Searching for Fathers in America

Al Pacino won his Oscar for Scent of a Woman, Martin Brest’s 1992 adaptation of an Italian story, The Dark and the Honey, first adapted in Italy in 1974 by Dino Risi, whence Brest got his title. The movie, now 30 years old, is worth remembering. Aside from Pacino, it received three other major Oscar nominations, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, and it grossed more than $130 million worldwide. It was one of the decade’s most memorable portrayals of personal integrity and its connection to a kind of moral innocence.