Tom Cruise Rewind

While filming Top Gun, Tom Cruise received an offer to work with yet another critically acclaimed director. This time, it was Martin Scorsese, and the project was the 1986 movie The Color of Money , a sequel to the 1961 film The Hustler with Paul Newman reprising the title character. Although the film is a solid enough endeavor, it doesn't get close to recapturing the critical acclaim of its predecessor.

I was concerned about rewatching Top Gun because, in truth, I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't already been said about it. After all, Top Gun is the most quintessentially 80s movie to exist. It has it all: mindless action, blatant US military propaganda, forced romantic subplots, cheesy synths, Berlin and Kenny Loggins, homoerotic subtext, and, of course, Tom Cruise. Of course, there's something interesting to be said when the film is put into the context of the 80s and of Cruise's life and career.