Let me start by saying all of our thoughts are with the Scott family at this incredibly difficult time.
I woke this morning at the usual time of around 530am, and went through the usual routine of checking emails and scanning twitter before I set off on the commute for my daily radio show. Scanning Twitter I briefly caught the words Tony Scott R.I.P. and I moved down through the tweets. Then it sank in and more and more tweets starting turning up on my timeline. Then I realised that Tony Scott was no longer with us. And I, like many others get that feeling of losing someone that you know. I didn’t know Tony Scott, nor did many of you reading this, but through his films ,we all kind of did know him.
I have a very vivid memory and experience of my first viewing of a Tony Scott film. It was the movie that heralded the arrival of Tom Cruise to mega stardom. Of course I’m talking about Top Gun. It was a VHS rental from a video store, brought home by my Dad. I absolutely loved the movie. It made a huge impression in a number of ways. I remember begging my parents the following day (a Saturday) to be brought into the city. All I wanted to do was buy the Top Gun Soundtrack. The first ever soundtrack I bought. I scraped every penny I had, and purchased the cassette and listened to the thing intensely. I became obsessed with F-14’s and the pilots uber cool jackets (remember the furry collars!!). I even wanted to join the US Navy and become a pilot. And those feelings never went away. That was 26 years ago and the memories are as clear and vivid now as if it only happened yesterday. The way that man shot, stylised and directed that movie has made a lifelong impression on me and thankfully a very happy one. Its a part of my childhood that I will never forget.
A Tony Scott movie is incredibly easy to spot. The crazy, over the top action. The way he moved a camera. No on screen credit was ever needed to know that a movie was a Tony movie. And what a selection of movies he brought to the big screen as a director. From Top Gun to True Romance to more recent offerings like Unstoppable and The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3. Let alone redefining the vampire genre, with The Hunger. The hours of entertainment and escapism that he brought to the big screen and the small screen is endless. These are movies that have stood the test of time and are something you switch off if you come across them while channel surfing. Huge testament to a man who knew who to entertain an audience.
I don’t wish to delve into the details surrounding Tony’s death (people can read about that elsewhere) but I simply want this article to highlight the great and good the man did. He made us smile, he made our jaws hit the floor, he made us feel the need for speed and he made a 10 year old boy feel like he could do anything. Thank you Tony Scott. Thank you so very, very much!!!
Wherever you are now, don’t be anyone's wingman, let them be yours!
