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Every Tom Cruise movie, part 7: Top Gun (1986)

Top Gun left me with a lot of questions, the foremost of which is, “What does a co-pilot actually do?”

Maverick and Goose fly together, but it seems like it’s Maverick’s job to fly the plane and Goose’s job to constantly crane his neck to watch a MIG fly by and say “there it goes!” Why is there an elite position in a top flight school for that guy?

Why does Kelly McGillis suddenly move away after Goose dies? One minute she’s self-admittedly falling in love with Maverick, and the next minute she’s skipping town without even saying goodbye as soon as his best friend gets killed? Bitches be cold.

Why is Iceman considered the villain? He doesn’t do anything bad for the entire movie, besides express concern that Maverick is flying too dangerously, which Maverick himself comes to realize over time. Seriously, the only thing Kilmer does in this movie is occasionally smirk when someone talks to Maverick. I’m not even sure he has any lines.

Why are they playing volleyball? This scene seems like it only exists to make Maverick late for his date, and then when he shows up, Kelly McGillis doesn’t even care!

This is the first movie that Cruise really carries. The other characters are flat. The plot is relatively boring. Starring another actor, I think it would have gone down in history as a total dud. But Tom discovers something in this movie that both brings depth to the film and inspires the next 15 years of his career: his teeth.

I think he started realizing this in Legend, when his smile was used strategically to portray innocence and youth. In Top Gun he goes into overdrive with the full-mouth, every-tooth-on-display smile. It’s used to display arrogance and vulnerability and triumph. For Maverick the smile is a mask, but for Cruise it is a lens that allows him to show emotion and charm at the same time. In a way, the smile is the only true character in the entire movie.

Next: The Color of Money, Martin Scorsese’s spiritual successor to the Paul Newman classic, The Hustler.

Every Tom Cruise movie, part 6: Legend (1985)

This concludes the part of Tom’s career that I’d like to call the pre-Maverick years. This is a bit of a strange finale to that era because, prior to Legend, Cruise worked as mostly a straight-man in realistic movies. Realism has become kind of a trademark for him and it’s clear from his early career that he expresses that through his intense dedication and presence to otherwise boring character parts. Only Risky Business really stands out to me as a great performance and an interesting character.

But the thing is, Tom must have been absolutely CRUSHING his auditions. Legend is his 7th movie in 5 years, and he’s gone from barely having any speaking lines at all to being the lead in a Ridley Scott movie. He also sheds all of the beefcakitude and charm built into his other roles and play a waifish, androgynous teen who never wears pants.

Seriously, he doesn’t wear pants for the entire movie! Even when he wears what appears to be a gilded armor tunic, he doesn’t wear pants. And he squats A LOT. Oh, does he ever squat.

There are a lot of good things about this movie. Tim Curry is funny and scary at the same time. Mia Sara has an extended dance number alongside a personified black, sparkly gown. The credit reel features a Unicorn Master.

But Cruise comes off as kind of a dolt. I think if I watched this movie at the time it was released I would think he was a sort of mediocre actor whose career would ride on whether he was able to land good roles as a handsome guy in successful movies.

Little would I realize that he was about to become an inferno.

Next: Top Gun

Every Tom Cruise movie, part 5: All the Right Moves (1983)

Well, this seems like a standard teen drama, and probably an inspiration for Friday Night Lights, also…wait a minute, why is there full frontal male nudity in this? Tom Cruise had a penis double!

This is the first Tom Cruise movie featuring the Tom Cruise run. Tom Cruise is the best movie runner of all time. In this movie, he races his girlfriend to his house after meeting her outside on the street corner where she is playing the saxophone (yes, that is an actual scene from this movie). He DESTROYS her in this race. Lea Thompson cannot movie run for shit. Tom Cruise looks like he’s auditioning for the Olympic 100 meter dash.

There’s a scene later in the movie where Cruise’s character stands up in front of his high school football teammates at a party to give a speech. Why does he want to give a speech? Because he’s Tom Cruise. His audience stares at him, captivated, as he says, smiling, “And on the 5th day, God created cheerleaders.” Everyone laughs. Then Tom turns dead serious. An archetype is born.

The rest of the movie is pretty boring.

Next up: Legend

Every Tom Cruise movie, part 4: Risky Business (1983)

“It was great the way her mind worked. No guilt. No doubt. No fear. None of my specialties. Just the shameless pursuit of immediate material gratification. What a capitalist.”

I’m getting the impression from watching these movies that there was an incredible tension in the 80s between the revulsion to authority and selling out and the growing cultural understanding that success equaled money. There are a ton of examples in pop culture of young people taking risks that feel adult but aren’t inherently risky. You’re in high school and your overprotective parents are leaving for the weekend? Better take off your pants, crank the bass, and dance around to Bob Seager. 

Tom Cruise’s character, Joel, has been taught by his parents, teachers, and friends that one can only pursue pleasure by sacrificing success. In his dreams he fails tests or gets in trouble with his parents (a fate tantamount to “throwing his life away”) because he is pursuing women.

But those pursuits that aren’t driven by passion lead to minimal successes, modest profits, and a general mood and tenor of ambivalence. As Joel says early in the movie, “Doesn’t anyone want to accomplish anything, or do you just want to make money?”

It takes losing everything for him to realize that passion and success can be intertwined, and through doing so he achieves his dreams, literally and figuratively.

This is a classic.

Next up: All The Right Moves

Every Tom Cruise Movie, Part 3: Losin’ It (1983)

Did you know that Tom Cruise was in four movies that came out in 1983? What a hard worker! In this one he’s one of four co-leads. He and his buddies are culturally insensitive high-schoolers who go to Tijuana to get laid.

Tom’s performance is strikingly un-Cruise. He just plays kind of a dorky teen without much personality. Shelly Long is in it, and she’s pretty engaging. For some reason the movie seems to be set in the early 60s, even though there’s no reference to it being a period piece. Weird, slow moving, occasionally funny, often xenophobic. Great soundtrack of rock and roll and doo wop hits.

Curtis Hanson of L.A. Confidential and 8 Mile fame directed this! How weird.

Next is Risky Business, which made Cruise a star. High hopes for that one.

Every Tom Cruise Movie, Part 2: The Outsiders (1983)

I know that there are people who consider this a classic. I thought it was actively bad. The photography was good, and Matt Dillon was good, and I hated everything else.

Tom Cruise is barely even in it! He plays basically the same role as he did in Taps – the overly excited, violent member of the “good” gang.

Attention, early 1980s casting directors: more Tom Cruise, please.

Next up, 1983’s “Losin’ it.” Looks terrible!

Every Tom Cruise Movie, Part 1: Taps (1981)

Taps isn’t very good. Cruise is the 3rd or 4th most important character in an ensemble. He does have a few good Cruise moments. Even in 1981, he was barely sane.

The movie is about a military school that is commandeered by its students after they learn it’ll be shut down. The characters are pretty broadly drawn but who cares because it’s an allegory! It’s a ponderous movie but it isn’t very deep. Also in it: young Sean Penn! He’s pretty good.

It’s not that it’s a bad movie. Just not very memorable.

Next movie to watch: The Outsiders