Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy

It’s Alien Day in El Paso, Texas and the rest of the world, so let’s celebrate the grand old geek, director of the Alien franchise and MANY other movies, Ridley Scott!!

Well, one kind. I love the Alien movies, but one of the facts about Ridley Scott that I OFTEN forget is that he had the opportunity to direct a movie written by one of the most prolific and widely respected writers in American history!!

Yes, Cormac McCarthy, the man who wrote books like The Road, No Country for Old Men and Blood Meridian, actually wrote 3 movies in his lifetime!

Cormack wrote the screenplays for a 1977 TV movie called The Gardeners Son, a 2011 HBO movie called The Sunset Limited, and a 2013 Ridley Scotts film called The Counselor. Unfortunately, despite McCarthy’s critical acclaim in the literary world, his screenwriting experience is a bit rough.

THE GARDENER’S SON

His first film, The Gardener’s Son, was very divisive when it came out. People were on both sides, some saying it was too long and filled with too much profanity. One reviewer even called for the film to be banned because it contained too many profanities for the time. Some reviewers praised it and liked its thick historical references. In the end, it didn’t do much to stick in the minds of viewers and really didn’t garner much attention after its TV run.

THE SUNSET LIMITED

Sunset Limited actually did pretty well! The writing was praised, as were the performances of the two lead actors, Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. However, the script was heavy and filled with a lot of philosophy about life and death, so it didn’t do so well with the general audience.

THE COUNSELOR

Then we come to what probably counts as failure. The Counselor, a Ridley Scott crime thriller that really didn’t excite many people. In fact, it bored quite a few people and was considered more of a drama than a crime thriller. Cormack’s writing was called out for being clunky and verbose, and aside from performances by some amazing actors like Michael Fassbender and Benicio Del Toro, the film didn’t really garner much attention beyond the big names attached to it.

Interestingly, some of The Counselor actually takes place here in El Paso! Which makes sense because Cormac McCarthy is from Texas and has included El Paso in many of his other works as well! Honestly, I’d recommend McCarthy’s books over his movies, but that’s my preference!