What a waste of my time!!!

Good concept, poorly executed.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Max (Gene Hackman) and "Lion" (Al Pacino) are two drifters who meet on the road. Max is an ex-convict, while Lion is a former sailor who abandoned his wife. Before much time has passed, they've become friends. They stick together while each man works towards a purpose. Max has been socking away a moderate amount of funds in order to open a car wash in Pittsburgh, and Lion is looking to go to Detroit to meet his child (he doesn't even know if the kid is male or female) for the first time.Garry Michael White wrote the screenplay for this thoughtful, sensitive drama, capably handled by photographer Jerry Schatzberg, in his third filmmaking credit. Given the nature of Schatzbergs' former trade, it's not surprising that the film looks great, especially since it's shot in Panavision and makes great use of several locations. Like so many late 1960s and 1970s films, it's not afraid to get grim, and doesn't spoon feed the audience a happy, conclusive ending. It is somewhat episodic, with two major sequences. First, Max connects with an old friend, Coley (Dorothy Tristan), who partners with a gal named Frenchy (Ann Wedgeworth) in the junk business. Next, after a bar room brawl, Max and Lion spend time in stir, where Lion is victimized by a trustee (Richard Lynch).Hackman and Pacino have rarely been this engaging. It's not surprising to learn that Max is the favourite role for the now retired Hackman; it is an interesting, amusing character, a man who's both a lover and a fighter. Pacinos' Lion may seem to be the inexperienced, naive one, but he's actually the one who has more to teach his new friend. In particular, how to have a good laugh.The first rate supporting cast also includes Eileen Brennan and Penelope Allen. Lynch once again shows why he was one of the big screens' premier villains. Richard Hackman, who has the small role of Mickey, is Genes' brother.Nicely shot (by Vilmos Zsigmond) and scored (by Fred Myrow), this is an affecting little film that leaves a memorable impression.Seven out of 10.

This is an interesting character study of two drifters who meet up at the beginning of the film and then travel across the American countryside in search of adventure. Gene Hackman and Al Pacino give truly standout performances as the leading characters. It takes actors and not stars to give the drifter characters some depth. This is no glamorous kind of film either, no punches are pulled with regards to some of the dangers that Hackman and Pacino encounter as they thumb their way from one small town to another.A film that deserves more recognition.

Not a movie for all tastes. There's no real plot. Instead the narrative follows two drifters as they pursue their car-wash dream. Max's (Hackman) problem, however, is that he can't stay out of trouble, given his combative personality. Still, he buddies up with Lion(el) (Pacino) who has abandoned his pregnant girl friend to become a sailor. Now he's taken on a frivolous "what will be, will be" attitude that Max finds appealing. But will they ever get to Pittsburg and their car-wash dream.The movie really depends on whether you find the characters interesting enough to stick around for two hours. Characters other than the two leads don't stick around long, which I guess befits two drifters. Thus, there are other interesting types, except for Frenchy (Wedgeworth) who raises the whole idea of "bimbo" to new levels of exaggeration. Also, there's no attempt to pretty-up anything or anybody. It's pretty much a back roads America as it really is, and not as Hollywood would like it. And, unless I misread the subtext, the movie follows pretty much in the wake of 60's rootless counter-culture This is Hackman's favorite movie, though it did flop at the box-office. As the hulking Max, he's completely convincing as a "planner" who can't really plan. (Note how he gets entangled in the wire in the film's opening scene—a tip-off of things to come.) Pacino's role is more complex. My initial impression was that Lion is a gay man being drawn to the macho Max. That would explain why he left his girl and took up a roving life whether as a sailor or drifter. Nonetheless, the movie leaves this gay factor uncertain. The film's dramatic highlight is when a grieving Lion grabs a nearby boy and tries to baptize him in a fountain. That's because he thinks his own son died before baptism and therefore now dwells in eternal limbo. Of course that assumes Lion's been told the truth by the supposed mother. But then she would have reason to punish Lion since he did abandon her.Anyway, these are some conjectures on a film I really enjoyed. Still, I can understand why others might be bored by a narrative whose virtues do tend to meander. But, if they do, it's in the manner that real lives also do.

I liked the story about scarecrows, it gave resonance to the title of the movie. Lion's (Al Pacino) insistence that they're actually intended to make crows laugh instead of being scared was something I thought about for a while. Between the two principal characters, I think we might have witnessed both versions. Lion found himself scared or bewildered much of the time while partnering up with hitchhiking comrade Max (Gene Hackman), who's reckless attitude toward life echoed the laughter of crows in response to his often violent outbursts and bouts of forced solitude.The fountain scene near the end of the story turned out to be a harrowing harbinger of Lion's catatonic state, coming on the heels of his former gal Annie (Penelope Allen) telling him that their real live son was never born. It was that harsh and mean spirited lie that pushed Lion over the edge, but did you notice? - it was a statue of a lion that Francis clung to when he cracked. It made me wonder if that was just an inadvertent coincidence or whether the scene was specifically planned that way.The conflicted resolution of the story is reminiscent of 1969's "Midnight Cowboy", reminding the viewer that life often doesn't present happy endings. Max's round trip ticket conveyed the idea that he would be back to look in on his road buddy, but one is left with the impression that Lion's condition was more despairing than hopeful. I'd like to think the car wash idea eventually came about, but somehow I have my doubts.