RIP Tony Scott

Sad news yesterday about the director/producer Tony Scott. He committed suicide. While we can't know what he was going through to make such an extreme decision, it's obvious he was in pain of some sort. Like most, I have a big issue with suicide as I lost a friend to it last year and another 6-7 years ago. It's always the ones left behind who have to deal with the aftermath. While I do think it selfish in most cases, as I said, we can't know exactly what was going on here. 

I immediately started thinking of some of my favorite films that Scott directed. His career spans back decades. Top Gun, The Hunger, Beverly Hills Cop II, Crimson Tide and so many others. 2 films stand out as some of my favorites. True Romance is just a cool flick. Well executed on all sides of it. One of those films you can quote all day and remember certain scenes. Brad Pitt as the stoner, Dennis Hopper being interrogated by the mob, the big shootout near the end and more. But my favorite is probably Man on Fire starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. It deals with an ex-CIA operative named Creasy (Washington), considered one of the best killers in the business, turned bodyguard, who goes on an all out rampage when his charge Pita (Fanning) is kidnapped in Mexico. He tears apart the kidnappers ring of evil piece by piece until the very moving ending. Creasy walks that moral line of doing what he has to do in order to get Pita back. And that involves lots of killing and violence. Washington plays this so deftly and gives a powerful performance. Never taking pride in the killings as it's just part of what he has to do. I couldn't believe it was never nominated (especially Washington) for Oscars but it is quite a bleak and violent tale. 

Scott left behind some unfinished work in both directing and producing. There were even talks of a Top Gun 2. I am a huge fan of a lot of his work, as are many others since his films tended to be more crowd pleasers than critical hits. Here's hoping his family and friends find some peace during this tragic time in their lives.