The Last Boy Scout
Everyone had counted them out. But they're about to get back in the game.
The Last Boy Scout (1991)
Production
Budget
$29 000 000
Revenue
$114 500 000
Director
Scenario
Shane Black
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Bruce Willis
Joe Hallenbeck
Damon Wayans
James Alexander 'Jimmy' Dix
Chelsea Field
Sarah Hallenbeck
Noble Willingham
Sheldon Marcone
Taylor Negron
Milo
Danielle Harris
Darian Hallenbeck
Halle Berry
Cory
Bruce McGill
Mike Matthews
Short description
The Last Boy Scout centres on Joe Hallenbeck, a private detective whose past as a Secret Service agent ended badly, and Jimmy Dix, a former professional football player whose career was cut short. When a stripper Joe was hired to protect is killed, the two men set out to find whoever is responsible. Their investigation draws them into extortion, blackmail and corruption reaching from professional football into politics, and the pair must work together despite their differences.
Tony Scott directed the film, the sixth of the sixteen features he made, following Days of Thunder and preceding True Romance. Shane Black wrote the screenplay, and Joel Silver, Steve Perry and Michael Levy produced. Bruce Willis plays Joe and Damon Wayans plays Jimmy, with Chelsea Field, Noble Willingham, Taylor Negron and Danielle Harris among the cast. The production cost about 29 million dollars and took roughly 115 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget.
Ratings for the film are moderate on both major platforms: 6.9 out of 10 on IMDb and 6.8 out of 10 on TMDB. A film critics' rating of 5.4 out of 10 is noticeably lower than those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The gun that Joe takes from the pimp is a "Desert Eagle in .357 Magnum".
- Joe's car is a 1971 "Buick 'Boat tail' Riviera".
- Although Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans portray friends in the film, the actors disliked working together so much in real life that they simply could not stand each other.
- In one interview, Tony Scott admitted that a stray cat once entered Bruce Willis's trailer and attempted to mate with the actor's hairpiece. Despite the hairpiece being quite damaged, it was still managed to be restored to a wearable condition.
- Jack Nicholson was the first candidate for the role of Joe Hallenbeck.
- Mel Gibson was considered for the role of Jimmy Dix.
- A riot almost broke out during filming at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A scene involving several hundred extras was scheduled for the second day, but it was canceled at the last minute, and they were not informed. The next day, a large crowd of extras arrived for work, but after they were refused payment, the disgruntled crowd began to push against the fence around the set. Ultimately, a SWAT team had to be called in to disperse the crowd.
- During the course of the film, one character hits another 31 times (9 of those hits are delivered by Joe Hallenbeck).
- Filming took place in Los Angeles and surrounding areas from March 11th to June 9th, 1991.
- At the 85th minute of the film, Joe and Jimmy park near the stadium, and it is clearly visible that after the chase, the car's front passenger window is covered in cracks and has several bullet holes. But at the 92nd minute, when Marconi picks up the suitcase from the car, the window is already intact.
- In one scene, Joe (Bruce Willis) talks about pizza with goat cheese. The exact same pizza is mentioned by a character played by Bruce Willis in "Hudson Hawk" (1991).
- Darian is watching "Lethal Weapon" (1987) on television, which was also co-written by Shane Black and produced by Joel Silver. Interestingly, in the scene from that film being shown, Mel Gibson is being tortured by Al Leong, who also played one of the terrorists in "Die Hard" (1988) with Bruce Willis. Ironically, the role of John McClane in "Die Hard" was offered to Mel Gibson, and the role of Martin Riggs in "Lethal Weapon" was offered to Bruce Willis, but both actors turned down the offers.
- Composer Michael Kamen disliked the film very much, but being a good friend of Bruce Willis and Joel Silver, he agreed to write the music for it.
- The pistol Joe takes from the pimp is a "Desert Eagle in .357 Magnum".
- Joe's car is a 1971 "Buick ’Boat tail’ Riviera" model.
- In the first version of the script, the action in the final third of the film was supposed to take place on the water. Senator Baynard and his son Louis were to be the main villains and were supposed to die at the end of the film.
- The word "fuck" is uttered 102 times throughout the film.
- Producer Joel Silver stated that his involvement in the film was "one of the three worst experiences of his life." Director Tony Scott also mentioned his unpleasant experience working on the film. According to him, Silver and Bruce Willis constantly dictated their terms, changed entire pieces of Shane Black’s script, and forced him to shoot certain scenes with which he strongly disagreed under the threat of dismissal and loss of salary.
- Tony Scott so loathed his collaboration with producer Joel Silver that he decided to base the character of Lee Donowitz – a film producer, cocaine addict, and dealer – on him in his next film, "True Romance" (1993). The director also made sure that the actor playing the role looked and behaved exactly like Silver.
- Shane Black became the first screenwriter to receive $1 million for a screenplay. According to Time magazine, Carolco Pictures initially offered him $2.25 million, but Black chose Warner Brothers with a lower (but record-breaking) bid of $1.75 million for the opportunity to work with Joel Silver again, who had produced his screenplay for "Lethal Weapon." The record lasted 67 days until Carolco acquired Joe Eszterhas's screenplay for "Basic Instinct" for $3 million.
- Due to all the behind-the-scenes conflicts and technical difficulties, Warner Bros. hired editor Stuart Baird to radically re-edit the film. For the same reasons, Baird re-edited "Tango & Cash" (1989) – another action film from the studio that faced even greater problems during filming and post-production.
- This is not the first film featuring Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. They had already appeared together a year earlier in the comedy "Baby Talk 2," where they voiced the thoughts of two toddlers.
- This is one of two films by director Tony Scott with a sports theme and one white and one black actor in the leading roles. His other film is "The Fan" (1996).
- In the opening scene of the film, the surnames “Josephson” and “Couts” are visible on the jerseys of two players. Barry Josephson was a producer of this film, and Kim Couts played the role of “Chet”.
- Two years after the film's release, Tony Scott directed “True Romance” (1993) starring Tom Sizemore. In the same year, Bruce Willis starred alongside Sizemore in the action film “Striking Distance” (1993). Notably, in all three films, both actors play cops.
- At the seven-minute mark of the film, the Fox Plaza skyscraper is visible in the background. This skyscraper was used as Nakatomi Plaza in “Die Hard”.
- Kim Couts’ character is killed by Bruce Willis. In “Hostage” (2005), Couts’ character also dies at the hands of Willis.
Similar movies
8.5/10
8.2/10
8/10
7.9/10
7.8/10
7.7/10
7.7/10
7.6/10
7.6/10
7.6/10
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
