Patterico's Pontifications

8/20/2012

Top Gun Director Commits Suicide

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:20 am



By jumping off the Vincent Thomas bridge, which I cross every day.

“Top Gun” director Tony Scott fatally jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on Sunday afternoon, according to Los Angeles police sources.

. . . .

Law enforcement sources said several witnesses saw Scott, the brother of director Ridley Scott, climb over a fence on the bridge and jump off.

The coroner’s office identified him Sunday evening.
Scott was a respected action-movie director who also made “Enemy of the State,” “Beverly Hills Cop II” and “Crimson Tide.”

He reportedly left a suicide note behind at his office.

A sad story. Condolences to the family.

59 Responses to “Top Gun Director Commits Suicide”

  1. the height of the bridge was a key factor if this picture is accurate

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  2. Very sad indeed. Suicides aren’t painless.

    Pious Agnostic (7c3d5b)

  3. Nobody really ever knows what’s going on inside another person’s head, or how their brain chemistry is wired, but this is quite a shocker.
    While the lefties love to define people by economics, their notion that “rich people” have it easy, and can merely pay money to make their problems go away, is just not true.
    Certainly, having a lot of money can do a lot of wonderful things for a person and alleviate them from having to worry all night in bed about how they can scrape up the money to pay for x,y, or z at the end of the month when the bills are due.

    Mr. Scott had fame, fortune, a great career, and while he did go through a couple prior divorces, his current wife is a former model—typically, it’s a resume that most people would look at and say, “uh, what’s the problem ?—he’s got it made !”

    But human frailties transcend all economic and social strata.

    In an industry where nice humble folks often have their milk money taken away from them by the bullies, Tony Scott appeared to be a pretty nice fellow.
    The sequel to “Top Gun” is in development—to the point that Tom Cruise was reportedly at a Naval Air Station in Nevada just last week doing some prep work for the project.

    R.I.P., Mr. Scott.

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  4. here this is how fatally deadly jumping off this bridge is:

    On October 26, 1990, 1964 Olympic diving bronze medalist Larry Andreasen was killed jumping from the west tower of the bridge in an attempt to set a diving record.

    but note that he jumped off the *tower* … so that was like a 385 foot fall this says

    oh. It appears Larry enjoyed to jump off bridges. He’d jumped off the 165-foot high Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach just a couple years before.

    Andreasen said the impact temporarily paralyzed his arms, forcing him to turn over on his back and use his legs to paddle to a city Fire Department dock, where the police helped him out of the water and then gave him a ticket. He was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center.

    Andreasen said he realizes his jump would not satisfy the requirements for a world record dive, since he didn’t even dive. But he’s satisfied, he said.

    “That’s it,” he said. “I’m retired.”*

    I don’t get it if jumping 165 feet renders you temporarily paralyzed how is jumping 385 feet a good idea?

    just for more background here is an article where it says the police talked larry off the Vincent Thomas Bridge not long after he got out of the hospital from jumping off the Gerald Desmond

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  5. I haven’t much cared for this Scott’s movies, and he’s made two of my most hated hits. BUt I liked The Hunger I still look in my attic warily when I go up to check out the air handler, in case there are old boyfriends in boxes up there.

    SarahW (b0e533)

  6. Imdb is reporting that Tony Scott was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer a short time ago.

    Chuck Bartowski (3bccbd)

  7. Whyyyy would be the question. He said he hated the pressure of starting a project. Maybe he just didn’t feel up to it and this solution seemed like a good one at the time.

    SarahW (b0e533)

  8. Ok Chuck. That would seem to settle the question of why. That method is a pretty awful one, though.

    SarahW (b0e533)

  9. He liked thrills and chills, though. Maybe this was his last thrill ride.

    SarahW (b0e533)

  10. Sarah, I don’t know how awful the method would be. It’s 185 feet from the Vincent Thomas bridge to the water, and that takes less than 4 seconds to fall. At that height, the impact on the water would be almost instantly lethal.

    He knew he was dying, regardless of whether he jumped. It was just a matter of when.

    Chuck Bartowski (3bccbd)

  11. hey, i am reading that the man had inoperable brain cancer. which doesn’t make it less tragic, but it does make this much easier to understand. You can understand an action without condoning it.

    Aaron "Worthing" Walker (23789b)

  12. While suicide has been accurately called “a permanent solution to a temporary problem” in many case, on the information available to us so far, Scott’s decision may well have been *his* best available solution to a problem that was pretty much unlikely to get any better …

    Until one has experienced the intensity of the depths of despair where suicide even starts to be included on one’s list of options, one is unlikely to realise just how suicide can become the *only* option one can see … it is *not* a nice place to be … and it is a nice place to no longer be …

    I hope those he leaves behind will be able to come to terms with it, since it is often very hard on them, too … my sympathies go out to those who cared about him, whether family or other …

    Alasdair (81fcf1)

  13. Suicide is not despair. It is hope. Hope that no life is better than life. If we ever find out, we’ll never be able to tell you. Get born, take your chances. You’ll get the last hand dealt soon enough.

