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August 20, 2012

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David Ehrenstein

RIP to the director of the best lesbian vampire movie ever made

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4MmatVblDk

Paul Duane

The armed quarterback opening scene of The Last Boy Scout is pretty much my definition of overblown, ridiculous, brilliant action cinema (and stands up against its Asian contemporaries better than anything else from the era's Hollywood output I can think of except maybe Deran Sarafian's hilariously great Terminal Velocity). It also has only the tiniest connection to the rest of the story - Scott's cropduster scene, maybe? Most of my conversations about him were of the 'which Scott brother is better' variety and I was always a lonely defender of Tony. Those conversations now seem pathetic and a bit distasteful. He'll be missed - is there any other blockbuster director left with Scott's distaste for CGI?

Zach

This is just such a miserable thing, as it always is. Glenn, thanks for a thoughtful and warm piece. I was always pretty disdainful of Tony's stuff, but there's no doubt that it could have some kind of crazy charm. He did, at least, seem to be the less uptight and self-serious of the two brothers.

Bettencourt

If memory serves, the gun-toting quarterback opening scene was always in Shane Black's LAST BOY SCOUT script, long before Scott was attached, and always had virtually no connection to the story (apart from being the kind of grabber opening that helps a spec script sell for $1.75 million).

I remember Scott in an interview once saying something about how Shane's BOY SCOUT and Tarantino's TRUE ROMANCE scripts were better than the films he made from them, which suggests a humility virtually unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood directors.

I wasn't a fan of his work overall, but I remember getting a lot of enjoyment from THE HUNGER, CRIMSON TIDE and the underrated DEJA VU.

J. Priest

Apparently, he had inoperable brain cancer: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/top-gun-director-tony-scott-inoprable-brain-cancer/story?id=17039434#.UDJ2R2NYv5m

Robert Cashill

Well, as lesbian vampire movies go, Harry Kumel's DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS is a lot better than THE HUNGER, but it's pretty good.

David Ehrenstein

Kumel had Delphone Seyrig.

Scott and Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, David Bowie and Delibes.

Call ita draw if you like but I'm sticking with "Lakme."

bill

I know the lion's share of the credit for this goes to Tarantino, Dennis Hopper, and Christopher Walken, but the scene -- THE SCENE -- from TRUE ROMANCE was, I always thought, very well shot. Not very humbly, Tarantino said that the scene is so good that it was impossible for the rest of the film to live up to it. I do believe he was right.

And I would very much like to watch CRIMSON TIDE again. That's just a flat out good movie.

Dan Coyle

Not a fan of much of Scott's oveure, but True Romance and Crimson Tide? Those are terrific movies.

TroncJag

Maybe I've heard it quoted by one too many asshole frat boys but I've always found The Scene from TRUE ROMANCE patently offensive, great acting/direction/writing notwithstanding.

TroncJag

But... (and I can't go back to edit my comment, so forgive the double post) ... I really think Scott (as he grew) was one of the more experimental main line/blockbuster directors. UNSTOPPABLE is an amazingly shot film and deserves favorable (visual) comparison with something like James Benning's RR. I know he gets written off as too Michael Bay-ish, but I think there's a lot more method to Scott's frenetic pyrotechnics.

David Ehrenstein

Five noted directors who have committed suicide

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-five-noted-directors-who-committed-suicide-20120820,0,2183125.story

Richard Porton

I was recently in Zurich for a few days and resided a few blocks from a Hooters in a charming 19th-century building. I assume that there are also Hooters branches in Germany and/or Austria where the Ferronis reside. And knowing them a bit, I don't think they'd mind being caught alive, if not dead, in one of them.

Gordon Cameron

>UNSTOPPABLE is an amazingly shot film and deserves favorable (visual) comparison with something like James Benning's RR. I know he gets written off as too Michael Bay-ish, but I think there's a lot more method to Scott's frenetic pyrotechnics.

Agreed. Scott's visual approach isn't altogether to my taste, but I was interested in where he was going with it, and IMO he brought far greater technical precision & aesthetic skill to it than Bay ever did. I'd go so far as to say that UNSTOPPABLE was my favorite Scott film, and was curious to see what he would do next.

Jeff McMahon

Scott's visual approach generally seemed kind of insincere to me, like a stylistic affectation rather than a genuine visionary impulse. But at least it was present enough to set his films apart from the likes of Bay/Wiseman/McG/Liman/BartkowiakRob Cohen.

I didn't like most of his movies, but Scott did give us Deneuve getting it on with Sarandon and Brigitte Nielsen waving around a giant gun. RIP.

LondonLee

I always thought THE scene in TRUE ROMANCE was the one with James Gadolfini and Patricia Arquette in the motel room. My jaw was on the floor when that bit ended.

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