Welcome to the oh Brother podcast . I'm your host , Dan Smith . Alongside me , as always , my brother from the same mother , Mike Smith . How's it going , Dan ? Good man , we're back . We're going to do so . This is kind of a concept piece that we've done in the past and it's changed shape . Yeah , a little bit , A little bit .
We did an episode on why you should love the Godfather 3 , very controversial episode that we did . Right .
And the Godfather coda did not listen to us .
They did not . No , they clearly missed the episode . And then we did another episode of why you Should Love Solo , a Star Wars story , another very controversial episode , right , and we haven't really done anything in that vein since then . And then this kind of this idea popped up is very topical , timely and we'll get into all that .
But I'm calling this I think I have the perfect title for the episode which is risky business why Tom Cruise should have an Oscar .
Yeah , that's good .
Right business . Why tom ?
cruise should have an oscar . Yeah , that's good . Right , and that was the original thought was let's focus on the movies he was nominated for and he didn't get . But we're going broader than that a little broader than that .
Yeah , we're gonna again . Uh , tom born thomas cruise mapather , the fourth , fourth , yes , the fourth . Born July 3rd 1962 . Not July 4th , born on the 4th of July , which is one of his films we'll talk about .
And I guess the reason he doesn't use that name . I guess his dad was a real jerk , yeah , and bullied the kids .
Yeah , there doesn't seem to what you can find about that . It doesn't seem like that was a good relationship at all and I know that you know . If you you read into it a little bit , you know his , his mom took them and left .
Yeah , uh , at some point when they were pretty young sisters , correct ? Yeah ?
and so he's born in syracuse , spends a little time there , but then very quickly ends up in canada for quite a bit of time and that's really where I think he first gets into drama school . Right , he said he's going to . What did he go to ?
It was like 14 high schools in 15 years or something crazy like that , moving around a lot you know what he was going to be , what his focus was ?
yeah , the seminary he was going to be a priest .
He aspired to the priesthood , yeah I would have thought that I thought about that at one point too . Believe it or not , you know we had a heavy influence in the household and , yeah , not to mention , you know , our neighbors growing up . That was a lot of pressure and he's a bishop now .
Yeah , he's got a little higher I always said to mom you know I'd be a priest , but I like girls too much , sorry yeah , was that your excuse , that was my excuse so about sixth grade , he comes back to the us and then he graduates from high school in new jersey . Uh and uh , he was going to also take a shot at playing sports .
He was a linebacker football , believe it or not I didn't know that with his yeah and uh got an injury , so that's also part of the story , but you know ends up . You know , like I said , getting into some uh theater and you know drama through school . It doesn't take very long for this guy to land .
You know a couple of fairly big roles , not the first certainly . I don't know if anybody would know the first movie he was in you , of course I'm sure know .
Yeah , Endless Love .
Do you have that on ?
4K . No , no , I don't own that one . It's amazing , having gone to so many high schools , because it takes a lot of confidence and I know this firsthand . When I was in junior high , I had a teacher saying Mike , you need to act , you need to go to the theater , blah , blah , blah .
I was just too nervous , I was too scared and then when I finally got the confidence , I was too old .
So for him .
That's remarkable .
Yeah , yeah . And he's also struggling with dyslexia Right , which he says he claims that Scientology has fixed that .
Yeah , and he's also struggling with dyslexia Right , which he says he claims that Scientology has fixed that .
Yeah , he is quoted as saying such yeah , guy's made nearly 50 films .
Hasn't directed a feature film yet . Right Hasn't directed a feature film yet .
That's odd . He's been nominated three times for Best Actor and then once for best picture , which of course was top gun , maverick , and we'll get into that as we as we go along .
But you know , I think I I first came to know him or was aware of him when taps came out in 81 , and I don't know that you were familiar with it until more recently uh , no , I knew it back then , but not sure I saw it front to end in a while because I was on the road at that time . I was touring right , it resonated with me .
I was very young at the time , but it resonated with me and had an unbelievable cast at the time . Yep , and we talked about it on the , on the podcast before , but you know sean penn and ron and Ronnie Cox . George C Scott is in the damn thing Right right , and Cruise had a pretty standout performance in that film .
A little bit over the top , he did , and then the person who noticed him , or I would say , discovered him in a way , was Sean Penn . Say discovered him in a way , was Sean Penn .