    I have always been saddened by the brevity of life but comforted by the idea of the length of death. (Stolen from Jack Vance.)

    nk (875f57)

  14. And if any f____r tries to throw me over a bridge, he goes first.

    nk (875f57)

  15. That is unfortunate.

    Once again, I’ll add that it’s also unfortunate for those people so unhappy that they don’t wish to live that they have to use violent, sometimes dangerous or disturbing to the public, means to kill themselves, which only have so-so reliability and carry with it the huge risk of serious, horrific injury rather than death.

    My condolences to his family and, whatever drove him to this, I am glad he is no longer suffering. Too bad he couldn’t have found a way to enjoy yet more of his life, but he had had every right to choose for himself how much of his life he wished to live.

    I respect him for his courage, his art, and for at least not putting someone else at grave risk while he took that final action.

    Random (edf1d2)

  16. It’s sad. I’ve seen nine of the 20-or-so feature-length movies he directed. I liked “Man on Fire” best. The last one I saw was “Unstoppable” which is goofy but fun. RIP.

    gp (5a38d9)

  17. hey, i am reading that the man had inoperable brain cancer. which doesn’t make it less tragic, but it does make this much easier to understand. You can understand an action without condoning it.

    Comment by Aaron “Worthing” Walker — 8/20/2012 @ 11:47 am

    That is indeed unfortunate. He had to choose between his misfortunes.

    I do think he should have had a peaceful, reliable, comfortable option available to him like in Oregon, for example. Which of course most people would choose not to use even if it was there for them if they needed it.

    Sigmund Freud had a medical doctor friend assist him with suicide. It’s not because Freud was insane. It’s because Freud saw no point in further ravages of cancer and had had enough.

    I think kindness compels us to allow people — having no choice in the matter of whether to die or not — to die in a manner acceptable to them.

    Random (edf1d2)

  18. “Man on Fire” best

    Wasn’t my favorite of favorites (that was Top Gun), but I certainly watched it a few times. Who among us doesn’t both give our thanks not to be in such a terrible predicament and wish we could have such great love and courage if we were to find ourselves in it?

    Besides — Denzel Washington can just act.

    Random (edf1d2)

  19. Unstoppable

    Oh, he did Unstoppable too? I rarely know who directs what, but yet another movie I really liked.

    His movies might have pretty blatantly pulled on the heart strings, but what can I say? I love that sh-t.

    Random (edf1d2)

  20. Ah, hell, I just saw he made “Crimson Tide”.

    I love that guy’s work.

    Random (edf1d2)

  21. Here’s a link to a report that he had inoperable brain cancer.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  22. Random,

    One of us has to stop commenting at this website about your theories on death and other topics. I see it will have to be me.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  23. “Man On Fire” is one of the few Denzel Washington movies that I can sit through.

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92)

  24. My “theory” on death (summarized: that it’s sometimes preferable to life for certain people in certain circumstances), DRJ, would probably have been pretty germaine to his decision, no?

    You’re not commenting so consider that rhetorical.

    Random (edf1d2)

  25. AD, you didn’t like Denzel’s work in Crimson Tide? Yeah, Hackman helped sell it, but it was one of my favorite performances.

    Random (edf1d2)

  26. I don’t get it if jumping 165 feet renders you temporarily paralyzed how is jumping 385 feet a good idea?

    Some people aren’t ruled by fear. Actually, some people are — in reverse.

    They laugh at it, and carry on. It’s who they are. I admire it. It’s not like one can live forever anyway. There’s no action you could take to avoid death, so … might as well live.

    Random (edf1d2)

  27. Crimson Tide, just another Ice Station Zebra with fewer star attractions.

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92)

  28. The thing about “Unstoppable” that I thought was goofy ***SPOILER*** is the way they finally got the train under control. They tried every crazy idea first (like shooting the locomotive with rifles,) then at the end just did the easy obvious thing and drove a pickup truck alongside the engine and got a driver aboard. Still, I’ll probably watch it again some time, it’s fun.

    gp (5a38d9)

  29. [joke about fellow commenter preferring Rock Hudson in tight, confined space, shaped like phallus, deleted]

    Icy (9788b4)

  30. [AND, I denounce meself]

    Icy (9788b4)

  31. I did not see “Man on Fire” because I loved the book (A.J. Quinell) so much that I did not think the movie would do it justice.

