Top 10 Ridley Scott films

October 8, 9:42 PMAtlanta Movies ExaminerRyan McNally

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With Body of Lies hitting theaters this week, it’s time to look back on the best of director Ridley Scott. In the 30-plus years Scott has been directing, he’s helmed several classics, as well as his share of clunkers (I still haven’t forgiven him for the dreadful Hannibal). Here’s a look back at his 10 best, in chronological order.

1) The Duellists (1977)
Based on a Joseph Conrad novel and set during the Napoleonic age, Scott’s directorial debut focuses on a long-running feud between two French soliders, D’Hubert (Keith Carradine) and Feraud (Harvey Keitel). An official selection of Cannes, it wasn’t too shabby a way to start a career.

2) Alien (1979)
With just his second film, Scott delivered a sci-fi classic with this tale of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), a crewmember aboard a deep space mining ship that answers a distress SOS from a distant planet—with unexpectedly terrifying results. Scott expertly builds a feeling of creepy claustrophobia, and the result is a taut thriller.

3) Blade Runner (1982)
Three years later, Scott delivered another sci-fi masterwork. This one stars Harrison Ford as Deckard, a policeman of the future who hunts down and terminates replicants (artificially created humans). Though a box office failure at the time of its release, this gritty look at the impact of technology on humans has become a cult favorite.

4) Black Rain (1989)
After a string of inactivity and misfires in the mid-‘80s, Scott began to return to form with this underrated thriller starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia as New York cops who get involved in a gang war between members of the Japanese Mafia.

5) Thelma & Louise (1991)
Scott courted controversy with this great road pic about two women on the run from unruly men, unfair laws, and the unyielding constraints of a male-dominated society. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are perfect as the two leads, and Scott scored his first Oscar nomination for this film.

6) Gladiator (2000).
After the success of Thelma & Louise, Scott stumbled a bit through the rest of the ‘90s, then returned to form with this epic tale about power and betrayal in the Roman Empire. Russell Crowe delivers a ferocious performance in the lead role—the start of a director-actor relationship that has yielded three more films to date—and Scott scored his second Oscar nod for directing.

7) Black Hawk Down (2001)
Scott turned his gaze back to modern times with this action-packed war drama about U.S. troops in Somalia. Though the screenplay doesn’t probe as deeply into the roots of the conflict as it could have, Scott’s visceral direction elevates the story, drawing the viewer into the midst of the mayhem and earning him a third Oscar nomination.

8) Matchstick Men (2003)
In this overlooked gem, Scott helms a comedy/drama about a phobic con artist (Nicholas Cage) whose life is thrown into tumult when his teenage daughter unexpectedly arrives on the scene. Not only does Scott navigate the film’s changing thematic tones seamlessly, he also guides Cage to one of his few standout performances of the past decade.

9) Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Orlando Bloom proves to be an unremarkable lead here, but this epic focusing on the 12th Century Crusades boasts enough technical wizardry and strong supporting performances (see: Liam Neeson) to skate into Scott’s Top 10 … barely.

10) American Gangster (2007)
Though the film suffers a bit from a been-there-done-that feel, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe rise to the occasion, delivering strong performances that elevate this highly entertaining movie about a ‘70s drug kingpin (Washington) and the cop on his trail (Crowe) to a higher level. Scott earned a Best Director Golden Globe nomination for his efforts.

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