Nancy Klopper , who's a casting director , a very famous casting director was casting for what came after Tapped a risky business , and Sean Penn calls her and says you got to look at this kid , tom Cruise . I mean he was a kid . So was Sean Penn .
Well , yeah , he was not quite even 20 , I don't think at that point , so very young . It's funny you mention that because I had recently learned I saw an interview with Cruz , which he doesn't do a ton of interviews , you know , he does the late show circuit .
Here and there , right On his videos , he'll do commentaries .
Yeah , but I mean he doesn't do a lot of sort of sit down kind of in depth , you know one-on-ones I think uh oprah killed that well , it wasn't just oprah . We'll get into that . Mike , jump on ahead . But yeah , we'll get into that there was .
There was a couple of uh standout moments , let's say in the uh mid-2000s , where you know that that kind of became an issue .
But the risky business you mentioned that because in this interview he talked about he was actually going to do rumble fish yeah , because he had worked with Coppola , of course , on the outsiders he was actually he was working on the outsiders when he got the call for risky business and he just got on a plane .
He didn't he didn't even tell Francis .
He just said I'm going to go check this out he had a very short window of time to be able to go up and do a taping and he says they saw like 1,000 , 2,000 people for the role . It was something kind of absurd , but he was planning to do Rumble Fish . I didn't know that , mike holding up risky business .
Yeah , the brand new just came out Criterion Collection , stuffed with extras and a lot of him talking , which is , you know , really different .
Yeah , Is it one of these . Is he watching it in real time ?
No , he's giving an interview , yeah .
I don't love that . I don't love that . I want to see them watching but he does both . I think him and rebecca do a commentary rebecca de mornay , thanks for folks that don't know . So it taps the outsiders . Risky business , uh . And then you know another . We've recently talked about ridley scott too .
On on the show and the film legend comes out in 85 never seen that to this day doesn't ? it's a basically a flop . Then 1986 hits , and we all know the rest of that story , which of course was , yeah , top , top gun at this point , dan I'm not a fan right , I don't like him . No , and you won't become a fan for a few more years .
Yes , and he will go out of his way to make sure that you're not a fan based on some of the things he continues to do after Top Gun . You know he's got color of money cocktail .
You know where he's portraying this very arrogant cocky hockey with the big smile Right , just , I hated it . I hate all the right moves came earlier , right , yeah , and I think perhaps you know you're a little bit envious it could be , I'm not , I'm not above saying that's true , absolutely .
But he did lean into that in those in the portrayal of those characters in those films . I mean , he spent , like color , color money , right . So over the top , even his hair is obnoxious , you know , in the film . And is there , is there a director he hasn't worked with , like orson welles ? Maybe is the only director he never had a chance to work with ?
I mean , yeah , I'm really wild but you know , scorsese coppola , um , uh sy , sidney Pollack and Spielberg , spielberg , yeah , all the top directors of the time . You know ?
So , right , so as you said he's getting this kind of reputation as this sort of , you know the charming good looks , the charisma , you know the , you know the winning smile and all that , the winning smile and all that .
And then 1988 , the film Rain man comes out , which of course stars him and Dustin Hoffman , which for us now , this could have been an episode just about Rain man , correct , and we've contemplated that in the past .
Yeah .
But there's too much to say about his career overall and of course , this whole episode is making a case as to why he should already have an Oscar right and that should have been the first , it should have been , and so not . So 1988 . Uh , I'm in high school at this point .
You're I think you're in florida already at that point yeah , 86 but it's interesting because I remember , like you and I connected through this film quite a bit at the time , but I wouldn't move to florida until two years later , right about a year or two , but I was visiting here and you and I shot a video .
Oh , is that what it was ?
yes , it's so funny because I didn't know I was going to bring this up . So mike and I we used to do home videos all the time growing up , right before anyone knew of home , and this is one that it may live on some tape somewhere buried that we can't get access to right now , but I was going to bring it up because I wondered if you remembered this .
So mike's visiting boston at the time , yeah , and we shoot this really ridiculous but hilarious uh skit parodying . You know rain man , and it's the leaving walbrook , correct ?
walking and we were walking the same five feet exactly . We were in a very small space and I wondered if you were walking in circles , but you cannot tell on the video that we're walking just in circles back in the day there was , uh , you remember , the Groucho Marx glasses .
Yeah , yeah , the big mustache and the nose , the beagle puss . Now the beagle puss , the nose . This is not derogatory against Tom , because it runs in the family , so we can relate to this .
