The Last Boy Scout
 |
| The Last Boy Scout | |
|---|---|
 The Last Boy Scout promotional movie poster | |
| Directed by | Tony Scott |
| Written by | Story: Shane Black & Greg Hicks Screenplay: Shane Black |
| Produced by | Joel Silver Michael Levy |
| Starring | Bruce Willis Damon Wayans Chelsea Field Noble Willingham Taylor Negron Danielle Harris |
| Cinematography | Ward Russell |
| Edited by | Stuart Baird Mark Goldblatt |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates | December 13, 1991 (USA) |
Running time | 105 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Unknown |
| Box office | $59,509,925 (USA) |
The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 action movie starring Bruce Willis as a former Secret Service agent, now working as a private detective, and Damon Wayans as a retired professional football player. The two join forces to solve the murder of Wayan’s girlfriend. The movie was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and Geffen Pictures and directed by Tony Scott.
The film's grim, downbeat tone and punishing violence proved to be a little much for holiday moviegoers at the time of its release in December 1991.[citation needed] It was, however, a modest commercial success, particularly in comparison to star Bruce Willis’ previous vehicle, Hudson Hawk.
Taglines
- The goal is to survive.
- They're two fallen heroes up against the gambling syndicate in pro sports. Everyone had counted them out. But they're about to get back in the game.
Synopsis
Bruce Willis stars as Joe Hallenbeck, a private detective and retired U.S. Secret Service agent who discovers that his wife is having an affair with his best friend and sometime business partner, Mike (Bruce McGill). The same morning, Mike is killed in a mysterious car explosion after giving Joe an assignment to act as bodyguard for a stripper named Cory (Halle Berry). Joe immediately crosses paths with Cory’s over-protective boyfriend, former football star James Alexander “Jimmy” Dix (Damon Wayans), who had been banned from pro football after he was busted by the league for gambling and drug posession. When thugs attack Joe and kill Cory in front of Jimmy Dix’s eyes, Jimmy and Joe team up to solve her murder.
The investigation turns out to tie together the professional pasts of both Jimmy and Joe. Jimmy, it turns out, had to retire from professional football after a sports injury led to an addiction to pain-killers, which in turn led to a possibly bogus gambling charge that ended his career. Joe, meanwhile, used to be a respected agent in the Secret Service and even once saved President Jimmy Carter’s life, before his career was ended when he punched a protectee in the face, upon discovering that the corrupt Senator Calvin Baynard was physically abusing one of his one-night stands.
Jimmy and Joe soon discover that Cory had proof that Sen. Baynard (Chelcie Ross) is part of a conspiracy to legalize sports gambling, but that the other conspirators have decided to assassinate the senator rather than continue to bribe him. Much of the film follows Jimmy and Joe’s attempts to prevent the assassination.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- Shane Black became the first writer to sell a script for $1 million.
- The movie that Joe’s daughter Darian is watching on TV is Lethal Weapon, which was also written by Shane Black.
- In the original script, the entire third act was set on water. Hallenbeck’s grudge with senator Baynard was completely different from the movie. Hallenbeck was working security for the Baynard family when Louis Baynard, President Baynard’s son, kills a mother and her child in a drunken car accident. When Hallenbeck refuses to cover for the president’s son, they plant half a kilo of crack cocaine in his house. Louis Baynard was also a villain in the script, and in the end both he (and his father) dies.
- Quentin Tarantino has declared himself a fan of The Last Boy Scout.
- Bill Medley sings “Friday Night Is a Great Night for Football” on the opening and closing credits.
- This was Eddie Griffin’s first ever appearance in a film.
- Billy Cole, the football player who commits suicide in the film's opening game, is played by Tae-Bo guru Billy Blanks.
- Composer Michael Kamen hated the film when he first saw it. He only scored the film out of his personal friendships to Bruce Willis and Joel Silver.
- The movie's title character, "The Last Boy Scout", is revealed to be Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) when Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) signs Hallenbeck's daughter's football card, "To the Daughter of The Last Boy Scout"
- The cat-puppet that Darian speaks through (and ultimately saves Hallenbeck's life) is named "Furry Tom."