Monday 20 August 2012

Tony Scott Sad Shocking Suicide


RIP Tony Scott.


Tony Scott’s terrifying end take on life is a sobering vision. I am a bit ambivalent about movie directors. They must reach a certain threshold before I pay any attention. Despite his command of the seminal blockbuster Top Gun, Tony Scott ran under my radar until he teamed up with Denzel Washington. Crimson Tide cemented his name in my mental walk of fame.  It was not until this morning I realized he directed Beverly Hills Cop II, IMHO the best of the trilogy and the apogee of Eddie Murphy’s career.  Walter Hill’s 48 hours catapulted Murphy to superstardom and you see the influence it had on Scott in the critical success( RT 91%) but financial failure of True Romance.

 Made for $13 million in 1993,[citation needed] Scott directed True Romance from a script by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. The cast included Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper,Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Val Kilmer and in bit roles, James Gandolfini and Samuel L. Jackson. The movie received positive reviews from Janet Maslin and other critics, but took in less than $13 million and was considered a box office failure.[8]

Wow look at that cast, it would be hard to find a movie not deliberately fueled by star power with more contemporary bright lights. One of the most satisfactory devices employed by this movie and directed by Scott with perfection was the showdown  between forces antagonistic towards the protagonist. A great climax that propels the protagonist past otherwise certian destruction  . A tactic repeated in the prescient Enemy of the State. True Romance is one of my desert island movies, as intricate and finely crafted as a Faberge egg. My favoritism towards director is definably skewed towards more recent directors.  While I appreciate David Lean, Hitchcock, movies directed by contemporaries like Kubrick and George Roy Hill generate more favorite sentiment in my wiki. Of all the superb movies directed by his more critically and financially acclaimed Brother Ridley; only Gladiator would be found on my desert island databank.  Conventional wisdom dictates that the Aliens franchise and Blade Runner would top many lists.


Please take another look at True Romance, and likely you have not seen the masterpiece he co-produced with his brother Pillars of the Earth. This BBC version of the Ken Follett’s epic is a rare cinematic adaptation where the multimedia effort exceeds superb written words.





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