Scent of a Woman - 1992

"Just call me Frank. Call me Mr. Slade. Call me... Colonel, if you must. Just don't call me "Sir.""

As a huge fan of Al Pacino I have to include this movie. A very young Chris O'Donnell joins him in a funny and heartfelt film about the characters and their relationship. Also look for a very young Philip Seymour Hoffman as a fellow student of O'Donnell.

Hoping to earn some extra cash during the Thanksgiving holiday, poor prep-school student Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) agrees to look after blind -- and cantankerous -- Lt. Col. Frank Slade (Al Pacino, in a tour-de-force performance). Though the callow student and jaded colonel are mismatched, their relationship grows as Simms follows Slade around Manhattan on a string of wild escapades, and Slade is unmasked as a sentimental romantic.

Frank's bizarre habit of yelling "hoo-wah!" is an actual United States Army battlecry, although he is saying it wrong. He places far too much of a "W" sound on the second syllable. The real version is closer to "hoo-ah!"

"Hoo-wah" is a military acronym (usually yelled by Drill Sargents to Boots) from the acronym "HUA" which is often pronounced "hoo-ah" or in this case "hoo-wah." HUA stands for "Heard, Understood, Acknowledged." Over the years, in the US Army this phrase has taken on many meanings including "Understood?" "yes" or as a general exclamation of "I'm motivated!"