A blind, hard-drinking war veteran (Al Pacino) pays a timid college student (Chris O’Donnell) to accompany him on a weekend break in New York, where he plans to sample life’s luxuries over the Thanksgiving weekend.
However, the unworldly teenage escort is shocked to learn that at the end of their trip, his new friend plans to kill himself.
This lengthy melodrama is kept vibrantly alive and out of the clutches of sickly sentimentality by a towering Oscar-winning performance from Pacino, whether tangoing with Gabrielle Anwar, berating O’Donnell’s cowardly schoolmates or barking out his famous “hoo-ha” cough.
It’s loosely based on a 1974 Italian film of the same name by Dino Risi.
Lt Col Frank Slade
Al Pacino Charlie Simms
Chris O’Donnell Mr Trask
James Rebhorn Donna
Gabrielle Anwar George Willis Jr
Philip Seymour Hoffman WR Slade
Richard Venture Randy
Bradley Whitford Officer Gore
Ron Eldard Christine Downes
Frances Conroy Karen Rossi
Sally Murphy Harry Havemeyer
Nicholas Sadler
Lt Col Frank Slade
