6. Hes going high Race Day Days of Thunder (1990)
Released at the very beginning of the 90s, Days of Thunder is very much an 80s movie. For his third collaboration with Simpson and Bruckheimer, Scott effectively
remade his first, Top Gun, but thats not to say he didnt do it well. Despite the change of scenery and the grave similarities to Top Gun, the challenge Scott was faced with would have been very different. Telling the same story maybe, but for the action scenes especially, Scott wasnt afforded the luxury of just doing the same thing again. The story of Days of Thunder is largely irrelevant. The short of it is that Maverick is now called Cole Trickle and hes a NASCAR driver. Nicole Kidman has replaced Kelly McGillis and Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Michael Rooker and John C. Reilly have tagged along for the ride in a further example of Tony Scotts films being very well cast. This is the sort of film thats all about the finale, a race in which Cole Trickle competes against his nemesis, the climax is what this film is for, and Scott delivers. Hans Zimmer synthesised score pounds like it doesnt yet realise the 80s is over and were off! Now this isnt the most subtly directed sequence youre likely to see but its befitting of the film and it works. As Cole speeds around the track the communication with Robert Duvalls crewmember, Harry Hogge, is constant. The cuts are as quick as the cars, from a close up of Cruises face, to a 2-shot of Kidman and Duvall looking concerned, to the exterior of the car and back againand again. Scott effectively puts us in the race, in Cruises head and occasionally reminds us whom hes racing for. As shouting ascends, the music gets faster and the crowd cheer for more, and so do we.