'Scarecrow' Director Jerry Schatzberg's Final Attempt to Reach Gene Hackman

A few years before his death last month at the age of 95, Gene Hackman was still being pursued by an old colleague.

Among his many celebrated roles over the years, Hackman treasured none more than Scarecrow, the touching 1973 comedy-drama in which he starred opposite Al Pacino. Though Hackman retired from acting more than two decades ago, Scarecrow director Jerry Schatzberg made several attempts over the years to lure the star back with plans for a sequel.

“I kept getting negative reactions from his agent who said he doesn’t want to work,” the 97-year-old Schatzberg told the Playhouse from his office in New York City this week. “I figured I’ve got to go confront him.” So Schatzberg headed out west for Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, had maintained a reclusive lifestyle since the early 2000s.

Schatzberg wasn’t some desperate artist trailing the actor of his dreams. In the early 1970s, he gave Pacino his first film role with the visceral addiction drama Panic in Needle Park. Pacino – on the verge of global stardom with The Godfather – and Hackman, who had recently won his Oscar for The French Connection, initially were attached to Scarecrow with another director involved.

“For some reason – this is their business – they were not really interested in him doing it,” Schatzberg said. “I had done a picture with Al and Al really liked the experience, they were suggesting I take it over, but I would have to go out and talk to Gene, which was a great pleasure for me.”

In Scarecrow, Hackman plays moody ex-con Max, who runs into sailor Lion while the pair are hitchhiking through California. When the pair decide to join forces to start a carwash, various hijinks ensue, including an extended prison stint that helps Max come out of his shell. Schatzberg, a celebrated photographer, sets the drama against a vivid American landscape. Pacino delivers a likable turn as a young father eager to support his family, but Hackman truly anchors the movie with an evolving performance that continually shifts the mood. That includes a pivotal striptease sequence in which his character diffuses the tension of a barfight that ranks among some of the greatest scenes in American movies.

“It was intimidating,” Schatzberg said, recalling Hackman’s confidence at the time. “Gene is out there, strong, knowing exactly what he wants to do.” He recalled Hackman growing frustrated with the filmmaker whenever the dialogue changed during production. “Gene’s done his homework,” Schatzberg said. “I wanted to cut down on dialogue. I was getting some static from them because they were used to the dialogue and had rehearsed it. So I decided I’d shoot it the way it was written and then when I get into the editing room, I was going to take stuff out.”

Schatzberg delighted in the chemistry between his two actors. “Gene’s always there right on time, while Al slowly gets into it, but each give you tremendous things once they’re into it,” Schatzberg said. Scarecrow won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, though it was a commercial failure upon its release. “For a long time, I felt like it wasn’t getting a fair shake,” Schatzberg said. “It takes a while for my films to catch on, and I’m delighted when they do.”

The appreciation for the movie in more recent years inspired Schatzberg to write a sequel, titled Life’s a Wash, that finds Max and Lion decades into running the carwash they hoped to open in Scarecrow. “Part of it was about what they’d learned throughout their lives,” Schatzberg said, with a plot that finds them once again on the road to reconcile with estranged relatives. As recently as 10 years ago, Schatzberg was talking up the sequel and eager to get his two stars back onboard.

When he got to Santa Fe, he found that Hackman’s decision to live off-the-grid didn’t make things easy. “I was told that he showed his paintings at a bar,” Schatzberg said. “I went there, and they said, ‘He’s not here.’” The trail went cold, but before he left, Schatzberg left a photograph he had taken of Hackman years earlier with a note. Later, he received a painting in the mail from the actor, who was known to have taken up the craft in his later years. “I just love it, I cherish it,” Schatzberg said.

Schatzberg was as shocked as anyone when he learned about Hackman’s death under still-mysterious circumstances alongside Arakawa. “What a tragedy,” Schatzberg said. “I know he was very happy.”

These days, Schatzberg is focused on selling off his archives, and finally letting go of his sequel plans. “As time went on, I decided it wouldn’t be a good move,” he said. “You know, I’m not going to get Gene from anybody else.”

Scarecrow screens at the Southampton Playhouse on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tickets are available here.