In the last couple of posts I've concentrated on actors who were some of the biggest box office stars of the decade. That trend continues with our focus on three films from Tom Cruise, who had already proved to be a hit at the box office during the late 1980s. Cruise started off in action films such as Top Gun but later expanded his repertoire to feature in more serious roles. We first saw Cruise in the final Best Picture winner of the 1980s; Rain Man and he went on to wow the academy by starring in three Oscar-nominated movies throughout the decade.
A year after Rain Man won the Best Picture, Cruise found himself nominated for his first of three acting nominations for his role in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July. Cruise's matinee idol good looks were well-utilised as Ron Kovic an All-American boy who lives in a small New York town. Stone presents Ron as a good-looking, popular student who excels at sports and who is a member of a highly religious family. Ron is soon won over by a rousing speech given by the Marines and soon signs up himself eventually being deployed to Vietnam. Unlike Stone's previous work, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July doesn't spend long in Vietnam itself and instead looks at the after-effects on Ron's time during the war. During his second tour, Ron is deeply affected by his accidental killing of a fellow platoon member and later finds himself paralysed from the chest down after being critically wounded. Most of the rest of the film deals with Ron's struggle to deal with his condition and struggles to deal with the fact that his efforts in Vietnam aren't being appreciated. Where once being a military veteran was a mark of respect, the war is now being seen in a new light with a lot of protests springing up all over the place. The film takes some interesting detours, including a trip to Mexico, before Ron finally realises that being a Marine has done him no good. His work as a war protester ultimately saw him become a notable figure especially after writing a compelling book. It is that book that Stone adapted for the film itself but, as I've noticed with other Stone films, the message he gives throughout is pretty heavy-handed.
Just like with JFK and Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July really demonstrates Stone's liberal viewpoints and his message that war is bad is hammered home throughout the film's two and a half hour runtime. The picture postcard world of Ron's adolescence is soon replaced by plenty of heartbreak as we see his problems adjusting back into a community who no longer accepts him. The scenes I enjoyed the most were those in the veterans hospital in which Ron tried his best to prove he could walk again. Stone presents the hospital as a dirty and dilapidated place in which the patients have been forgotten by those in the outside world. The Mexican scenes are also interestingly portrayed as a place in which the paraplegic former soldiers can escape to a world in which they're treated well. Born on the Fourth of July evokes memories of many war films I've watched throughout the course of this journey including All Quiet on the Western Front, Coming Home and Stone's own Platoon. But the film it has the most in common with is Best Picture winner The Best Years of Our Lives which also deals with the struggles of former soldiers in a small town community. Whilst it occasionally feels as if Stone is spoon-feeding the audience, there's no denying that he constructs a brilliant final chapter to the film which presents Ron as the hero he wants to be. Part of the reason that Ron is seen as such a compelling character is down to Cruise who brilliantly portrays the character's transformation throughout the course of the film. There's a depth to Cruise's performance in the latter scenes which proves that the actor isn't just a one trick pony and can thrive in drama as well as action. One of the other problems I had with the film is that there weren't any supporting characters to identify with primarily as none of the B-players seemed to stick around for very long. This is a shame as both Kyra Sedgwick and Willem Dafoe gave memorable turns but really weren't around long enough to make a lasting impression. Technically Born on the Fourth of July was a triumph as Robert Richardson's cinematography keeps the audience thoroughly gripped during all of the film's various scenes. Stone won his second Best Director award for the film and I can see why although I would argue that Born on the Fourth of July isn't as much of a masterpiece as Platoon. In fact the best element of the film was Cruise's lead performance as I found him utterly captivating and more than deserving of his Best Actor nomination.
Three years later Cruise would once again find himself being the top star at the Box Office and featuring in another Best Picture nominee. This time the film was A Few Good Men, directed by Rob Reiner and adapted by Aaron Sorkin from his own stage play. As a big fan of Sorkin's work I could tell almost immediately that he had written the screenplay as it was both fast-paced and witty. The film is based around the court case of two marines; Privates Dawson and Downey, who are accused of poisoning and murdering their colleague Private William Santiago. Cruise plays Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a military lawyer who is notorious for making plea bargains before cases go to court. Cruise excels as the smooth-talking lawyer and easily deals with Sorkin's unique brand of dialogue. Although Kaffee feels like it will be an open-and-shut case he didn't figure on the involvement of Commander Joanne Galloway, who thinks that the two privates deserve a proper trial. After getting herself involved in the case, Galloway convinces Kaffee to take the case to court after seeing that he believes that the men are innocent. Reiner and Sorkin let the audience in on the fact that the real men to blame are Dawson and Downey's commanding officers Col. Jessop and Lt. Kendrick who both gave them orders to scare Santiago after he criticised their leadership. Both men though are eager to cover up their orders and Dawson and Downey are seen as the sacrificial lambs who will go down due to Kaffee's inexperience in the courtroom. Although I've never seen A Few Good Men before I was aware of the film's big line delivered by Jessop in which he tells Kaffee 'You Can't Handle the Truth'. This line is brilliantly delivered by Jack Nicholson who was the only cast member to be nominated for his role in the film despite only appearing in a small amount of scenes.
