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This fall, British director Sir Ridley Scott, 83, is having one of the most productive years of his life — and it just so happens to be occurring four and a half decades into his impressive career. Within a little over a month, the four-time Oscar nominee will release two awards-bait films. The first, The Last Duel (Oct. 15), which stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver, is set in 14th-century France and details the country’s last legal trial by combat. House of Gucci (Nov. 24), which stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver (again!) and Al Pacino (81), is a pulpy look at a high-profile fashion-world murder. With a filmography that has taken audiences from Ancient Rome to 1990s Somalia to an ill-fated ship careening through space, Scott always keeps viewers guessing. But how will his two new very different films stack up against his greatest? Here, 10 of our favorites — with a look at the epic moments that have kept the director a box-office success for almost half a century.
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10: All the Money in the World (2017)
The plot: This true-crime thriller traces the wild story of the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) and his billionaire oil-tycoon grandfather J. Paul Getty’s refusal to pay the $17 million ransom. But what happened behind the scenes was almost as dramatic. The film had been completed for months when the actor playing Getty (Kevin Spacey, 62) was accused of sexual misconduct. Rather than let Spacey’s reputation tank the film, Scott sprang into action, casting Christopher Plummer in the role, reshooting 22 scenes in nine days, and finishing a new cut four days later — earning Plummer his final Oscar nod in the process.
The most epic moment: Getty III’s mother Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) and former CIA operative Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) take matters into their own hands in a tense — if totally fictionalized — rescue scene in a Calabrian village.
Watch it: All the Money in the World, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube
9: The Duellists (1977)
The plot: Scott came out of the gate running with his assured first feature, which won him the best debut film award at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Based on a Joseph Conrad short story, which was itself inspired by a real newspaper article, this Napoleonic War epic may seem sprawling, but it actually traces a rather petty feud between two French officers. Feeling insulted by Armad d’Hubert (Keith Carradine, 72), Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel, 82) challenges him to a duel — and they continue crossing paths and dueling, with swords, sabres and pistols, over the next 16 years.
The most epic moment: All roads lead to a climactic showdown in a ruined château in 1816 that finally decides the combatants’ fates. The ending might surprise you!
Watch it: The Duellists, on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube
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8: Matchstick Men (2003)
The plot: There’s a genuine sweetness to this black comedy, starring an underrated Nicolas Cage, 57, as Roy Waller, an L.A. con artist living with obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette’s syndrome, whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a 14-year-old daughter he never knew he had (Alison Lohman). The screenplay is sharp and witty, and Sam Rockwell, 52, is excellent as Roy’s protégé Frank Mercer.
The most epic moment: There’s a doozy of a twist ending — but we won’t spoil it!
Watch it: Matchstick Men, on HBO Max
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