The Last Boy Scout & Die Hard with a Vengeance (with Jake Ures)

Rotten Rewind

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The year is 1991. Tony Scott is still riding the momentum of his generation-defining phenomenon “Top Gun.” Writer Shane Black is the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood before the age of 30. Bruce Willis’ seemingly untouchable star power has been dealt a blow by the recent disaster known as “Hudson Hawk.” Producer Joel Silver is quickly developing a reputation as the most hands-on, hard-nosed producer in Hollywood, coming for Don Simpson’s title of belligerent coked-out super producer. So what happens when these 4 massive egos get together and make a $40 million action movie? You get one of the most vile, racially charged, toxic action comedies to ever get the greenlight from a major studio. Is there a “Bad Boys II” without “The Last Boy Scout”? Probably not.

Podcast regular and the only cinematographer who has read the 9/11 Commission Report front to back, Jake Ures, joins us again to unpack two of the defining buddy cop action comedies of the 90s. After the aforementioned "Last Boy Scout," we'll be diving into the barely rotten third installment in the "Die Hard" franchise, "Die Hard with a Vengeance" to discuss Bruce Willis' effortless ability to make us root for his toxic antiheroes.
Is there any modern actor who can play washed-up action heroes the way Willis did in his prime? Is Jeremy Irons necklace hot? Did "Last Action Hero" need to be as brutally violent as it was and why is the answer a resounding "Fuck yes"? Are we still yearning for a time when the scariest thing Hollywood could imagine was a post-Soviet terrorist blowing up half of New York City to steal some gold? Is Bruce Willis the only man who can still make us laugh at a "Yo Mama" joke? There's only one place to find out.