But the schnoz on those glasses if you remember we pulled that off of one of the beagle puss I know glasses and and I taped it on to my onto my face and we had the the barracuda jackets .
That's right , I was wearing the barracuda jacket , you had the suit on , you were playing tom cruise , of course , right , exactly relegated me to being uh yeah , because I'm the director , I'm always going to give myself younger brother and I was passed over .
You did a great dustin hoffman , and all I had to do was put on dark shades and walk right and I think I was holding the camera and doing the camera .
I think that's true yeah , it's just me and you .
I would love to see that . And we had the music going from the movie .
Yes , that matched that scene done by hans zimmer , leaving walbrook hysterical . It was hysterical and it's . It's so burned into my brain I can see it like it was yesterday .
I can , too , doing that , and you were behind me with the glasses real serious and then I think I just like cut off to the side at one point , started yelling son of a bitch , yes , that's right .
There's a famous scene where it echoes through the canyon when , right right , cruise gets frustrated .
And you know , and it's funny because I don't know if you've seen recently , uh , fiscal and Ebert , of course , uh , reviewed the film and both , you know , thumbs up , and but one of the things they talked about was they they kind of they didn't go full into it , but they sort of started to kind of make a similar argument about the film , right and but saying
, but then they just talked about , like dustin hoffman and how it was a very thankless role that he took on . But what I , what I thought was interesting is is Ebert mentions , you know , what's very typical in fiction is it's about change .
And what was fascinating about Rain man is you've got one character who can't change Right Because he's got he's got autism right , correct ? and then you have like this you've got charlie babbitt cruz's character who refuses to change but eventually has this arc where he does change , and I don't even think they gave him enough credit in the review .
If you , if you watch , you can pull it up on youtube , yeah I'll have to pull it out because , for for people who don't know who we're talking about , siskel and ebert were the premier movie critics of the 70s , 80s , 90s until about may of 2020 , when , when the oh brother , truly yeah , we just yeah , the thing about rain man is , first of all , if you look
at it , it's a little bit offensive the way Dustin Hoffman portrays autism because he takes everything to the extreme . And the reason I know that is because in college a professor we both had she was my chairperson she had a practice where it was all autistic and we visited and there wasn't somebody anywhere close .
These were all people who were housed in this facility . We got to interact with them and talk with them and there was one guy out of the 25 that was all focused on nail polish . You could see him just looking at everyone's nails . You know Dustin Hoffman took on characteristics of probably multiple autistic people he had studied Sure .
And I think that was over the top . I think today people might be a little bit .
Well , it was based on a real guy . It was based on a real guy .
It was based on a conglomerate of people , sure .
But I don't care what they say . I don't , but I don't think that there's anything wrong with that .
Yeah . I don't know , maybe because of that experience it changed it for me , but I always thought Dustin Hoffman's one note , he's one note the whole time , he's one note the whole time .
Cruise goes from this total jerk to hatred , to spite , to get to this arc where he finally bonds with Rain man or Raymond , and then they come down and the end is quite melodrama , you know .
But I went on too much with that . Yeah , you , I said this is not a rain man episode , but um , but that was a game changer in his career . I mean , we could end the argument right here and in our opinion , if you go back and watch that film , or if you haven't seen it for that matter , his performance is just , it's phenomenal , and I don't you .
There's been little flashes here and there in film since where he leans into some dramatic pieces , but to me this still is his best dramatic performance . I agree and that includes Jerry Maguire , which was good .
I agree . In fact , at the end of this , I want to ask you for your top three cruise movies . Okay , not my top five , my top three . No , I want to ask you for your top three cruise movies .
Okay , not my top five , my top three , no , I'm only giving you three . Okay , so you know , let's move away from Rain man , as much as an impression as that left on us . Yeah , but then you have like just go through the series of films after that , the Board of the Fourth of July Right Nominated , of films .
After that the born of the fourth of july right nominated . Then days of thunder in 1990 , where of course he meets , you know , his future wife , nicole kidman .
No , not in days of thunder , that was , that was uh okay , they had already met , but paul newman turned him on to race cars .
Yeah , robert duvall starred in , uh , days of thunder , okay , I mean , I don't know . Leading up to that , I mean , I guess top gun , he was driving motorcycles and all that , so he wasn't new to that , and I think he was a risk taker from a young age too .
He talks about jumping off the roof as a kid and doing all this sort of stuff , so he had it in his dna anyway he's done some crazy shit he has . He has um a few good men , the firm . Uh , that's 1992 , 1993 you know , there's a look at the diversity , the the versatility of the roles that he's choosing here . It's phenomenal , and the firm .
