Days of Thunder Movie Review

Days of Thunder (1990)

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Written by: Robert Towne and Tom Cruise (story), Robert Towne (screenplay)
Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Michael Rooker, Fred Thompson, John C. Reilly, Margo Martindale
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
A young hot-shot stock car driver gets his chance to compete at the top level.

Verdict
It's not a good movie but like Tom Cruise, it is charming. The shortfalls of the movie are most of the sequences where characters are talking, save for a few good quotes. The highlights are racing. This makes stock car racing exciting, one of the few movies to do so. If you edited this down to just the racing, it would be pretty awesome. The plot is a Tom Cruise trope of the cocky newcomer having to overcome his faults to win, but Cruise is really good in the role. I knew the numerous faults of this movie, but I'll never pass on a chance to watch it.
Watch It.

Review
Cruise's wheelhouse character in the '80s was the cocky newcomer who had to overcome his demons to succeed. Cruise played the part in Top Gun (1986), The Color of Money (1986), and Cocktail (1988).

Duvall turned down The Godfather 3 for this, which in hindsight wasn't a bad thought. The crazy thing about this movie is that the racing scenes were filmed during an actual Nascar race. Has there ever been a 'sports' movie that put actors or stunt people into the sport during an actual game?

Cruise conceived of this movie after driving race cars on a track with Paul Newman. The script wasn't finished when shooting began, but the story is based on real life crew chief Harry Hyde and driver Tim Richmond. Even some of the smaller plot points are pulled from real life..

Tom Cruise and Robert Duvall play Cole Trickle and Harry Hogge

This movie's selling point is the setting. It isn't doing anything new. It starts with car dealership owner Tim (Randy Quaid) recruiting old timer Harry (Robert Duvall) to head a race team. This can be overly dramatic. At the track to see the driver, someone asks, "Who is the driver?" Queue Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) riding a motorcycle without a helmet through smoke with dramatic music backing. It's a movie in the truest since in that it's here just to evoke a feeling. Reality is an afterthought as this skirts reality as needed to craft an underdog story. This movie certainly pushes the drama to a near hokey level, but the racing is fun. It's also a movie where the cars really should get a credit.

Cole is a rookie with a lot of promise that needs to pull it all together. He has a lot of growing pains as he learns about Nascar and cars in general. He doesn't know how they work, he just drives them. Cole quickly develops a rivalry with Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker). With coaching from Harry, Cole takes off, quickly becoming a favorite. An unfortunate and serious crash causes him to lose his confidence. After his recovery, he doesn't want to be on the track. He's scared. It doesn't help that the racer filling in for him turned out to be a hotshot too.

Russ Wheeler (Cary Elves) and Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) drive Hardees 18 and Mello Yello 51 cars

The only thing Cole knows how to do is race, and now he isn't doing that well. This throws in a romance with his doctor (Nicole Kidman) just to show how Cole is losing his grip on and off the track. Cole is pushed into the final race by Rowdy. They go from rivals to friends in an instant. Cole has to overcome his fears to succeed in this race not just for himself but now for Rowdy. This has all the elements to make it entertaining. Sure driving through a bit of smoke cures all of Cole's fears, but that's what this movie is. He didn't die in that moment so his fear is gone. Cole is poised to win the Daytona 500, the Superbowl of racing as the movie tells us. Throughout the race Cole faces numerous setbacks, but you never expect him to lose.

There's certainly a lot of exposition for how little there is to explain. Some of the explanation is painfully obvious, but then you get quotes like "rubbing is racing." I really think if you take everything out of this that isn't racing, you'll have a really exciting forty five minute movie. Credit to the director and whoever conceived of and shot the cars scenes. They are absolutely great. I like this movie a lot and a huge part of that are the racing sequences.