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pick your top ridley scott movies

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I'm putting together a collected DVD set of what I consider the best Ridley Scott movies.

now my personal list is below, but here is the full list of Ridley films below that.

I realise American Gangster isn't out on DVD yet, but it will feature on my list. I haven't seen matchstick men, a good year ( but I heard it's a dog), Hannibal (awful), white squall (interesting but a flawed indulgent project), Thelma & Louise (an atrocious movie), someone to watch over me (well shot but boring and predictable), anyone seen 1492 : conquest of paradise? (I've heard varied on this one)

anyone care to offer some opinions on the above options as to whether to include or not?

My List
American Gangster
Kingdom of Heaven
Black Hawk Down
Gladiator
G.I. Jane
1492: Conquest of Paradise
Black Rain
Legend
Blade Runner
Alien
The Duellists

Ridleys Full List
American Gangster
A Good Year
All the Invisible Children
Kingdom of Heaven
Matchstick Men
Cinema16: British Short Films
Black Hawk Down
Hannibal
Gladiator
G.I. Jane
White Squall
1492: Conquest of Paradise
Thelma & Louise
Black Rain
Someone to Watch Over Me
Legend
Blade Runner
Alien
The Duellists
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I really liked Kingdom of Heaven, but I kept picturing Ridley watching of Lord of the Rings thinking, "How would I have made this movie?"
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oh I love kingdom of heaven. I've got the 4 disc directors version and it rules. in fact. all of the latest ridley DVD releases have been great.

the 3 disc black hawk down
the 4 disc kingdom of heaven
the 5 disc blade runner
the new edition of black rain
the alien (from quadrilogy set)
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Ridley Scott is my favourite director of all time. I know I'm making a really bold statement here, but in my opinion he's Hollywood's answer to AKira Kurosawa (my other favourite director of all time). If you haven't seen Matchstick Men your in for a treat, its a terrific and quirky character film thats personal and intimate, a real departure from Scott in some ways and I wish he would make another film like this. Thelma and Louis awful? Well, its the only Best Director Oscar he's ever won, so that must be worth something; I think its a fantastic film, a sort of larger-scale predecessor to Matchstick Men in some ways.

IMO the only really bad movie he made was White Squall; tired and uninteresting and it uses every cliche in the book, and the whole "boys on a boat" thing is just really outdated. Hannibal, 1492, Black Rain and Someone to Watch Over Me at least have incredible design and cinematography. While speaking of 1492 its a shame that this still has never been on DVD for some confounding reason but its criticism is largely true: its all over the place and doesn't ever come together, but you can see that theres this really interesting film in there somewhere; its like an unfinished first draft screenplay or something. But at least the visuals are astounding. I know he's probably done more "director's cut"'s than Oliver Stone but this is one instance where I'd really like to see Scott try to tackle the film again, because I think it could be drastically improved by another edit.

Its hard to put a best-of list together because I honestly like every single movie he's done but I guess the top are

-Alien
-Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut
-Blade Runner
-Gladiator
-The Duellists

I include that last one in there because its really is an absolutely first-rate film, even though I don't rank it on the same level as those first four--but it certainly remains among his best films, IMO. I wish more people had seen it.

Personally, I thought the Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven was the best epic since Lawrence of Arabia. Its one of the biggest shame's to cinema that this was never released to theaters, and I guarantee Scott would have another pair of Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for his mantle. Such an extraordinary film.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming three-disk American Gangster DVD (missed it in theaters unfortunately--apparently there is some extended cut on the three-disk set though I doubt its anything more than a studio insistance like the second cuts of Black Hawk Down and Gladiator).
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I haven't seen all his movies but I really liked Black Hawk Down, Alien, Gladiator, American Gangster, Legend and 1492. I didn't like Kingdom Of Heaven, I thought it was a pile of crap.

But speaking of 1492, I bought the DVD years ago. Why do you think it's not on DVD zombie84? (maybe there never was an R1, I don't know, but I have the R2)

Although I have the 5 disc set of Blade Runner I have never seen any version of the movie.
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Kingdom of Heaven, the theatrical version, I agree its a complete pile of crap. I saw this after I saw the Directors Cut, avoiding it because I knew before it came out that it had been totally butchered, and I was so awed at the Directors Cut that I thought I'd view the theatrical cut out of curiosity--its hard to believe its the same film. Theres no detail or characterisation, things just happen for no reason, theres none of the subtlety, all of the violence is gone, and its all action-oriented. It felt like I was watching a bad trailer for the real film. Watch the Director's Cut, its hard to sort of wipe your mind of the theatrical version I would think since you've seen some of the film already, but it'll be worth it because as I said, it really is the best epic since LOA, certainly better than all the Bravehearts and Lord of the Rings combined.