He played a character , mitch mcdeere , and you know why I went to law school . It was based on an actor , not cruise , but it was based on al pacino's performance and all um mike making it about injustice for all no , I'm . I just want to draw a parallel because cruise I think he played mitch mcdeer in the firm .
I think he did the same thing for people probably younger than me got them to go to law school because of the way how good he portrayed being a lawyer yeah , yeah and being a good guy lawyer .
Yeah , I love that movie again and there's a .
There's a sequel out now .
Grisham wrote a sequel to it speaking of it , so sydney pollack directed that ? Yeah , am I remembering correctly , was Sidney Pollack in Eyes Wide Shut , absolutely Right , big , big role . So there's a connection there . I had forgotten about that . Then 1996 , big , big year . We've got Mission Impossible franchise kicks off right .
And then , of course , jerry Maguire , which , as we mentioned at the top , this is one of the three actor noms that he has .
Uh , have you mentioned all three ? Uh board of the fourth of july magnolia and jerry mcguire okay , and for all three of those he won the golden globe . But he gave them back , and this is way before the inclusion stuff that's going on right now . He gave them back because he felt the academy wasn't diverse enough .
They had no african-american members period , so tom cruise gave away his three golden globes , gave him back for that reason well , so 1996 I just mentioned .
So then he disappears for a few years right him and his wife and why , something's going on between 96 and 1999 , which is , of course , the filming of eyes wide shut with stanley kubrick , who you , of course , are . You've got your uh , clockwork orange poster behind you yeah , and you can see in this .
Yeah , you see eyes wide shut behind you and this was a whole . This could be again a whole episode on just eyes wide shut and all the controversy and the stories that came out about . You know his and nicole kidman's marriage and you know the filming of the . The movie led to the demise of their marriage . Like nobody really knows the truth other than them .
So right , and in fact they dispute that uh in in some interviews that I've read .
But yeah , I don't . They don't take shots at each other in the press , they're no , you know they still have a couple of kids together . You know um that they adopted and right , so they're still co-parenting yeah .
So now let's bring it to some controversy . 2005 now we've talked about on the podcast a lot . Okay , so to make this argument you got to separate the art from the artist which we always talk about . Well , it was 2002 . He's starting to be a little outspoken .
It's probably too much of a word , but you mentioned earlier his involvement with the church of scientology . So his publicist at the time is kind of like don't lean into that kind of keep that quiet , probably not going to do good for your image .
So he fires his publicist at that point and hires his sister Leanne , you mentioned earlier he's got three siblings and then 2005 happens and it's just really heated exchange , very awkward exchange when him and Matt Lauer on the Today Show .
Matt lauer would end up in his own controversy years after that yeah , much worse who's who's got the last laugh on that one right ? so there's this real heated exchange on on during that interview .
Yeah , I got into this whole conversation about psychoanalysis and part of it was bro Brooke Shields had come out talking about taking medication to help her through , as you said , postpartum depression and he was opposed to it . He didn't believe in it and he said as much in that interview with Matt Lauer .
So they go back and forth and they never really agree to disagree . It just got more and awkward and katie holmes was in the wings on the couch watching this whole thing . That was his girlfriend or wife . I don't know if they were married , but no , not yet no it's his girlfriend .
Yeah , they were getting married yeah then he's on the oprah show where he does this kind of , you know , sort of wild , sort of jumping up on the couch and professing his love to katie holmes , which you look back now . It's so innocent , so ridiculous . The guy was in love like who cares why did they make such a ? Big deal about it .
I don't even turned off people a lot , I don't even know why . Yeah , who cares ? You know ? Of all the things that have been done in the world .
You know , before you mentioned matt lauer , I mean God . This is nothing Exactly right .
I'm not sure that did any favors for War of the Worlds , which of course was out . He was on the circuit promoting it Spielberg right and then also at that time that leads to the end of what had been about a 14-year deal with Paramount Right . Because of the like you know what this guy , we got to get a step away from this Too much Scientology nonsense .
Exactly so . He fires his sister Leanne at that point , you know , because of all the stuff going on , and then he gets into a partnership with MGM United Artists and , you know , goes on to make , you know , some other films , of course .
Do you know the woman he partnered with to take over the Mission Impossible series ?
