The Last Boy Scout

Tony Scott’s film came from a spec script Shane Black wrote after two years away from writing. The Geffen Film Company outbid the field with 1.75 million dollars, over a million guaranteed up front, reported then as a record for a screenplay. Once the studio landed Bruce Willis, the picture was expected to be a follow-up to Die Hard. Willis objected that he had just played saving his wife, so her part shrank and a large set piece was added to the end. Black calls it the script he had to rewrite more than anything else he has done. The 90 day shoot ran from 11 March to 9 June 1991, mostly around Los Angeles, the stadium scenes at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and San Diego Stadium. The real trouble came in the cutting room. The first assembly was judged unwatchable, editors were replaced one after another, and Stuart Baird was the last brought in. An initial NC-17 forced trims to the violence, which is why some deaths are cut so abruptly. At the 1992 MTV Movie Awards it was up for two prizes and lost both. A good fit if you treat the murder plot as a pretext and watch Willis spar with Damon Wayans. Not for anyone put off by the period’s sexist and coarse jokes.