I was never a Don Simpson fan. I thought his movies too loud, too misogynistic and too plain dumb.
“YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE TO DO AT FOUR O’CLOCK, ED?” by Stefano Boscutti shows us Don Simpson before he teamed up with Jerry Bruckheimer to give us such mega blockbusters as “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Bad Boys.” Before he made Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy and Will Smith into superstars. Before he changed the movie business forever.
In this ambitious short story, Boscutti presents Simpson in his role as the new head of production at Paramount Studios. Simpson is waiting for a journalist from the L.A Times to arrive for a customary interview. This gives him a rare opportunity to pause and reflect on his hectic life so far. A life that saw him rise from Nowhereville Alaska to the top of the Hollywood food chain.
It’s a fictionalized glimpse into a life that changed all our lives. It packs a helluva lot in a short story.
It’s not pretty. But it’s totally engrossing. In a fast and furious first person narrative, Simpson looks at what it takes to get to the top. The author captures the angst and self-doubt beneath his ambition. His wild quest for instant thrills became intrinsic in the movies he made, the movies we watched. His ideas for high concept movies that could be explained in half a sentence (or better yet by the title alone) became industry practice.
It took me a little while to get used to the writing style. It reads more like a movie than a “book”. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what is stream of consciousness or dialogue. (Maybe that’s the point!!)
Stefano Boscutti says, "That's a great book over there!"
Reading the story you become aware of the beginning of the myth that was to envelop Don Simpson. He reveled in his bad boy antics. Sex and drugs and movie stars was just another day at the office.
I thought Boscutti did an enviable job of recreating Simpson’s voice, his motivation and getting to the heart of the man. After a while I found it utterly hypnotic.
It’s a strangely sad but addictive story. Much like Simpson himself.
I found myself turning back to read it again.