Paul Wagner . That was his producing partner . Okay , that's who it is , because it was Cruise Wagner Productions .
Yes , okay , it's who I think you're thinking about . And I really think you mentioned he hasn't directed a film yet . I think those Mission Impossible films are his babies I think , he calls every shot you know what's interesting about that ?
they talk about the james bond franchise . Right , this the mission possible's his james bond . But the interesting difference is how many different actors over the years have played james bond .
Ethan hunt , you got one right right and he's about our next year , his eighth iteration too .
Yeah , yeah so it's pretty phenomenal . But so he splits from um paula wagner as well . At that's around that same time , 2011 , he enters back into a deal with paramount and then goes , protocol comes out , which , at that time , coming off of mi3 , that had been the worst in the franchise I liked mi3 .
Believe it or not , with um , a lot of people didn't but ghost protocol was a game changer .
Mi4 was that was a game changer . In fact , it's funny . You remember I think it's in the beginning of that film when he's running away from an exploding , whatever the , wherever he was the car .
I don't know what it was , but he's doing the from an exploding whatever the , wherever he was , the car .
I don't know what it was , but he's doing the typical Tom Cruise run that he does in every film he's in and he's wearing a Bruce Springsteen concert shirt . That blew my mind when I was in the theater and saw it for the first time , because it was a bootleg shirt that you and I bought in the parking lot of giant stadium in 1985 . That's funny .
And there he was where it's the same one that courtney cox is wearing in the dancing in the dark video .
Go google it I gotta check that out and I was just .
It was so random that he was wearing .
He's running and the explosion hits and he gets like thrown into the car . I think so .
I think that's the sequence . Yeah , that looked brutal to me . I don't know if they had a sponge car or whatever .
But right , that looked brutal , um , you know .
So we've been talking about a lot of the films that he's been in , but you you mentioned , uh , you were going to bring up some of the roles that he's turned down famously in his career and I've got some of those .
I've got eight , wow . Okay , I could see him in all of these roles .
I only wrote down three . I only have three . I got eight . Okay , a Beautiful .
Mind , okay , I didn't know that Wound Up Going to Russell Crowe , right , edward Scissorhands .
Oh , I can't see that at all .
Wound Up . I can't see that at all .
I could .
I can't see that as a younger him Maybe , but went to Johnny Depp , donnie Brasco .
That would have been interesting Leo right . I don't think he's ever worked with Pacino . That would be a nice casting . I'd love to see them pair up .
Yeah , I would too . I don't think he ever has . Footloose is probably on your list . Yes is probably on your list . Yes , kevin bacon , right ghost patrick swayze they didn't want patrick swayze because he was coming off of dancing , whatever . And the ?
two of them were in the outsiders together .
That's right that's right um indecent proposal . I don't know if it must have been the woody harrelson part right I would assume yeah I would assume here's here's one . He would have kicked off the mcu iron man , iron man , I don't know .
I , I , I could see him as tony stark , like I could see I could too .
And the last one , which went to tim robbins , shawshank redemption redemption wow , okay , interesting .
That probably would have been an oscar for him . Wow , yeah , that's wow , that's wow , okay , that's a pretty good list , uh , but he's not okay for himself . I mean , the guy's films have amassed billions of dollars , billions of dollars just top gun maverick , which let's talk about that for a second . So covet hits right , 2020 . We all know what happened .
You know , I don't think it's too far-fetched to say he was at the center of getting us back into theaters . Now you could say Christopher Nolan , because Christopher Nolan's Tenet was , I think , one of the first big films to be released in the theaters . You know , I forget what year that came out .
In fact , tom Cruise's video of him going to see the premiere of it oh , right , with a mask on and everything , and uh , but you know this , we talk about controversy . I think this worked in Tom Cruise's favor , which is this audio that gets released while he's , uh , on the set of um , while he's on the set of Mission Impossible . Was it Dead Reckoning ?
Yeah , you know , there's some crew that are violating the protocols .
Not wearing masks . Right , they're all hovered around a computer .
Right , and there's this famous audio that got released of him just berating them , screaming , yelling , screaming yelling . But if you , if you listen to it , you know he's talking about .
He says at one point they're back in hollywood making movies because of us , right , what we're doing here , and you know he's looking out for people's families and their livelihood and all of this and that production . If it gets shut down , there's a lot of people out of work that can't , you know , buy groceries and pay the bills and whatnot .
So , and it did , get shut down .
That movie did get shut down for a short period of time , as did everyone at that point .