1492--theres no legitimate R1 release, unless one came out sometime earlier this year and I missed it somehow. Davy, where did you get yours from? A lot of online retailers will sell copies to North America, but they are either from other regions or bootlegs.
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I absolutely love Ridley Scott. He is easily my favorite director of all time, and I have an incredible amount of respect for the man. I'm in the process of Netflixing every movie he's made (minus 1492 which hasn't been released in R1), but I've seen quite a few. This would be my list of all of Scott's films I've seen, best to worst:

Blade Runner (Final Cut)
Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)
American Gangster
Alien (Theatrical Cut)
Gladiator (Theatrical Cut)
Blade Runner (Director's Cut/Workprint)
Legend (Director's Cut)
Alien (Director's Cut)
Kingdom of Heaven (Theatrical Cut - I actually liked it a lot when I first saw it, but fell in love with it when I saw the Director's Cut)
Black Hawk Down
Hannibal
Blade Runner (Theatrical/International Cuts)


On my list to see (* next to the ones I own/currently have through Netflix):

The Duellists*
Legend (Theatrical Cut)*
Someone to Watch Over Me
Black Rain
Thelma & Louise
1492: Conquest of Paradise
White Squall
G.I. Jane
Matchstick Men
A Good Year

Not interested in the Extended Cut of Gladiator, but Scott is easily the only director that I can honestly say I want to see all of his films.

And I can't find any indication that 1492 was ever released in R1 - where did you find it, Dayv?
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Originally posted by: zombie84
Kingdom of Heaven, the theatrical version, I agree its a complete pile of crap. I saw this after I saw the Directors Cut, avoiding it because I knew before it came out that it had been totally butchered, and I was so awed at the Directors Cut that I thought I'd view the theatrical cut out of curiosity--its hard to believe its the same film. Theres no detail or characterisation, things just happen for no reason, theres none of the subtlety, all of the violence is gone, and its all action-oriented. It felt like I was watching a bad trailer for the real film. Watch the Director's Cut, its hard to sort of wipe your mind of the theatrical version I would think since you've seen some of the film already, but it'll be worth it because as I said, it really is the best epic since LOA, certainly better than all the Bravehearts and Lord of the Rings combined.

1492--theres no legitimate R1 release, unless one came out sometime earlier this year and I missed it somehow. Davy, where did you get yours from? A lot of online retailers will sell copies to North America, but they are either from other regions or bootlegs.



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Ridley Scott's "Bike Ride" - a 1973 TV ad for Hovis - was once voted the UK's favourite TV advertisement of all time.

Just mentioning it in case any of our US members have never seen it. It's probably on youtube.

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I also think Scott is one of the greatest directors of our time. There are many of his films I don't care for, but when his films are good, they are really good. Kingdom of Heaven would be one of those I would place in the "don't care for" category, but now that I hear everyone talking about how brilliant the DC was, I will be watching it at the first possible chance. That was one of those films I really wanted to like, but while watching it I felt like I was watching the same thing I had seen a million times before in any other "epic". It just felt old and tired. From the description of the DC it sounds great.

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Yes, I'm going to watch the DC of KoH too. From what I just read at IMDB the changes are indeed huge (not to mention it's 49 minutes longer). The version I saw was Scott unworthy.
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yes, the theatrical release of KoH was a travesty and that was purely down to bean counter studios looking at it and saying (and this is true by the way) hmmm, you know, if we cut 30 minutes out of this, we can have three showings a day instead of 2 which will get us more money.

so they got ridley to cut it down, cutting out the whole sybilla child subplot.

big mistake.

one thing though, the number of directors cut ridley does, really shows how much the studios meddle with his movies. you'd have thought they'd have learned by now not to tamper, the man can consistently deliver. in fact, I can't think of another director who has done so many films that I like, maybe speilberg but ridley has a more gritty edge than speilberg.

1492 is out R2. has been for ages. in fact Play 247 have it for about £3 at the moment.

the duellists is a fabulous film to those who haven't seen it. it was very limited release when it first came out but ridley worked wonders with such a small budget and it's one of the few films from the napoleonic period which is one of my favourites anyway. harvey keitel is fantastic too.

I think GI Jane is okay. for me to like a film with demi moore in is really saying something, but I think it tackled the subject matter quite well until the last half hour when it got a bit too hollywood for me, probably signs of more hollywood tampering to be honest, but I thought the guy that played the master chief in that was good (struggling to remember if that was viggo mortensen off the top of my head)

from the sounds of it, 1492 I think is one of those films that again needs a directors cut, either by re-editing, or adding to it, or even a fan edit to turn it into a better film.

I love Blade Runner but I also think it becoming too much of a monster off its own reputation. loads of people talk about it and I know some of them ain't seen it at work, but its all hushed whispers. blade runners this, blade runners that. I think it is a seminal work, it clearly influenced other directors to a large degree, in fact, look at Ridleys films. can't knock the 5 disc set though. masterful piece of production work.

Alien re-defined space/space horror.
blade runner re-defined sci fi (star wars made it popular, blade runner made it serious)
gladitaor re-defined sword and sandal epics
kingdom of heaven DC re-defined that further (believe me, it will be reevaluated in time and seen for the gem it is), (still wish it was someone other than orlando bloom though)

The duellists is a good piece that a lot of directors should study to find out how to get the best out of things. and one thing I do love about all of ridleys discs, is when they include a commentary, there is so much value there. as a film buff, I love it, but it really makes me dream of someone handing me £10 million to make a film with.

is 1492 worth getting at all, or is it really that bad? I like Karyo and Depardieu anyway, but I know the columbus films in 92 were generally poorly recieved.
When a woman says yes, she means no - when she says maybe, she means no.