    Suicide is like bigamy I guess — its own punishment.

    nk (875f57)

  32. nk – since any form of multiple-wife marriage involves multiple mothers-in-law (unless one only marries sisters (litter-ally ?)), I tend to think of the multiple mothers-in-law as the main punishment …

    Also, having lived as the only unfixed male in a household filled with raging progesterone on a quasi-lunar cyclic basis, I would delicately point out that synchronised full-stops are no picnic …

    (innocent as-yet-un-denounced grin)

    Alasdair (81fcf1)

  33. Chuck, but you have to look over. And jump. In the air. Brrrrrr.

    SarahW (b0e533)

  34. I’m letting my imagination run wild, Alasdair, but I’m afraid that’s all I have that can.

    nk (875f57)

  35. You can put them just about perfectly lunar, instead of quasi*lunar on the pill, I think.

    *I’m a lawyer, I understand “quasi”.

    nk (875f57)

  36. “Quasi” does not mean “half”, it means “alike”, for you half-educated dolts.

    nk (875f57)

  37. Icy, I didn’t say I “liked” (or even enjoyed) Ice Station Zebra, only that it was “star-filled”.
    In fact, while an under-grad, I managed a “nabe” walk-in where we played ISZ for several weeks. It was very predictable, and provided us with very nice concession volume.

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92)

  38. Ice Station Zebra was better than the book. Alistair McLean just happened to be around when Hollywood writers got Alzheimers.

    nk (875f57)

  39. “Ice Station Zebra was better than the book.”

    I remember enjoying the book more. Oh well. Horses for courses.

    Random (edf1d2)

  40. Random, this site is messing me around. If you can read this, The Guns of Navarone, best ever suicide scene, at 1:30 into the video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlNtmRfT6kU

    nk (875f57)

  41. I really don’t get the suicide reference or intended humor if that’s what it was, NK.

    BUT … with those kill numbers tallied up at the end of the video … that assault force could have been Andy McNab’s “Bravo Two Zero”.

    I.e., a bit unrealistic.

    Random (edf1d2)

  42. RIP, Mr. Scott. Not great art, but fantastic entertainment. Thank you.

    And William Windom has died.

    htom (412a17)

  43. Scott’s wife says he didn’t have cancer:

    Scott’s wife Donna told police that her husband was healthy and did not have cancer, according to unnamed sources.

    Donna Scott told investigators rumours of a return of her husband’s cancer was ‘absolutely false,’ TMZ says.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  44. It’s possible she doesn’t know. Or is right. I have no idea.

    Either way, it was his right to end his life if he wished.

    Random (edf1d2)

  45. It’s ABC, we’re not giving them the benefit of the doubt.

    narciso (ee31f1)

  46. The Greek guy, James Darren, one submachine gun against a platoon of Nazis. Let me see if I can find the song.

    nk (875f57)

  47. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gijbv7p9kbc

    Safe. That could be my village square, Nazis included.

    nk (875f57)

  48. The scene in True Romance where Christoper Walken is trying to get information out of Christian Slater’s dad is a priceless bit of direction. Great scene in a great movie.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  49. R.I.P. William Windom

    I will be re-watching (oh, for only about the 50th time, or so) the “Doomsday Machine” episode of Star Trek in his honor.

    Icy (8445db)

  50. Brian Ross of ABC News is reporting that some Tea Party patriots were seen throwing tea Tony Scott in the Boston Long Beach harbor.

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  51. twitchy is reporting that the earlier reports of him having brain cancer was wrong. fyi.

    Aaron "Worthing" Walker (23789b)

  52. Thanks for the updates, those relaying the correction.

    Random (edf1d2)

  53. You still alive, Random? Kind of takes away from your argument, but keep it up, bro, keep it up.

    nk (875f57)

  54. This was the bridge featured in To Live and Die in LA.

    RIP TS!

    Harrison (975823)

  55. Sad.

    ABC is on a roll, aren’t they? I mean in a bad way.

    MayBee (a1dde3)

  56. MayBee! Tsk tsk . . .

    Icy (8445db)

  57. @#38/#39- The book was better- usually are- all the same the flick was slick- one of the last MGM big budget ‘road shows.’ Still, ponder this and how different the film might have been- very early in the project, MGM had initially promoted Gregory Peck and David Niven for the roles eventually played by Hudson and McGoohan.

    ———

    R.I.P. Tony Scott. Great work. Good life. Gifted soul. Condolences to his family.

    R.I.P. William Windom, as well.

    From ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ through multiple Twilight Zones, a stint as Congressman Glen Morley and many ‘Murder, She Wrote[s],” your versatility carried you through the decades… but you’ll forever be remembered as Trek’s Commodore Decker. ‘Til ‘doomsday,’ Ad Astra, ‘Matt.’

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  58. ABC News retracted that brain tumor story.

    Michael Savage says it never made sense to him – he was very skeptical yesterday.

    OK now where did that story come from?

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

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