The fact that Nicholson's performance in the film is so memorable is a testament to Sorkin as much as it is to the actor's brilliant screen presence. One of Sorkin's biggest strengths is to flesh out his supporting characters so the audience is able to understand their motivations and care about them. This is true here as the violent Kendrick, charming government prosecutor Cpt. Ross and Kaffee's assistant Sam are all given their chances to shine. Cruise is great at portraying Kaffee's growing care of the case as we saw him become more passionate as the film progresses. Kafee's understanding of what it truly means to be a military man is a plot point that is never over-emphasised but also provides one of the film's memorable final scenes. Cruise also has great chemistry with Demi Moore and they bounce off each other perfectly as they deliver Sorkin's screwball comedy-esque dialogue. Since we last saw her in Ghost, Moore has definitely improved as an actress and she's great playing a straight-laced Lt Commander who remains buttoned up throughout. One of the things I liked so much about A Few Good Men was the fact that Galloway and Kaffee never were romantically involved and instead remained colleagues. I'm sure other writers would've had these characters embark on a romance during the film and it's a testament to Sorkin that this didn't happen. Reiner's direction is equally impressive and he is able to make the courtroom scenes as tense as possible. The way the camera pounces back between Kaffee and Jessop during the film's most infamous scene makes it almost feel like a tennis match albeit one based on power. Although not a truly great film, A Few Good Men is a great piece of entertainment and I found it easy to digest in one sitting. Reiner, Sorkin and a fine ensemble cast are able to provide two hours of compelling well-written drama which doesn't hammer home its central message. Meanwhile, Cruise proved that he could handle snappy dialogue and shine in a lighter role to the ones he played in both Born on the Fourth of July and Rain Man.
Four years later, Cruise appeared in his final Best Picture nominee where he once again starred in a dialogue-heavy feature. This time he played the titular sports agent in Jerry Maguire a film that was both written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Initially portrayed as a cynical sports agent, Maguire develops a conscience and writes a mission statement condemning a lot of the immoral means that agents go through to secure clients. His words eventually get him fired from his agency and he later breaks up with his fiancée leaving him with few people to count on. The film focuses on Jerry's two major relationships after his firing the first being with his only client, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell. I personally think that Jerry's friendship with Rod is the more compelling of the two relationships as it is their mutual respect that ultimately changes the protagonist's view of his job. Jerry's fear over Rod's potential injury at a game was the film's most emotional moment and it was followed by a moving embrace between the two men. I was therefore less interested in Jerry's relationship with single mother Dorothy Boyd, the only person from his old firm who agrees to join his new agency. I found Crowe's presentation of Jerry and Dorothy's romance to be quite clichéd and I felt that the former's marriage proposal came out of the blue. Additionally I wasn't a fan of Dorothy's cutesy son Ray, who felt out of place in what was otherwise an adult romantic comedy. What I did like was the fact that Jerry and Dorothy briefly separated due to the fact that he couldn't retain a romantic relationship with her. But, in one of the film's most famous moments, Jerry wins his wife over with the now classic line 'you complete me' which was followed up with Dorothy's own ' you had me at hello.' But in my opinion a couple of lines doesn't make up for quite a sickly sweet romance which I didn't feel particularly invested with at any time during the film.
I'm personally a big fan of Crowe's and even though he's been involved with a few misfires over the years, namely Elizabethtown, he has a likeable style and is a great writer and director. Although Jerry Maguire earned him his only Best Director nomination to date, I don't feel that it stacks up with his best films. Instead I feel that it's a pleasant enough romantic comedy which contains a few memorable moments that have gone down in film history. The film is at its best when concentrating on Jerry's job as a sports agent as it lets Crowe's ear for brilliant dialogue shine through. It also allows Cruise to demonstrate how great he not only is as a fast-talking businessman but also as somebody who learns the true meaning of friendship. Cruise has great chemistry with Cuba Gooding Jr who, as Rod, won that year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar. I initially wasn't won over by Cuba's performance and it was only in the second half of the film that he really shone. Although the film marked her big break, I thought that Renée Zellweger gave a rather weak performance as the single mother looking to embark on a new romance. Zellweger later proved that she was a great romantic comedy lead but here I found that there was no spark between her and Cruise. The casting of Jonathan Lipnicki as Ray was another misstep for the film as I found him annoying rather than endearing. Crowe has proved that he is able to write memorable supporting characters, but the quirky turns in Jerry Maguire leave a lot to be desired. The film was definitely a relaxing watch but I don't think it's a film that would ever be described as a classic in the romantic genre nor is it particularly memorable. In fact, although I've watched the film before, I remembered very little of it aside from its much-quoted lines of dialogue. Jerry Maguire also demonstrated how former music journalist Crowe could use a pop soundtrack to enhance the mood of a film. It was his love of music that would later produce his best work, and one of my favourite films; Almost Famous which saw him pick up an Oscar for his screenplay.
Meanwhile Cruise would go on to win his final acting nomination for his supporting turn in Magnolia which I still consider to be one of his best roles. But in the 2000s he concentrated more on action films most notably the Mission Impossible franchise whose four instalments all dominated the Box Office. Unfortunately Cruise became another actor who became better known for his personal life than his acting and that's a shame as this post has proved that he can really excel in the right role.
Next time we focus on an actor/director combination which triumphed at two 1990s Oscar ceremonies.
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