CAST
TOM CRUISE, ROBERT DUVALL, NICLE KIDMAN, RANDY QUAID, CARY ELWES, MICHAEL ROOKER

SCREENPLAY BY
TOM CRUISE, ROBERT TOWNE

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

Tony Scott’s reunion with Top Gun star Tom Cruise brought about another cheesy “classic” in Days of Thunder, this time the Cruiser feeling the need for speed on the NASCAR circuit. Scott’s visual flair and love for a smoke filled set was the perfect fit for the car racing film, which to this day still contains some of the best pedal to the metal racing scenes put to film.

CAST
DENZEL WASHINGTON, JOHN TRAVOLTA, LUIS GUZMAN, JOHN TURTURRO, MICHAEL RISPOLI, JAMES GANDOLFINI

SCREENPLAY BY
BRIAN HELGELAND

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

This remake of the 1974 classic saw Scott take his kinetic visual style to a new (in not chaotic) level. He also set the stage for leading men extraordinaire Denzel Washington and John Travolta to go head to head as mild train conductor and psychotic criminal respectively, creating a film that contains as much character as it has energetic style.

CAST
BRUCE WILLIS, DAMON WAYANS, CHELSEA FIELD, NOBLE WILLINGHAM, TAYLOR NEGRON, DANIELLE HARRIS, HALLE BERRY

SCREENPLAY BY
SHANE BLACK, GREG HICKS

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

A buddy cop classic that benefited from Shane “Lethal Weapon” Black’s witty script, The Last Boy Scout saw Scott turn up the dial on his patented style genre titan Bruce Willis and unlikely co-star Damon Wayans are put through the ringer as murder, politics and American football converge in a movie that could only be made in Hollywood.

CAST
DENZEL WASHINGTON, PAULA PATTON, VAL KILMER, JIM CAVIEZEL, ADAM GOLDBERG, ELDEN HENSON, BRUCE GREENWOOD

SCREENPLAY BY
BILL MARSILII, TERRY ROSSIO

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

Déjà Vu was one of Scott’s more subdued efforts despite it’s out there premise that had Denzel Washington play an ATF agent who travels back in time to stop a terrorist bombing. Yet compared to the hyperkinetic style of Man On Fire and Domino, Scott sealed back that patented vibrancy of his, allowing breathing room for quite the engrossing story to develop.

CAST
DENZEL WASHINGTON, GENE HACKMAN, MATT CRAVEN, GEORGE DZUNDZA, VIGGO MORTENSEN, JAMES GANDOLFINI

SCREENPLAY BY
RICHARD P. HENRICK, MICHAEL SCHIFFER

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

Scott’s first film with Denzel Washington is also one of their best, with Crimson Tide a taut and thrilling drama that proved Scott’s ability to do small and semi-refined just as good as anyone, drawing great performances from Washington and Gene Hackman who clash in spectacular fashion, Scott eeking out every drop of tension as a submarine captain and his first in command battle over the fate of the world.

CAST
DENZEL WASHINGTON, DAKOTA FANNING, RADHA MITCHELL, MARC ANTHONY, GIANCARLO GIANNINI, MICKEY ROURKE, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN

SCREENPLAY BY
BRIAN HELGELAND

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

A film where Scott took his kinetic filmmaking style to a whole new level, Man on Fire was the type of revenge action thriller that perfectly suited Scott’s sensibilities and gave the perfect excuse for a reunion with Denzel Washington, who gives one of his best performances as mercenary turned bodyguard Creasy who takes on the Mexican underworld in search for his kidnapped charge (Dakota Fanning).

CAST
ROBERT REDFORD, BRAD PITT, CATHERINE McCORMACK, STEPHEN DILLANE, LARRY BRYGGMAN, MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE

SCREENPLAY BY
DAVID ARATA, MICHAEL FROST BECKNER

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

One of the better recent espionage thrillers, Spy Game benefits from the perfect blend of Scott’s fast moving direction, a complex and thrilling screenplay, and the one-two punch of Robert Redford and his younger counterpart Brad Pitt holding the screen with their magnetic presence.

CAST
TOM CRUISE, KELLY McGILLIS, VAL KILMER, ANTHONY EDWARDS, TOM SKERRITT, MICHAEL IRONSIDE

SCREENPLAY BY
JIM CASH, JACK EPPS JR.

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

The film that put Scott’s name on the map, Top Gun was also a cultural phenomenon that saw Tom Cruise become a superstar and drove a spike in military recruitment. Back by super producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpsons, Top Gun personified 1980s pop filmmaking which Scott helped form into a slick beast complete with chart topping and ass kicking hero in Maverick, the hot dog fighter pilot of Top Gun who Cruise plays with the perfect amount of cocky machismo and vulnerability.

CAST
DENZEL WASHINGTON, CHRIS PINE, ROSARIO DAWSON, KEVIN DUNN, ETHAN SUPLEE, T.J. MILLER, KEVIN CORRIGAN

SCREENPLAY BY
MARK ROMBACK

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

Tony Scott’s last film is also one of his best. Starring long time leading man Denzel Washington alongside young gun Chris Pine (pitting different generation leading men is a Scott specialty) Unstoppable told the “true story” about an unnamed runaway train carrying explosive materials into a heavily populated city, presented with all of the masculine visuals that Scott could muster.

CAST
CHRISTIAN SLATER, PATRICIA ARQUETTE, DENNIS HOPPER, VAL KILMER, GARY OLDMAN, BARD PITT, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN

SCREENPLAY BY
QUENTIN TARANTINO

DIRECTED BY
TONY SCOTT

Written by Quentin Tarantino and featuring and ensemble cast with enough star power to fuel a galaxy, True Romance was also the film that saw Tony Scott transform himself from 1980s action to a much more rounded filmmaker.

The film focused on homicidal lovebirds Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) as they travel from Detroit to Hollywood with a suitcase of heroin in their possession and the mob on their tale.

A who’s who of calibre talent make an appearance ranging from Gary Oldman (playing a dreadlocked pimp), to Brad Pitt (as the archetype stoner), to Val Kilmer (as Elvis Presley in spirit form). Yet the best moment belonged to Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper in a perfectly written, acted and directed scene, as Walken’s Mafioso interrogates Hopper’s ex-cop whose last moment of defiance ends with a stunningly magnificent insult on his part, leading to his grizzly death.

Sequences like that and may others feature Scott at his best, directing a high calibre cast to unforgettable performances and reminding us why he is one of the best visual filmmakers when on top of his game.