Ron Eldard | Officer Gore |
| June Squibb | Mrs. Hunsaker |
| Baxter Harris | George Willis |
| Gene Canfield | Manny |
| Leonard Gaines | Freddie Bisco |
| Frances Conroy | Christine Downes |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $134.1M; Domestic box office $63.1M; Opening weekend $357K; Profit / loss (est.) +$20.5M; Rotten Tomatoes 82%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 82% (50 reviews); Metacritic 57 / 100; IMDb users 8.0 / 10 (377,213 votes); movie.guru score 7.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.