Shane Black Week/Month: The Last Boy Scout

Joe Hallenbeck: This is the nineties. You don't just go around punching people. You have to say something cool first.

If one quote could sum up Shane Black's "The Last Boy Scout", I think that would be it. TLBS may be Shane Black's most quotable script ever. I would just direct you to IMDB's memorabl quotes section to view the gems for yourself. I think its also probably Black's funniest script to date. He really went out of his way to jam tons of zingers for the two main protagonists, Joe Hallenbeck and Jimmy Dix, and a lot for the villains as well.

As for the movie itself, I think it can be considered a nice bookend piece to Shane Black's career in the "buddy action genre", for which he is often credited as the guy who perfected it. Its funny because if you look at his filmography, Black has only really written a handful of movies. Before TLBS, he had only done Lethal Weapon, Monster Squad (he has stated the film bares little resemblance to his script), and Lethal Weapon 2 (plus a ton of uncredited script doctoring). He definitely gave it his all here.

The movie itself probably would never work without Bruce Willis as private dick Joe Hallenbeck. I can't think of another actor in the world who can play the "calm, cool, collected smart ass, who gets beat up a lot but still comes out the hero". He did it wonderfully in the Die Hard Series. He does it masterfully in TLBS. I think Black's quips were almost tailor made for Willis deadpan delivery. If anyone else tried to say them, like say a C. Thomas Howell, it would come out very very bad and I mean "Soul Man" bad. I definitely put Joe Hallenbeck up there as one of Bruno's greatest roles.

Next, lets touch on the enigma that is Damon Q. Wayans. What the hell happened to this guy's career? The guy is fantastic in TLBS. I am sure a lot of it had to do with the script, but the guy is a solid actor as well. I remember when he left "In Living Color" there was a lot of buzz about what he was going to do and after TLBS and "Mo' Money" came questionable material like "Blank Man" and the uber horrible "Major Payne". Wayans' turn as Jimmy Dix, disgraced pro football star, was really quite excellent. Its easily his best role on film. My favorite line would be this one:

Joe: Where you going?
Jimmy: The bathroom. Doctor told me not to lift anything heavy, you wanna help?

As far as the actual movie, its your classic Los Angeles story involving crooked senators and football team owners trying to get gambling legalized only to have a washed up private detective and ex-football star stumble into the situation. There are some very nice set pieces (it is a Shane Black script after all), which are pretty well directed by Tony Scott. He seems to have controlled himself a bit more in this film and sort of let the scenes play out without adding in jump cuts and all the MTV crap he does now.

Overall, "The Last Boy Scout" is probably one of my favorite films of the 1990's, even though it was released in 1991. It really didn't do as well as it should have at the box office, but isn't that always the case with movies like this. It really is quite a gem that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys quality action movies.