Colonel Frank does not appear soft-hearted when he first meets Charlie. As Roger Egbert has noted, he "sits alone in his room, drinking and nursing his self-pity. He is a mean, angry, sarcastic man. We sense he has always been lonely, but never lonelier than now, when he is trapped inside blindness. He lost his sight late in life, through his own stupidity, and now he gets drunk and waits for victims" (Egbert). It seems that Charlie will be one of Frank's many "victims," one required to listen to his harsh criticism without retorting. From the very first time Charlie meets Frank, it is obvious that it is going to be difficult for Charlie to break through the colonel's abrasive outer shell. Before Charlie even enters Frank's cottage, he hears him yelling at his niece to leave the cat outside. As if this isn't intimidating enough, Charlie is forced to enter Frank's home just moments later for his job interview with the ex-military "hero." This interview is really an inquisition where Frank has the opportunity to goad and demean Charlie with every question he asks. Frank's niece states that although he may seem intimidating, they will "be best friends by Sunday." Charlie accepts the job not knowing that in a few days his life will have profoundly changed.

Charlie soon learns that Frank is a blind man attempting to live out the last days of his life as if he still possessed his sight. Frank does not allow anything stop him from reliving his past when he takes a weekend trip to New York City. Although he does bring along the meek, reserved college student to guide him, Frank attempts to do everything himself. On this whirlwind weekend, Frank tangos with a stranger in the middle of a high-end restaurant, drives a Ferrari, stays in the Waldorf Hotel, and enjoys all of the luxuries that life can offer. Sadly, the underlying tone of this entire scenario is that Frank is preparing to commit suicide.

While Frank relives his past, he makes an impression on a young man who is struggling with his identity. The colonel possesses a trait which makes him better equipped to influence Charlie: his remarkable ability to perceive a great deal concerning those around him. Frank may have always possessed the ability to understand others' inner thoughts and underlying motives, but his lack of vision accentuates this skill. He maintains some aspects of a supercrip, one whose other senses heighten to compensate for a lost sense. In one of the early encounters between Charlie and Frank, Frank makes a comment about the acne on Charlie's face. As a blind person, he obviously cannot see the blemishes on Charlie's face but his ability to "know" Charlie without seeing him allows him to deduce this. In this first meeting with Charlie--after speaking with him for only a few moments--Frank also correctly assumes that Charlie is on full scholarship to a prep school.

Although Frank displaces his loneliness and anger onto others, his sarcastic snipes possess a kernel of truth. From the audience's first glimpse of the colonel, and throughout most of the movie, Frank is accompanied by a glass of Jack Daniels, his drink of choice. He uses his drinking and robust, snide remarks as an excuse for barking sarcastic jokes and snapping at Charlie for the least offense. The colonel acts as if nothing is wrong with him in order to doge his angst over his disability. When Charlie attempts to lead him in the correct direction at the airport, Frank recoils and shouts, "Are you blind? Are you blind . . . I take your arm." Those these harsh words shock Charlie at first, he quickly learns to treat Frank as a person, not as a blind man.

The colonel's personality is certainly memorable. To an outsider he seems stubborn, rude and abrasive; however, by the conclusion of the film the viewer learns that he is in fact perseverant, independent, intelligent, and motivated. All of these are characteristics sought in role models, and the colonel indeed becomes a person whom Charlie can look up to. He is a man who lives his life honestly; he tells others exactly what he is thinking no matter what the consequence may be. These positive qualities of the colonel's character are easy to overlook when considering his abrasive exterior.

Another aspect of Frank's personality that benefits Charlie is his willingness to share life lessons with the sheltered boy. One of the most influential experiences in the colonel's life was the incident which took his sight. Frank became blind when he was in the military; he was juggling grenades without the pins and one exploded in his face, claiming his vision. From this devastating accident, Frank learned to appreciate the value of life's gifts. This is never more apparent than when he describes to Charlie one of his dreams about receiving the love of a beautiful woman, of burying his face in a head of curls, smelling her scent, looking at her legs, and feeling her touch. "Behind the military bark, the "pussy" talk, and the cruel hoo-ha of a laugh, the self-loathing colonel is a romantic who can identify the perfume a woman is wearing at twenty paces" (Rolling Stone). Frank feels that, blind, he cannot thoroughly appreciate one of the finest things in life, and attempts to live through Charlie. Frank tutors Charlie in the art of wooing the opposite sex in the middle of a fine restaurant; he forces Charlie to approach an attractive girl and start a conversation with her. Frank asks the woman to dance and teaches her to tango. The colonel is able to pick out the girl in the room who Charlie had wanted to approach, leaving the boy in awe of his ability to perceive this tension. Frank sensed Charlie's apprehension and helps him to speak to her, developing in Charlie a self-confidence he can use later in life.

Frank's ability to listen and to analyze Charlie's troubles at school makes the largest impression on Charlie. The colonel coaches Charlie on whether or not he should turn in his classmates; he even goes so far as to come to his hearing to stand up for Charlie's character. "I don't know if Charlie's silence here today is right or wrong; I'm not a judge or jury. But I can tell you this: he won't sell anybody out to buy his future!" Earlier, when no one else was there to listen to the boy's woes, Frank gave him some harsh advice: "I'm gonna shoot you too. You're life's finished anyway. Your friend George is gonna sing like a canary. And so are you. And once you've sung Charlie, my boy, you're gonna take you're place on that long grey line of American manhood. And then you will be through...you're in no position to disagree with me boy I got a loaded .45 here. You got pimples. I'm gonna kill you Charlie cause I can't bear the thought of you sellin' out!" While the truth in these words may have been unbearable to Charlie at the time, they certainly made an impression on him. He entered the school court ready to follow the colonel's advice, knowing that his friend George was about to do anything to save himself.

Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade was bitter, sarcastic and angry about his loss of sight, but beneath this harsh layer was a compassionate heart. He used his sarcasm and wit to teach others a lesson about themselves and their internal flaws, teaching Charlie some of life's lessons that could not have been learned within the confines of a classroom.

by Katie Page (UNC-CH student)

Works Cited

Egbert, Robert. "Scent of a Woman." Chicago Sun Times. 23 December 1992.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19921223/REVIEWS/212230301/1023

Scent of a Woman. Dir. Martin Brest. Perf. Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. DVD. Universal Pictures, 1992.

"Scent of a Woman." Rolling Stone. 8 December 2000. http://www.rollingstone.com
/reviews/movie/5948115/review/5948116/scent_of_a_woman