Days Of Thunder

Drama, Adventure, Romance

Tom Cruise	Cole Trickle
Nicole Kidman	Dr. Claire Lewicki
Robert Duvall	Harry Hogge
Cary Elwes	Russ Wheeler
Randy Quaid	Tim Daland
J.C. Quinn	Waddell
Caroline Williams	Jennie Burns
Donna Wilson	Darlene
Michael Rooker	Rowdy Burns
Chris Ellis	Harlem Hoogerhyde
Don Simpson	Aldo Bennedetti
Fred Dalton Thompson	Big John
John C. Reilly	Buck Bretherton

Director	Tony Scott
Producer	Jerry Bruckheimer; Don Simpson
Writer	Tom Cruise; Robert Towne
Cinematography	Ward Russell

With Days of Thunder, director Tony Scott tried to do for the Indy 500 what he did for the U.S. Air Force with Top Gun. But without Top Gun's go-go soundtrack and visual feats, Scott merely ends up with a Tom Cruise vehicle that's out of gas.

Cruise plays (what else?) a cocky, upstart stock-car racer who faces down ruthless racing opponents. Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Cary Elwes, and Randy Quaid do the laps around this movie's tiresome track with Cruise, while director Scott attempts to propel the action along with his trademark visceral, gritty but glamorous visual style.

Days of Thunder is notable, however, as a turning point in Cruise's then one-dimensional career. After this film--having tired even his most devoted fans by playing a bartender, an air force pilot, and a stock-car driver--Cruise was forced to take on real character parts. --Ethan Brown