American stock-car series NASCAR had its heyday between 1980 and 2000 when it was at peak popularity. Smack dab in the middle came the release of Tom Cruise’s racing movie ‘Days of Thunder‘ shot at actual NASCAR races in 1989.
Kind of like ‘Rocky‘ on wheels, it’s the underdog story of race Cole Trickle, an open-wheel racer who’s lost his ride and turns to stock cars to save his floundering career. He’s given a chance to test out a race car by the rich owner of a South Carolina car dealership who wants to start his own race team. Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) is certainly quick, but he’s un-schooled in the ways of NASCAR but he’s taken under the wing of veteran crew chief Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) and together they climb the ladder to success. Their goal is to win the Daytona 500.
The movie follows Cole’s as he learn lessons about how rough and tumble NASCAR can be. In an early race, Trickle complains over the radio to his crew chief about a racer slamming into him. In response, Hogge explains that stockcar racing is a full-contact sport by delivering the now-famous line
No, no, he didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he rubbed you.
And rubbin, son, is racin’
The racing scenes were all filmed pre-CGI and involved mounting movie cameras to NASCAR race cars, then attempting to qualify for real races. Those racing scenes are the best and worst part of the movie. There’s no rear projection garbage in this film; the real race footage (filmed from within) are breathtaking. Interspersed with close-up shots of Tom Cruise through the windshield, and it all looks totally believable. But the director just took it too far. Big wrecks happen several times each race, and in one scene a car’s hood flies off when its rear rear bumper gets hit.. triggering a massive pile-up.
In the universe of ‘Days of Thunder‘ if a racer gets spun out by a rival and finds himself stopped backwards on the grass, he can just pop the car in gear and catch the leaders in mere moments. That’s the downside of a big Hollywood movie that values excitement over accuracy. Several times, Tom Cruise’s character of Cole Trickle seems to have a super-natural ability to pass other cars at will. While racing flat out in a pack, Trickle can just shout “I’m dropping the hammer!” and shift into yet another gear and fly around his rivals.
Maybe that was the magic of ‘Days of Thunder‘ and why had $150 million in ticket sales, tripling its production budget. There was a little something for everyone, including a romantic sub-plot where Tom Cruise got to make-out on screen with ravishing redhead Nicole Kidman. outrageous behviour that would get racers black flagged in real life are per for ‘Days of Thunder‘ and nobody ever dies in the spectacular accidents.
“We have a really good set of matched tires on it. Those tires are matched perfect and staggered special. If you go to the outside, you can hold it.”
Every decade, Hollywood makes a big racing movie. This year’s ‘F1: The Movie‘ is breaking the box office, in 2013 the historical F1 movie ‘Rush‘ wowed audiences, and in 2001 Stallone’s epic ‘Driven‘ was released. 1990’s ‘Days of Thunder‘ is becoming a distant memory. So, it is of particular interest that Tom Cruise was at the London premiere of ‘F1: The Movie‘, despite having no part in the movie or its production.
Rumours are swirling that the duo (who were supposed to be the stars of ‘Ford V Ferrari‘) are going to team up for the long overdue sequel to ‘Days of Thunder‘ with Cruise reprising his role as Cole Trickle and Brad Pitt returning to the screen as Sonny Hayes from ‘F1: The Movie‘. That would be another contender for the title of greatest racing movie in history, if it ever makes it to the big screen.
2 thoughts on “Big, Dumb, Fun: Days of Thunder (1990)”