Tony Scott, director of such hits as Top Gun and Crimson Tide,
died yesterday, an apparent suicide -- he had jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles. Though there has been no official
explanation of his possible motives, ABC News and other sources reported today that he was suffering from inoperable brain cancer [ABC news has since reported that Scott's family has denied this.]
Scott's legacy is mixed and frustrating. He was, admittedly,
often a "hired gun," a reliable director of artistically unambitious, big
budget productions. But at a time when studio movies increasingly sacrifice
such virtues as character development, emotional truth, and narrative coherence
for vapid thrills and CGI effects, Scott was a bulwark of consistent quality
and occasional brilliance.
Inevitably he'll be compared to his older brother Ridley, the arty
one, the Oscar winner for Gladiator,
the auteur behind Blade Runner and Prometheus. But Tony was the first of
the siblings -- both first known in Britain
for their work in commercials -- to break into Hollywood. And his first film was as
artistically ambitious as any of Ridley's. When it comes to sheer decadence and
lush stylization,The Hunger (1983) has
few rivals among vampire movies. Among other memorable moments, it features
Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve in one of the screen's hottest scenes of revenant
sex. It's got David Bowie as a dodgy holdover from the 18th century who plays
Schubert on the cello and drinks the blood of children. Too bad it missed the
current vampire renaissance by two decades; though a cult hit now, it was a box
office bust when released, and so the younger Scott returned to England to make
more commercials.
That's when Jerry Bruckheimer, notorious producer of noisy
blockbusters, made his call, and the result was the now legendary, frequently
mocked, but ruthlessly effective jet jockey thriller, Top Gun (1986). Many more
collaborations with Bruckheimer followed, including Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Days
of Thunder (1990), Crimson Tide
(1995), and Deja Vu (2006). Most made
tons of money and contributed to Scott's unfair dismissal by critics. It's an
assessment that lately has been changing, a reevaluation that should only
intensify following his death.
But some of his films don't need any reconsideration or apology. True Romance (1993) might be the best screen
treatment of a Tarantino script, including those directed by Tarantino himself.
The Bruckheimer produced Enemy of the
State (1998) has proven prescient in its depiction of a world of unchecked
government surveillance and control, and his Spy Game was not only an expert
thriller but presented a more intelligent world view than anyone else was
coming up with in the immediate
aftermath of 9/11. And in his collaborations with such actors as
Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise he has helped shape their images as iconic
action heroes.
Scott left plans for
several projects unfinished, including a sequel to Top Gun, and, most intriguingly, an adaptation of Bill O'Reilly's
controversial novel, Killing Lincoln: the
Assassination that Shocked the Country. Commenting on Scott's death,
O'Reilly said, "Tony Scott's talent enriched the world. His accomplishments
were many." This might be the only time O'Reilly and I agree.
Latest Slideshows
