Shane Black Discussion

"The Long Kiss Goodnight" feels more like his movie, but there's no topping "Lethal Weapon". The one-liners, the structure, it really did revolutionize action movies for a time.

I'm dying to see KKBB, as the pairing of Kilmer and Downey Jr. with good material is a dream come true.

Far and away it's gotta be The Last Boyscout for me. Bruce Willis gives a great Phillip Marlowe-esque performance. And I love the "If you touch me again, I'll kill ya," scene. I need this on DVD. My VHS copy sucks.

F.T.W. Kid

I'm voting for the Last Boyscout. It's not his best film(I'd go with the Lethal Weapons for that), but it's his most entertaining, especially the dialogue(go figure). I think of it more as a Shane Black movie than a Tony Scott or Bruce Willis one. Did Shane Black write Lethal Weapon 2? I thought he just did the first one.

and what? No Predator? Hehehe...

Last Boyscout just edges out Long Kiss Goodnight for me. So many explosions. So many one liners. How I miss those days.

Choosing between LETHAL WEAPON and LAST BOY SCOUT is like asking me who I like best between my niece or nephew. In the end I went with WEAPON because the "head boss/right hand man/henchman" trio of Mitchell Ryan, Gary Busey, and Al Leong narrowly beats out SCOUT'S group of Noble Willingham, Taylor Negron, and Kim Coates. THE LAST BOY SCOUT probably has more laughs, I love the scene where Willis is asking Wayans about his leather pants.

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT is always one of my top choices for most underrated action film of the 90's. Davis and Jackson really play well off each other in that whole film:

Charlie: You thinking what I'm thinking?
Mitch Henessey: I hope not, 'cause I'm thinking how much my balls hurt.

Whatever garbage Geena Davis makes I'll always take it easy on her for saying "I'm saving myself until I get raped" to one of the thugs in the alley. Brian Cox is also a blast in that one.

I would also like to know more about AWOL. I've never met anybody who has seen it. With David Morse and John C. McGinley in the leads it has to have some watchable qualities.

KISS KISS BANG BANG can't come fast enough for me. Easily the fall film I'm most looking forward to.

Tough call, this one. LETHAL WEAPON's a sleek, armour-piercing bullet of a movie, and while Shane's dialogue is great ("All dressed up and no one to blow." Heh, nice one, Danny), Dick Donner's direction, the Gibson-Glover chemistry and the overall Joel Silver aesthetic all contribute to its quality.

THE LAST BOY SCOUT has my undying love for Joe Hallenbeck's sarcasm in the face of his best friend fucking his old lady ("Sure, it was an accident, Mike. You tripped and accidentally stuck your dick in my wife. 'Sorry, Mrs H, guess this just isn't my week!'") and the way he makes good on his "If you touch me again, I'll kill ya" threat to that jerkoff Chet. It might also be one of the last great mainstream smoking movies - everyone who fires up a butt looks cool doing it.

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT has Bierko. End of story. Okay, it also has Brian Cox berating his sister about the way her dog constantly licks its asshole: "Anything in there is either gone for good or there to stay."

My thoughts on KISS KISS, BANG BANG can be found in that movie's thread in the Focused Film Discussion forum. Suffice to say it's pretty damn excellent, with Black displaying a strong directorial talent to accompany his screenwriting skills.

Might have to go with BOY SCOUT, which has aged like a fine wine as the years have passed. But GOODNIGHT is good stuff, and KK, BB is gonna win friends and influence people big-time.

LETHAL WEAPON. I love LBS, but not way as much as that flick.

As good as LW is, my vote goes to LBS."You made me spill my warm cup of piss" must be one of the best comebacks ever.

Last Boy Scout. It's really not even close, for me. I mean, the big emotional reunion with his wife at the end is capped by a heartfelt "Fuck you, Sara."

If only all running backs had the desire to win that Billy Cole had.

I wish his last words had stayed true to the script.

"I'm going to Disneyland."

Was that the original line? Because that is damn good.

I can't imagine that entire opening sequence being allowed in a major studio film today.

According to the script on Drew's Script-O-Rama, it is.

"I'm going to Disneyland" <boom>. That's classic!

Ya know who I love in LETHAL WEAPON even though he only has one scene? Ed O'Ross.

"You guys are out there like fuckin' Pluto man! You're gone!"

I can't vote for Last Boy Scout because I can't get past that football game at the beginning that apparently takes place during a blackout occuring during a new moon. I've NEVER seen a football game that poorly lit, and it just grinds my teeth to the point where I can't watch the film. Kinda the same thing that keeps my from liking Any Given Sunday -- it's like shooting a scene in Times Square on New Year's Eve and it's pitch black and quiet.

Yeah, it is a tad dark during that game. But when I watch it I'm usually still jazzed from hearing that "Friday Night is a Great Night for Football!" song in the beginning. Besides, Verne Lundquist was doing a nice job calling play-by-play so I can forgive the lighting.