But this was different than , say , christian bale going off on a lighting guy , correct ?
and I think you're right . I heard heard him . You know one thing when you any interview with him , his passion for what he does comes through , and his passion is strong .
It's specifically for films , making films intended to be seen in the theater . That's what he's all about .
People are like cause he hasn't been doing drama lately ? You know Top Gun , maverick Right , the Mission Impossible stuff has been almost every year . He's making movies that people want to go see instead of something like Far and Away and we talk about risky moves .
You know , top Gun , maverick , he , he holds on to it , right , could have released it to streaming , like so many studios were disney , that's all they were doing , right ? You know , fucking disney , plus every other goddamn movie , they , they , you know , let's put it on the streaming .
He said , no , this film and and this is not a film to be seen , like , on a small screen , even if you have a large TV , even if you have a large TV , right , this is made for the cinema . So he says no , holds out . And the thing has made what ?
almost a billion and a half dollars at this point you know that whole holdout time . I'm like it's Top Gun . Come on , because I was a big fan of Top .
Gun , but this is what I'm saying in it . Right , a movie , it's what , 36 years later or whatever it is ? Um , that usually doesn't go very well . No , but clearly , I saw it in the theater , you saw it and we liked it . Yeah , as as those as sequels go and he's been , he has not been one to be a fan of sequels clearly no .
Other than Mission Impossible .
Minus Mission Impossible , right , the franchise there , but but this just worked . It just worked it and you know it was . I don't know it was something about . Usually , when you lean into the nostalgia like that , it doesn't work For some reason . They got it right in this film and val kilmer coming back right .
It was really emotional and yeah , you know .
So there was some drama , jennifer connelly um it .
It was just an overall good film , but again , the box office uh supports that and for people who think that wow , his name jumped right out of my head Tom Cruise .
No , Val Kilmer .
Val Kilmer . For people who think Val Kilmer was acting , he was not . No , that's his real voice . He has a voice box , the whole thing , and at one point he had to use the computer to .
he types a message that you know yeah we need maverick something yeah in the scene and it worked it got me .
It got me too , and I you know me I'm about as emotional as exactly a carrot so I you know look the guy , the number of pictures he's been in , like I .
I said he's almost been in 50 films . He's got another film in production or in development , the Gauntlet , which he's doing with Christopher McQuarrie . Didn't he do a film ? They did Valkyrie together in 2008 , which was kind of sort of a resurgence and a real strong partnership that they filmed because they would do several movies together after that .
Um , to get out of that quagmire he got into with all the 2005 controversy , says it was kind of a very important relationship creatively right that he formed . So there they've got a film that that is slated to be coming out . It's I think it's in like pre-production or something how that goes yeah , I mean you you mentioned dead . Reckoning 2 .
Um , also , uh , the sequel to a film I finally just watched , right , that came out like 2014 or something , which was , uh , edge of tomorrow . Live , die , repeat it's . Live , die , repeat , repeat .
Right is in and that was in development . That was lost to covid , but they're still , they still , all of them . Emily blunt yeah , tom , they all talk about doing it and top gun three yeah , I saw . You know that once maverick was a huge smash .
It wasn't hard to green it wasn't , but , man , they're gonna . You think they had to get this right , right , really gonna have to get this story right , the only problem I had was uh you think no kelly mcgillis not being in it .
You know she was such uh , I agree , I agree , and I think they could have used her in some way I agree .
I I think that's a slight there . I don't know the story or what happened there . She was even reached out to like who knows ? But listen , this guy , I mean you could argue single handedly save the movie making business with one argument berating on a film set . I don't know .
You know , 50 years from now , tom Cruise is going to be like Gregory Peck , jimmy Stewart , right , you know those iconic Humphrey Bogart ? He kind of is in present day , but can you imagine that 20 years from now , looking back on some of the stuff he's done and god knows what he's got in store for us ?
and this is not to say that tom hasn't had a few dogs in his resume . He certainly has night and day for one oh , that was terrible , cameron I couldn't even get through the film , so bad but uh , which I think was filmed up in boston actually , if I'm not mistaken , or some of it anyways , but I would .
I would go back and argue just his performance and Rain man alone should have garnered him an Oscar win , absolutely . Not a nominee . He wasn't even nominated for it , mike , exactly Not even nominated for it , and you and I have talked about this so many times over the years and I think it was just .
