I love great science fiction movies, those that are heavier on the fiction than the science. I like them more when some mystery weaves into a film. So, two movies from way back are two of my all-time favorites: “Alien,” the 1979 film that combined outer space travel with a scary alien monster on board, and “Blade Runner,” the 1982 movie by the then middle-age director/producer Ridley Scott, who since 2003 is Sir Ridley Scott.
Sir Ridley directed and or produced several movies that I love before turning 62 in 1999 and became eligible for a reverse mortgage (one favorite is “Thelma and Louise,” the 1991 road movie which was unique at the time because the road buddies were women-Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. However, his later work is at least as notable, directing and producing movies and television shows.
In 2000 (when he was 63), the Best Picture Oscar went to “Gladiator” directed by Ridley Scott. He directed Russell Crowe in “Gladiator,” and Crowe won that year’s Oscar for Best Actor. He followed “Gladiator” with “Black Hawk Down” in 2001, which he both directed and produced. It was a tense recounting of a military unit’s struggle to survive a battle in which they were surrounded and outnumbered. The movie got good reviews, and it addressed Hollywood’s bottom line-it made a lot of money.
Since “Black Hawk Down,” Scott has directed and produced several “popcorn” movies and several films that have garnered Oscar nominations. I love what are called “period pieces,” films set in different historical eras. I enjoyed Sir Ridley’s 2005 film “Kingdom of Heaven,” set in Palestine during the Crusades. His retelling of the Robin Hood legend (one which has captured my imagination since my childhood), “Robin Hood” (2010), starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett (Maid Marion), was a lot of fun (and I ate a lot of popcorn when I watched it).
He was 70 in 2007 when “American Gangster” came out. Denzell Washington and Russell Crowe starred in a sort of biopic about Harlem crime boss Frank Lucas. It was both a box office and critical success. And Lord Scott continued, with both movies and television.
In the past few years, one of my favorite TV shows was “The Good Wife,” which ran for seven seasons on network tv. Sir Ridley served as Executive Producer. The combination of a lawyer and political show was a Sunday evening must-see in our household. Summing it up, it’s the story of the wife of the governor of Illinois who is convicted of corruption and goes to prison. The wife must restart her law career, and the story goes from there. A few seasons in, when we were able to record the show, our Sunday evenings opened up. It’s one of the few long-running shows of which I’ve seen every episode.
Amid The Good Wife’s run, he directed and co-produced “Prometheus” (2012) and “The Martian” (2015). “Prometheus” is the prequel to “Alien.” “The Martian” garnered seven Oscar nominations and won a Golden Globe for Best Picture. It also made a lot of money. I thoroughly enjoyed both movies. “The Martian” for the storytelling and the edge of my seat retrieval mission to bring the protagonist, played by Matt Damon, back home to earth; and “Prometheus” for weaving an interesting back story for the alien from “Alien” and for creating enough tension so that the science didn’t get in the way of the fiction.
He has hit big directing and producing television shows. “The Good Wife” earned three Prime Time Emmy nominations, as did another five of his television shows. Two won Prime Time Emmys: “The Gathering Storm,” a biographical take on Winston Churchill up to World War II, was chosen as Outstanding Made for Television Movie in 2002 (the sequel, “Into The Storm” was one of the six shows to be nominated), and “Gettysburg” won for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special in 2011. Postscript: he produced the commercial for Lady Gaga’s perfume, “Fame.”
Sir Ridley hasn’t slowed down. He produced “Blade Runner 2049,” which debuted in 2017, which was nothing like the original, but I saw it at one of those theaters set up for food. So, I got to see a movie I loved, which was eating a burger, fries, a beer, and then popcorn. And two weeks ago, HBO Max released the first three episodes of his latest production, “Raised By Wolves,” a series set in the future on a remote planet colonized at first by two androids “parents” and 12 embryos representing the future of the human race. Later in the first episode, an “ark” with the remaining humans arrives, and that’s leaving out a lot of details. I’ve only seen episode 1, so I have no idea how this show will unfold, but I’m already hooked.
Sir Ridley Scott, at 82, has more movies in the works. It doesn’t appear that he’s planning to stop, which is good news for me and (I’m pretty sure) a whole lot of other folks. Once again, his career in the “third age” shows that you don’t lose it if you’ve got it. You may change it, but it’s still there.
– Edward from McMinnville, Oregon, a FAR customer who is finding purpose in this new stage of his life.
Edward
Edward writes for FAR and is also a customer. He is 73-year-old, born and raised in and around New York City. After college and a little graduate school, he took Horace Greeley’s advice and went west. Edward lived in several cities throughout California and currently resides in Oregon. He practiced law for a few years as part of a law collective doing what they called “people’s law,” but spent most of his career working as an internal organizer for the unions.
When Edward’s career ended with the unions, he was determined to become an advocate for older adults. He enrolled at Portland Community College studying Gerontology. He learned a lot about aging and how it applied to his own life experiences and my own aging process. Much of Edward’s writing is related to what he learned in his Gerontology studies.
* The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Finance of America Reverse (FAR) LLC
This article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only, and should not be construed as financial or tax advice. For more information about whether a reverse mortgage may be right for you, you should consult an independent financial advisor. For tax advice, please consult a tax professional.
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