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1492 is worth watching, even if you're not a fan of Scott; theres some really terrific design in there, as you might expect. Its spectacular.

http://www.jerrydroberts.com/brokedowncinema/Poster/1492poster.jpg

Come on, thats cool. Even if the actual story is badly done.

Davy, googling, I can't find any trace of a legitimate North American release--just threads of other people wondering why its not out. There is a South Korean import that is R1--Amazon.com has a page for it, but its not sold. The mystery goes on...
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Man, now I'm going to go back and watch the KoH director's cut again. I didn't care for the theatrical release, but heard good t'ings about the director's cut. Watched half before I fell asleep. Can someone please tell me, in more detail, why the DC is so much better than the TC? I guess my biggest gripe is that Orlando gets 15 minutes of lessons about fighting from his pop, then automatically is the best swordsman in the world for the next 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Anyway, maybe not the 'best' films, but my favorites:

1) Blade Runner
2) Black Hawk Down
3) Gladiator
4) Alien
5) Black Rain (I love the scenery and photography)
40,000 million notches away
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Originally posted by: zombie84
Davy, googling, I can't find any trace of a legitimate North American release--just threads of other people wondering why its not out. There is a South Korean import that is R1--Amazon.com has a page for it, but its not sold. The mystery goes on...



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I like all the versons of the films: Blade Runner and Alien
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Originally posted by: Windexed
Man, now I'm going to go back and watch the KoH director's cut again. I didn't care for the theatrical release, but heard good t'ings about the director's cut. Watched half before I fell asleep. Can someone please tell me, in more detail, why the DC is so much better than the TC?


Let me give you an example:


The theatrical cut opens with some guys burying a woman (Orlando Bloom's wife); a priest comes by and tells them to cut off her head because she was a suicide. Then Liam Neeson shows up with some men and meets Orlando Bloom; he says he's his father and to come with him but Bloom turns him away. That night the priest visits Bloom, Bloom sees he has stolen his dead wife's necklace and he suddenly stabs him and runs away.

The Directors Cut is much more lyrical and drawn out, allowing characters to breath and detail to be dwelt upon. One of the first shots is the gravedigger finding an apple, opening it up and finding a worm inside--a sort of metaphor for the state of the world. They have some dialog together and then the priest comes by, and they exchange words. After stealing the necklace he orders her head cut off, but the men protest--she's his brother's wife. The priest is actually Orlando Bloom's brother. Then we meet Orlando Bloom--alone in a dark house, staring off; we go into a brief flashback and see him and his pregnant wife in a sunny homestead, planting a garden. Back in the present again we realise he's had an emotional breakdown because of his lost child and wife, and doesn't speak anymore. He goes and visits the fresh grave and his brother the priest comes by, and berates him out of jealousy, pushing him but Bloom remains unresponsive. Liam Neeson arrives and theres a scene of them staying at the local castle, as they feast and discuss the political scene--but Neeson stares out the window remembering his old life, as we learn he used to live here. The next morning Bloom finally decides to get his life together and summons his apprentice and they revive the metal workshop, as we learn Bloom is a blacksmith. Neeson and the men visit him (one of my favorite bits here in the DC is a shot of the scandavian guy wiping his mouth with his hair--just little details like this that make all the difference) and Neeson reveals he fathered Bloom (he actually says it in proper terms, "I knew your mother", rather than the more obvious language of the theatrical version, "Balian, I'm your father"). After sending him away, his brother visits him that night and provokes him some more, and when Bloom sees his wife's necklace he kills his brother and then runs off.

Its a pretty different film. And this kind of thing is characteristic of the entire movie.

As for Bloom's swordsmanship, in the scene where Neeson and his men visit him in his shop he explains that he was a soldier once and fought for a king over some long-forgotten dispute. So he's not just some tradesman, he actually has combat experience. Neeson just gives him some pointers.
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Originally posted by: Sluggo
I really liked Kingdom of Heaven, but I kept picturing Ridley watching of Lord of the Rings thinking, "How would I have made this movie?"


Ha.....yes.

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I should clarify that I have only seen the Director's Cut. Reading this thread makes me glad I haven't seen the theatrical version.
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Originally posted by: Windexed
I guess my biggest gripe is that Orlando gets 15 minutes of lessons about fighting from his pop, then automatically is the best swordsman in the world for the next 2 hours and 45 minutes.


That's explained in the DC, vaguely anyway - it was mentioned that Balian had been at war before, so he does have experience, his father just refined his technique. And his brother mentioned that he designed siege weapons for war as a blacksmith, hence his eye for tactical strategy.
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OK, I have seen the director's cut of KoH. I still don't like the movie. Although the story is now better I think I know why I don't like it. It's all the "in the name of God this", "in the name of God that", "God wants it". All this madness in the name of God, I can't stand the religious fanatics and their abuse of religion.
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Me and a friend of mine watched that movie and we kept laughing whenever this guy stood up and yelled "God wills it!"

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