I don't want to say a sympathy , that's not the word I'm looking for , but this . You mentioned Dustin Hoffman , one note that might be a bit harsh , but to to just discount Tom's performance in that film because of the focus on Hoffman's character .
I just don't think that's and he couldn't have gotten the supporting actor role because it wasn't a supporting role he was .
If anything , they could have given Dustin Hoffman the supporting role Well and therein , I think , lies the rub , is that they weren't going to do that Right . Dustin Hoffman's too big an actor at that point and Tom Cruise was obviously a superstar at that time but didn't certainly have a resume as Hoffman had at that point .
You know the graduated midnight cowboy and all that stuff . Correct , but I stand by that . I still think that was a huge oversight , do I ? get your top three now Rain man is right at the top .
It's really tough , though when I look , I mean there's so many , there's so many good ones and and I don't want to do something like taps or the outsiders where he's just kind of a support , an ensemble player , right , it's hard not to pick jerry mcguire , uh , and I'm and I'm not , I'm going , you're going to see , I'm not going for like the mission impossible
. Right , you know that really isn't going to be . I'm not going for like the Mission Impossible . Right , you know that really isn't going to be on my list . Those are more popcorn eater movies . Yeah , I would say I would say Rain man , god , I really liked the firm . I really , really liked the firm and I love risky business .
So that's a hard toss up right there for me , but I'm going to go with the firm . And then my third is Eyes Wide Shut , a film that most people wouldn't pick .
No , I just rewatched it . It diverted me on a Stanley Kubrick kick . I started to watch his movies because I was so fascinated by the extras . But for me , rain Man's number one , eyes Wide Shut number two . It's just a different , it's a rhythm that is unlike any other film that he's done , and even Kubrick .
Now , he and Nicole should have been both nominated for that , I agree . Let's just say that .
How tough was it for her ? She's half the movie . She's nude , with all this crew around . Well , I think everybody in the film is nude at some point , yeah , at some point I think sydney pollack was probably one of those guys in the corner right right exactly , but he was a great .
He was great in it so good , such a good actor he's the one who introduced cruise and and kubrick , but the third one I struggle with but I'm gonna land on the firm wow , that's unbelievable .
I can't believe you picked those three . That's amazing .
I love it I love it , believe it , uh you heard it here first .
Folks on the your brother podcast and I'll say this .
You know , people always say the book is always better than the movie . In this case , the movie was better than the book . Yeah , and I've read all of grisham's book .
Grishams , yeah , uh , you know , and you think of , uh , the , you think of the people he's had the good fortune to work with . I mean , right , the list is so long . Yeah , nicholson and and pollock and paul newman , and just on and on and on . Yeah , yeah , but not Pacino .
We got to get Tom and Al together in a film and maybe , who knows , maybe he'll finally get that Oscar win . But the first ?
Well , ironically , gene Hackman . And the first , I know God , is he good . Ironically , al Pacino wins his one and only Oscar . Yeah , for one of the worst movies he's done .
Well , it's because they knew he should have won it long before that .
He should have won for Godfather Part II easily . Of course that shouldn't have even been a debate . What was the name of that movie when he was ? Scent of a Woman . Scent of a Woman .
Come on .
Chris O'Donnell .
Right yeah , that was Chris O'Donnell's big star vehicle and yeah , look where he is now maybe the last one too .
The last one , yeah , I think the resume .
The resume is long and now we haven't . We didn't even speak about the guy's literal risk taking in life . So yeah , if , if anybody goes to an extreme to bring you entertainment , it's Tom Cruise . Nobody holds a candle to this guy when it comes to action . I mean , he's an unbelievable pilot .
You saw him in the building in Dubai in Mission Impossible and the Top Gun Maverick , that's him . It's just insane the things , like you said , that he's doing . And they could have picked anybody , mike , anybody at all , to conclude the Paris Olympics , but they chose Tom Cruise .
Right , he did the handoff from Paris to LA , which is kind of phenomenal when you think about it , why it's been a couple of years as of this recording that Top Gun Maverick came out .
It could have been anybody out how many stars . How many stars are iconic , as he is .
Okay , you know that I think you know that's it , beyonce , like I mean , there's other people they could have no , but you know he , he made a stunt out of it , jumping off the roof he did , and I guess that's where it comes down to yeah , yeah , now there's some genres that he has not .
Well , you know what he actually now say he's got an uncredited role in Young Guns , that's right . He hasn't really done a Western , but anyways . But his resume is so diverse , he's done almost everything you think of and again , they haven't all been hits .