How great is it that the man who blows his head off at the start of SCOUT is now responsible for teaching soccer moms how to keep their figure so their husbands don't leave them?

Has anyone ever said "man" more in such a small amount of time than he did?

There is a character in LETHAL WEAPON who I always feel kind of sad for when I see the film. It's not Tom Atkins and it's not any of the innocent people killed at the dance club. It's the bus driver who smashes into General McCalister's car. That guy looks so concerned about what he did and probably felt like he was going to be fired for that one, possibly even face charges. I wish they could have had a scene where some cop goes over to him and says something like "Relax buddy, you just killed a big time heroin dealer. You're gonna get a medal!"

Yeah, I remember when a buddy of mine got shot while drinking a carton of eggnog. I looked over his bleeding body and proclaimed "Way to go Tim, you just pulled a Hunsaker."

I will also say that phrase if I come across a woman who is pushed out of a tall building.

I guess the real person we should feel bad for in that film is Mama Hunsaker. Many funeral bills that month.

Well, it was Christmas.

Anyway, Atkins drinks what Atkins wants. Haven't you seen HALLOWEEN III?

Since we're on the subject, whadda ya think are the best quotes from Shane Black's films? I've always liked this one: "I thinked I fucked a squirrel to death, I don't even remember."

F.T.W. Kid

Oddly enough I think my favorite line comes from LONG KISS GOODNIGHT when an associate tells Bierko that he just saw something disturbing on TV, to which Bierko replies:

"Yeah, I saw it to. It's called "Baywatch Nights." You wanna get to the fucking point?"

Willis' "Tragic loss to the art world" line in SCOUT is also high on my list.

I am a self-proclaimed fan of Black's, I've many times stated my love for TLBS on these boards. But I picked LW because I think it's one of the few 80s action films that measure up to Die Hard. That's no small feat, since I consider DH to be more or less the perfect action film.

Milo: "I trust you're alone?"
Jimmy: "No, I got the fucking Vienna Boys' Choir with me. Is everybody stupid around here?"

Sam: "Were you always this stupid or did you take lessons"
Mitch (pissed): "I took lessons"

Dr. Waldman: "He's been licking his asshole for the last three straight hours. I submit to you that there is nothing there worth more than an hour's attention and I should think that whatever he is attempting to dislodge, is either gone for good... or there to stay."

It's LBS for me. It's the perfect synthesis of Tony Scott's hyper-kinetic direction and Black's perfectly paced scripting.

"I'm trying to figure out which one of you looks most like my dick"

It also has a car crashing into a pool, Jimmy being thrown over a freeway and onto a moving vehicle.

Not just a pool. Rick Duccomun's pool.

Funnily enough, he also showed up in Die Hard.

'You think I'm kidding, shut it down, shut it down NOW'

And in Last Action Hero, as the Ripper's agent.

Duccomun gets around.

Monster Squad.
Defeating Dracula with a slice of garlic pizza is inspired genius.

I guess I'm the only one who just didn't really like Boy Scout as a whole- more just a few inspired scenes here and there, scenes that scream Shane Black all the way. I can put up with tremendous amounts of bad guy stupidity, like the continual taunting of Willis by Kim Coates, but the scene in the forest where Willis and Wayans are saved by Danielle Harris and that stupid puppet is just too much. Ruins the whole movie for me. Even more than "the Shredding Kind" sequence.

But I second the love for Rick Ducomonn.

The jokes are what sell that scene for me as well.

A couple other characters we probably wouldn't see in a film today:

Tony Longo as the guy who nearly drowns a woman while forcing her to give him oral sex.
"Bitch won't blow me."

Chelcie Ross as the corrupt Senator who likes to beat the hell out of women and we're never really told why.

I also wonder what that Jimmy Carter lookalike is up to these days. He was money.

One of my favourite Black lines is in LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, when a flustered Samuel L. Jackson explains his diversionary tactic when deflowering virgins: "No, I usually sock 'em in the jaw and yell 'Pop goes the weasel'!"

Sam had a great line when he shows up in the alleyway and sticks his gun in a bad guy's ear: "This ain't no ham-on-rye." He then apologises for showing up late to the gunfight, "but I was busy thinking up that ham-on-rye line".

Oh, and it's a throwaway line in KISS KISS, BANG BANG, but I laughed myself stupid when Robert Downey, Jr lies his ass off to a chick asking what he does for a living: "I invented dice."

I love in Long Kiss Goodnight how Samuel L. Jackson's constant saying something and then humming a theme after it.

That scene where Jackson's surprised by Brian Cox and then Cox mistakes the duck picture for a dick in Jackson's notebook is hilarious.

'That's a duck not a dick'

Jackson's face is priceless when Davis flashes her breasts to distract him when she rips the bandage of his wound.

Seconded.

Another great piece of dialogue:

Charlie: I'm leaving the country, Mitch. I need a fake passport and I need money, lots of it.
Mitch: Well why didn't you say so? Hold on a minute while I pull that outta my ass.