Split Decision: Great (Tony) Scott!
I don’t think Tony Scott is an especially distinguished director, and The Hunger is not a good film, but it is incredibly stylish. The cast is amazing: Bowie, Denevue, Sarandon, but also Ann Magnuson and Willem Dafoe in tiny roles. And while there is a great scene of John (Bowie) aging rapidly, and the sex between Denevue and Sarandon is quite sensual, the plot about non-human blood is at times risible. The wind machines may have worked overtime billowing the curtains, but the film has a heady atmosphere of decay. Alas, Scott is more focused on tone than meaning, which is a drawback for folks hungering for more. –Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer
Tony Scott may not be a particularly distinguished director, but for any goth kid running around out there, The Hunger is not only stylish, but the most deeply cherished vampire film of all time. From the opening scenes creating a music video for “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus to the climactic reunion of Catherine Denueve and her past lovers, no one who has seen this film will ever hear Delibes’ Lakhme and not think of this film. –Anthony Glassman, Contributor
Not to disagree with Gary but The Hunger is a great movie and one of my favorite quarantine finds. I was entranced from beginning to end. It looks amazing and the opening is essentially a Bauhaus video. Sarandon, Bowie, and Denueve are amazing in this and I love that it’s a New York vampire story. I would be lying if I said I had not fantasized about Miriam turning me into one of her undead companions. Tori Potenza, Staff Writer
True Romance. I love True Romance. Love it. The script by Quentin Tarantino by itself is nothing remarkable. It's not his best. It's not his worst. It's solidly fine. But there's something magical about Tony Scott's direction that makes everything work. He's in rare form here, having so much fun. He clearly loves the story and it's infectious. When he decides to ditch the sad ending and go happy, it didn't feel cynical. He just couldn't stand the idea of his fun little movie ending that way.-Billy Russell, Staff Writer
I really enjoyed The Taking of Pelham 123. Denzel Washington gave a great performance as someone who doesn’t have control over a situation. He goes against type. But that isn’t my favorite Scott flick. I have to agree with Billy, True Romance is an amazing film. The Sicilian scene between Walken and Hopper, Gary Oldman being an intimidating Tour de force, and the endless nods to pop culture, makes True Romance stand out as one of the most interesting films of the 1990’s. The cherry on the film’s proverbial top, is how it’s skeleton was Tarantino’s 1990 short film My Best Friend’s Birthday. A film that shows how Tarantino found his voice as he went along his filmmaking journey. Go check out all three flicks! - Miguel Alejandro Marquez, Staff Writer
I have to say True Romance, because it’s the only Tony Scott movie I’ve seen! I have to agree with Billy that it’s clear that everyone involved is having the time of their lives. Between the bold acting choices, crazy accents and countless pop culture references, it’s clear that Scott loves every aspect of the movie, and you can’t help but be swept up in his enthusiasm. –Ryan Smillie, Staff Writer
I know some of my fellow MovieJawn writers are all in on the stuff Tony Scott was doing from Man on Fire on, where everything is so stylized it’s like he’s filming for a Clockwork Orange reprogramming room, but I respect those films more than I enjoy them. My peak Tony Scott is still The Last Boy Scout. Scott does a great job, plus you’ve got Bruce Willis a couple years before he completely stopped trying and Shane Black a couple years before he went on a hiatus. It’s just such a fun movie— exactly what you’d want Black to write after hitting it big, with Scott making the energetic, elastic action flick Beverly Hills Cop 2 could have been. I think Joel Silver produced better movies (he even produced a better movie that starred Bruce Willis), but this is the ideal “Joel Silver action movie” for me. At a time when Lethal Weapon was huge and everybody was trying to make movies that captured that energy, Tony Scott was the only one able to build a better Lethal Weapon.- Alex Rudolph, Staff Writer
Tony Scott has a lot of extremely solid hits and I love everyone’s answers above. Having said that, while it may not be my absolute fave that I’ve seen (True Romance is a strong contender, as is Days of Thunder) I just wanted to give a shout out to Unstoppable, or as my house calls it The Train That Couldn’t Slow Down. It seems like it should just be a fun Speed knock-off, but it’s handled with gravitas and a sense of stakes that keep the tension cranked up. It’s also got some great interactions from Chris Pine and Denzel, who I would love to see in something else together. So that’s my 2 cents: Unstoppable is a movie that’s much better than it seems and than it could’ve been. Also, it’s set in Pennsylvania, so it gets bonus points - “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer
The Fan is my favorite Tony Scott film because it gives us another unhinged Robert De Niro stalker performance. He's a little more subdued here than he is in Cape Fear and The King of Comedy, but he gets the job done in what's mostly just a trashy mid-90s action thriller. You also get Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo and pretty good use of Nine Inch Nails as other reminders that this was made in 1996. –Matt McCafferty, Staff Writer
It is a toss up between The Hunger and Days of Thunder for my favorite feature film by Tony Scott, but my pick has to be “Beat the Devil",” his short film in BMW’s The Hire series. In all of the shorts, Clive Owen plays The Driver. In this installment, the final of the original run, he joined by James Brown, Danny Trejo, and Gary Oldman. Owen races against the devil (one of the best kinds of races) and this jam packed fun short shows Scott’s command of action as well as quickly defining characters. –Ryan Silberstein, The Red Herring