On August 19th, Hollywood was stunned by the news that 68 year old British director Tony Scott took his own life by jumping off a bridge in L.A. Some news outlets reported that he had inoperable brain cancer. His family denies this, and no reason was given in the suicide note that he left behind. The motive behind his shocking final act is currently a complete mystery, and there's a chance we may never know. One thing I do know is that Scott was the most underrated director of the last 25 years. He may have lived in the shadow of his celebrated older brother Ridley("Alien", "Blade Runner"), but you could argue that Tony was the more consistent crowd-pleaser. He never even considered tackling some 'important' high minded themes or a pretentious, art house film. There was only ever one goal when he stepped behind a camera and that was to entertain the hell out of an audience. An unapologetically commercial filmmaker, Tony was always right at home with big stars and big budgets. Many directors have no distinguishable characteristics- no style, no flair. But I always knew when I was watching a Tony Scott movie. His work was always super slick, high energy, fast-paced, and incredibly polished. He had many distinctive trademarks- excellent lighting, extreme close-ups, pop soundtracks, and that ever present smoky background. He wanted to throw you right into the aggressive, adrenaline charged world that all of his films took place in. He was Michael Bay before there was Michael Bay, except a much better storyteller. Although he was synonymous with action, he was also an actor's director. He worked with many actors more than once, some of them megastars that obviously trusted his judgment and enjoyed teaming with him. Most of you are huge Tony Scott fans and probably never even knew it. Let's recap the many highlights(and occasional lowlights) of this unsung pioneer. Some of the accompanying pictures are big and in your face. That's the way Tony liked to do things.
"Top Gun"(1986)
Although his first movie was the 1983 vampire thriller "The Hunger", Scott cemented his reputation as a visual poet with his sophmore effort, unquestionably one of the most popular movies of the 1980s. Heck, this movie IS the '80s. He deserves much of the credit for making Tom Cruise a global superstar because he lavished just as much attention(if not more) on his grinning, cocksure 24 year old leading man as he does on his kinetic aerial sequences. Navy recruitment skyrocketed after the release of this film, and I'm sure there's still plenty of guys out there who dream about being the impossibly cool Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell.
"Beverly Hills Cop II"(1987)
The 1984 original did for Eddie Murphy what "Top Gun" did for Cruise, and Tony was hired to bring his ferocity to street-smart Detroit detective Axel Foley's inevitable second trip to the West Coast. He combined some thrilling action with Murphy's relentless bag of comedic tricks, and made the biggest hit in the summer of '87. Judge Reinhold, Brigitte Nielsen and Gilbert Gottfried would never experience these dizzying heights again.
"Revenge"(1990)
Kevin Costner had a remarkable run of hits in the late '80s and early '90s, but in between "Field of Dreams" and "Dances with Wolves" he made this forgotten flop, the first failure for him AND Scott. Box office numbers are not always a fair indicator of quality, however. A few years later, Costner would have loved to have had a 'failure' like this. Quentin Tarantino, who was about to get his foot in the door collaborating with Scott, has called this film a masterpiece, and while I wouldn't quite go THAT far, it does have it's moments. Graphic sex scenes and startling violence punctuate this tale of doomed lovers(Costner and Madeline Stowe), while Anthony Quinn is good as a much-feared Mexican crime boss whose retribution is swift and brutal.
"Days of Thunder"(1990)
Cruise reunited with Scott to play a hot shot race car driver with the only-in-the-movies name of Cole Trickle in this high octane thrill ride. This movie is most noteworthy for introducing audiences(and Cruise) to stunning Australian beauty Nicole Kidman as the doctor(lol!) he meets and falls for after a devastating crash leaves him unable to compete. Robert Duvall, Michael Rooker, Randy Quaid, and Cary Elwes all appear in supporting roles. "It's Top Gun on a racetrack", critics grumbled in the summer of 1990. Yeah, so?
"The Last Boy Scout"(1992)
A burnt out private eye(Bruce Willis) teams up with a cocky ex-football star(Damon Wayans) to investigate a murder which puts them in conflict with an assortment of bad guys. It's basically just another violent cartoon from the "Lethal Weapon/Die Hard" factory, with Willis once again cast as a smirking antihero, but the action loving masses couldn't care less. Every guy I've ever met seems to know every line of this movie. Maybe Scott and company missed the boat by not producing a sequel that was strongly hinted at in the last reel. I know Damon Wayans would have been game.
"True Romance"(1993)
Scott assembled every hip actor, old and new, that he could find for his Tarantino scripted 'trash' masterpiece. It's the classic boy-meets-girl, boy-kills-girl's-pimp, boy-and-girl-hit-the-road-with-a-suitcase-full-of-cocaine movie. Some feel that QT could have done an even better job behind the lens. I strongly disagree. Tarantino is a gifted writer and an innovator, but he is NOT an action director. At least not in 1993. Scott was a master, and the hotel room fight to the death between Patricia Arquette and James Gandolfini and the insane final shootout could not have been staged better by anybody. Scott sadistically zooms in on Gary Oldman's evil mug, films a chat between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken, lets Brad Pitt lounge around and creates movie heaven.