I don't think you've seen Lions for lambs , which is he plays a senator . I like that one , right , right you .
That was the first film , I think , when he got with mgm and united artists maybe , yeah , was that film ? Yeah ?
there was a chunk of time where it seemed like he was going after the oscar . Jerry mcguire , born in the usa , um why did I say that ?
born on the fourth of july ?
and magnolia I . I was gonna watch just his stuff when I watched it recently . Yeah , but , he's in almost every sequence . So I was like , screw that , I'm just gonna have to put in the three hours right , but yeah it's more . Hoffman was in that with him and they teamed up in mission impossible three and I thought he was a great villain .
Well , and we didn't even talk about the , but yeah , we didn't even talk about the fact that . You know , this is one of the things I like about Tom is his ability to kind of poke fun at himself , Right and like he can do comedic roles too .
He was funny in jerry mcguire . He's been funny in a lot of films . That tropic thunder was shockingly funny . It was so funny . Most people didn't get him at first , didn't know it was him all right .
I think he had a part one of the austin powers films too , I believe you know he was when paltrow was in it .
Yeah , there's a lot of scars , yeah .
So I like that about him too , but you know , he's just so damn charming you know , you can't help , but like the guy .
I would have never thought like behind me there's 13 of his films that I laid out . I would have never thought I would own 13 of Tom Cruise's films when I saw him and say risky business , which I now appreciate much more than I did back then . Um , or , you know the guy from cocktails .
That's probably the epitome of where I disliked him and I think that was part of the hockey . That was the point . That's the point of that character you know , same with color of money , you know you . Yeah , it's a little bastard that you hate , you know , yeah , but just a great career . I mean he's ageless wonder .
And he's only . He just turned 62 . He's young , so Right , he's got another 20 years to go .
I'm excited to see what else he's got coming .
I would like to see another Rain man type film me too , just a pure drama , um that that he takes on , because he's kind of steered away from that as of late um , you know , I don't know , it looks like a couple more action films in the queue , so it doesn't look like we're going to get anything like that anytime soon .
I also saw if you look at his imdb page I mentioned this to you like he's going to space , tom cruise is going to be on mars or whatever .
At some point he's already you know something with space flight on spacex , yeah , yeah .
So if anybody's gonna do , it's gonna be him . But I love tom cruise . I've loved him since I was about eight years old when I saw him in taps . Uh and uh and rain man just was a game changer , just an absolute game changer . It's one of the best films ever made , I will argue too .
I'll go that far and say it's one of the best films ever made .
I did a 180 . I hated him , loved him . You got to credit some of that to Barry Levinson .
I mean , the directing in that film is so good that film is so good coming down the escalator , it's so good there's so many scenes , the one we tried to recreate or did recreate . I wish we could dig that up for the episode but we could go through that movie and splice out pieces , yeah , and have an hour of highlights .
So let's wrap this up . So where are you guys ? If , uh , where are you ? You like tom cruise ? You hate tom cruise .
Oh , I'm a huge fan .
No , I'm asking the audience like where are they ? You know , drop in like Tom Cruise , do you hate ?
Tom Cruise oh , I'm a huge fan .
No , I'm asking the audience , like where are they ? You know , drop in the comments . Like what do you think ? What are your favorite Tom Cruise films ? If you don't like them , why don't you like them ? Do you agree with us that he should have an Oscar ?
And do you think that his faith gets in the way or has gotten in the way ? That's right . We didn't really mention that , but that's a good point to make . Is is I ? I know it's not like in the daily headlines , no , and . But it was for a little while when lee or remedy , came out and really railed against the whole scientology and him .
But I'm sure if we went back and looked at some of the people that were nominated um and I think I think would be remiss or people would think we were dodging it if we didn't bring up katie holmes and that divorce and the fact that he doesn't see suri , his daughter we don't know the story , okay , and and , and what you're going to get from wikipedia isn't
the truth right thoroughly , or facts , but it seems as though there was just maybe a desire there to not have her get swept up in that whole scientology thing , correct , um , and her dad was a lawyer , but I I wouldn't go so far as to say that that he doesn't see her . I don't think that that's maybe true , I don't know .
I wouldn't make my claim because I don't know that , but it's time to head out , and that's been another episode of the Oberta Podcast . I've been your host , dan Smith . Alongside me is always my brother and same mother , mike Smith , and he still wants to say something , folks .
Bye everyone .