You got the pitch meeting about shooting Joanna Cassidy wrong. it was actually "We're gonna shoot Joanna Cassidy for real, so how so we make sure the viewers don't assume it's squibs and stunts?"

I've worked for Scott and i don't disagree with many of the sweeping statements you're making during the show

The Director's Cut is basically a rougher version of the Final Cut. It has the unicorn shot, no narration and no happy ending. It was one of the first DVDs ever made (I saw the Region 2 release - the picture looked like an early '90s transfer and the audio had only 2 channels).

William Sanderson (J.F. Sebastian) played a gangster on Babylon 5. Out of all the criminals on that show, he was easily the most interesting one.

In-before anyone else, here's the ultimate version of the blade runner soundtrack, wonderfully mixed into an awesome 2 hour piece of ambient 80s retrofuturism:

Great commentary guys, very good analysis and perspectives from all. Glad you came around on it Teague.

That being said, I will not stand for this flippant dismissal of Tony Scott, one of the best populist directors we ever had. For my money, Tony is the more consistent of the 2 brothers, and has made more overall enjoyable movies (that always look amazing). Ya, he never swung for the fences and made an Alien or a Blade Runner, but True Romance, Crimson Tide, Last Boyscout, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Deja Vu, and Unstoppable are all awesome movies and that's not a filmography to sneeze at. Even his weaker stuff like Enemy of the State, Top Gun, and Domino is better and has more personality than anything big-budget coming out today.

Last edited by bullet3 (2015-02-20 04:30:49)

Great episode.

I had a professor who said that in college he based a 30-page paper on a single frame of this film. He didn't say which one, but I'm very curious.

I agree with most of this, especially True Romance and The Last Boyscout (which I believe are Scott's best works, particularly because they're built around very good screenplays). And before Trey snobbishly turns his nose up at a film maker and his entire body of work (most of which he admits to having not seen, which I'd argue makes him look bad), I'd recommend he look at The Hunger (1983), Scott's first feature as a Director. It's very artsy and European, nothing like the "populist" action extravaganzas he's more known for. If nothing else, it has a pretty steamy sex scene between Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve, some impressive makeup FX involving David Bowie and lots of that smokey, blue lighting Ridley uses.

So there.

That's what they want you to think

Last edited by Regan (2015-02-21 19:28:06)

More so than even Bruckheimer, I'd say the guy truly responsible for that particular style (continued to the extreme by Michael Bay) would be Jerry's original producing partner, Don Simpson. Seriously, look that guy up. Everything about him screamed 80s' excess. Even into the 90s', before he died he couldn't let go of that aesthetic and lifestyle. Look at pictures of him and the guy is ever dressed as if he walked off the set of Top Gun.

As far as Tony Scott goes, I agree that it's unfair (and not altogether accurate) to write the man off as a commercial, lowest common denominator Director. On many occasions, he was more considered to be avant-garde. Just look at some of the stuff he was doing with text and editing in Man On Fire. Full disclosure, I didn't happen to like what he was doing but make no mistake, Tony Scott marched to the beat of his own drum and paved the way for what a lot of folks are doing now. One could argue as to that being either good or bad but like him or not, the man deserves respect.

His 90s output is most definitely better than Ridley's.

I liked it as a teen when it came out, so it gets a pass on its faults. I always like the local reviewer's comments: Yes, it has every movie cliche you can think of, but it's audience hasn't seen those cliches yet.

Excuse me, I think you're missing the part where it looks fracking awesome (...for the most part).