"Crimson Tide"(1995)
This taut, claustrophobic submarine thriller was the first of five collaborations with Denzel Washington who plays a Naval officer locked in a tense battle of wills with his hard-ass superior(Gene Hackman). The interplay between the two actors is superb, and the film was a solid hit at the summer '95 box office, but like many of Scott's films, it always seems to go overlooked whenever great movies are discussed. Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, and Jason Robards round out an impressive supporting cast.
"The Fan"(1996)
Baseball fanatic and unhinged knife salesman Gil Reharn (Robert De Niro) has an unhealthy obsession with his favorite slugger Bobby Rayburn(Wesley Snipes) in this over-the-top thriller that bombed at the box office in the summer of '96. Perhaps moviegoers were just sick of seeing De Niro play psychopaths. Whatever the reason, even Scott's worst movies are still guilty pleasures for the late night channel surfer.
"Enemy of the State"(1998)
It's certainly no wonder why a red-hot Will Smith chose Scott to helm the first vehicle in his quest to become the black Tom Cruise. He was in good hands in this conspiracy thriller that furthered the former Fresh Prince's leading man status and was also Scott's highest grossing film of the decade. This tale of high tech government surveillance is even more relevant today than it was in 1998, and when Gene Hackman's name is in the credits, you can feel safe automatically adding at least half a star to any film.
It's 1991 and retiring CIA agent Robert Redford must race to save his former protege Brad Pitt who has been captured in China, charged with espionage, and sentenced to death in 24 hours. We learn about the relationship between the two men via flashbacks that go back 20 years to their days in Vietnam. It has to be noted how Scott never failed to secure members of Hollywood's elite to headline his films. This was an ambitious and well crafted thriller with more brains than brawn and that's probably why it was only a modest hit at the box office. I think there was too much information for casual viewers to digest in one viewing, but this is a movie that deserves another look.
"Man on Fire"(2004)
"Creasey's art is death and he's about to create his masterpiece". Cool line delivered by Christopher Walken in Scott's most popular film of the '00s. Denzel Washington stars as a former CIA operative turned bodyguard who goes on a revenge rampage after his nine year old charge(child star extraordinaire Dakota Fanning) is kidnapped in Mexico. Has any filmmaker been the driving force behind more manly movies than Scott? The guy was never going to adapt a Jane Austen novel. There's surely going to be less testosterone in cinemas going forward now that the tough Brit is no longer around to counter the works of Stephenie Meyer and Nicholas Sparks. That's not to say that there aren't several effective quiet moments that nicely develop the relationship between Denzel and Dakota.
"Domino"(2005)
Keira Knightley isn't an obvious choice for this (almost)true story of a model turned bounty hunter, and this isn't a great movie by any stretch, but it is a brazen and ballsy one. Scott was experimenting with some wild, epilepsy-inducing editing/filming techniques and even if it wasn't entirely successful, he deserved credit for taking some risks which is more than I can say for most mainstream directors. And bringing Mickey Rourke back to the forefront has to count for something.
"Deja Vu"(2006)
Denzel Washington, who would star in all subsequent Scott films, is an ATF agent that travels back in time in an attempt to prevent a domestic terrorist attack in New Orleans in this intriguing thriller with a sci-fi twist that was a nice bounce back for Scott after the "Domino" debacle. The time travel logic works(sort of) if you're willing to suspend disbelief and not analyze things too much. Scott's death has reminded me of several films that I want to check out again and this is one of them.
"The Taking of Pelham 123"(2009)
In his fourth outing with Scott, Denzel Washington is a heroic dispatcher trying to reason with a maniac(John Travolta) holding hostages in a NYC subway in this competent but ultimately unnecessary remake of the 1974 thriller of the same name. Travolta hams it up in a villainous turn but like the other lesser films in the Scott canon, "The Last Boy Scout" and "The Fan", it's an agreeable enough time passer.
"Unstoppable"(2010)
Scott want out with a bang in this runaway train thriller that will go down as the action maestro's last directorial effort. It's a fitting swan song. Denzel Washington's veteran engineer and newcomer Chris Pine are in a separate locomotive racing to stop an unmanned freight train containing toxic chemicals from decimating a town. Awards and critical respect may have eluded Scott his whole career, but he was universally praised and beloved within the film industry and possessed a true understanding of the raw and visceral power of the medium. You can only do this stuff in the movies and Scott did it better than most. Now honestly, on a lazy Sunday afternoon would you rather watch "The King's Speech" or one of the movies on this list?
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