Hot Shots!

Last updated
Hot Shots!
Hot Shots 2.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jim Abrahams
Written byJim Abrahams
Pat Proft
Produced byBill Badalato
Starring
Cinematography Bill Butler
Edited by Jane Kurson
Eric A. Sears
Music by Sylvester Levay
Production
company
Peter V. Miller Investment Corp.
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • July 31, 1991 (1991-07-31)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$26 million [1]
Box office$181.1 million [1]

Hot Shots! is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams, co-writer and co-director of Airplane! , and written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It stars Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Kristy Swanson, Bill Irwin, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. [2] The film is primarily a parody of Top Gun , with some scenes spoofing other popular films, including 9½ Weeks , The Fabulous Baker Boys , Dances with Wolves , Marathon Man , Rocky , Superman , and Gone with the Wind . A sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux , was released in 1993, with Sheen, Golino, Bridges and Jerry Haleva reprising their roles.

Contents

Plot

The film begins at Flemner Air Base 20 years in the past. A pilot named Leland "Buzz" Harley loses control of his plane and ejects, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnham to crash. Although Mailman survives, he is mistaken for a deer owing to the branches stuck to his helmet and is shot by a hunter.

Topper Harley wakes up from a nightmare he is having about the event when Lt. Commander Block asks him to return to active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, to help on a new top secret mission: Operation Sleepy Weasel, commanded by the senile and accident-prone Admiral Benson. Harley experiences intense psychological problems, especially when his father is mentioned. His therapist, Ramada, tries to stop Topper from flying, but she relents, and also starts to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Topper gets into a feud with another fighter pilot, Kent Gregory, Mailman's son and a former boyfriend of Ramada, who blames Buzz Harley for his father's death and believes Topper is dangerous.

Block starts privately meeting with an airplane tycoon, Mr. Wilson, who has recently built a new "Super Fighter" that will make the American pilots superior. Block reveals that he brought back Topper for the reason of making Sleepy Weasel fail. Block would then report that it was the Navy's planes that were the real reason for the mission failure and that they need to be replaced with Wilson's planes. During one of the last training missions, an accident between Pete "Dead Meat" Thompson and Jim "Wash Out" Pfaffenbach leaves Dead Meat killed and Wash Out demoted to radar operator. Block believes this is enough to convince the Navy to buy new fighters, but Wilson calls it a "minor incident", saying the planes need to fail in combat.

Topper develops a strong emotional attachment to Ramada, but she is haunted by her past with Gregory. On the carrier S.S. Essess, Benson reveals the mission to be an attack of an Iraqi nuclear plant and Block assigns Topper to lead the mission, much to Gregory's protest. Wilson, who is also on board, instructs a crew member to sabotage the planes, putting the pilots' lives at risk. In the midst of the mission, Block mentions Buzz Harley to Topper, who has a panic attack and is unable to lead. Block just starts to call out for the mission to be aborted when Iraqi fighters attack the squadron. All the planes' weapons fail, and Block, realizing what has happened, tells Topper that he saw what really happened with Buzz and Mailman: That Buzz tried to do everything possible to save Mailman, but ended up falling out of the plane, failing in his attempts.

With his self-confidence restored, Topper single-handedly beats the Iraqi fighters and bombs the nuclear plant, dropping a bomb directly on Saddam Hussein. Back aboard the ship, Wilson's plan is revealed, and his standing with the military is lost. Back in port, Gregory hails Topper as a great pilot and gives his blessing to Ramada to be with Topper. The end credits show Dead Meat and Mailman in spirit with Dead Meat saluting and Mailman giving a thumbs up with Elvis Presley (who was mentioned earlier in the film).

Cast

Production

Principal photography was filmed throughout California in locations such as Hollywood Forever Cemetery and San Diego. [3] [4]

Critical reception

The film debuted at number one in the United States, [5] [6] [7] [8] and grossed $180 million worldwide. [1] The film holds an 82% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Hot Shots! hits most of its parodic targets with aplomb, excelling as a daffy good time thanks to inspired gags and Charlie Sheen's crack comedic timing". [9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. [10] The film was chosen for the 1991 Royal Film Performance.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bong</span> United States Army Air Forces Medal of Honor recipient (1920–1945)

Richard "Dick" Ira Bong was a United States Army Air Forces major and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. He was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and the country's top flying ace in the war, credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft, all with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. He died in California while testing a Lockheed P-80 jet fighter shortly before the war ended. Bong was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1986 and has several commemorative monuments named in his honor around the world, including an airport, two bridges, a theater, a veterans historical center, a recreation area, a neighborhood terrace, and several avenues and streets, including the street leading to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

<i>Top Gun</i> 1986 film directed by Tony Scott

Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled "Top Guns", written by Ehud Yonay and published in California magazine three years earlier. It stars Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, are given the chance to train at the United States Navy's Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt also appear in supporting roles.

<i>The Final Countdown</i> (film) 1980 film by Don Taylor

The Final Countdown is a 1980 American science fiction war film about a modern nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that travels through time to the day before the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Produced by Peter Douglas and Lloyd Kaufman and directed by Don Taylor, while Kaufman also served as an associate producer and had a minor acting role. The film contains an ensemble cast starring Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino, Katharine Ross, Ron O'Neal and Charles Durning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American F-86 Sabre</span> Family of US fighter aircraft

The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights in the skies of the Korean War (1950–1953), fighting some of the earliest jet-to-jet battles in history. Considered one of the best and most important fighter aircraft in that war, the F-86 is also rated highly in comparison with fighters of other eras. Although it was developed in the late 1940s and was outdated by the end of the 1950s, the Sabre proved versatile and adaptable and continued as a front-line fighter in numerous air forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pappy Boyington</span> United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient (1912–1988)

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was an American combat pilot who was a United States Marine Corps fighter ace during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. A Marine aviator with the Pacific fleet in 1941, Boyington joined the "Flying Tigers" of the Republic of China Air Force and saw combat in Burma in late 1941 and 1942 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

<i>Hot Shots! Part Deux</i> 1993 US parody film by Jim Abrahams

Hot Shots! Part Deux is a 1993 American parody film directed by Jim Abrahams. It stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna, Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, and Jerry Haleva. Sheen, who portrays a spoof of John Rambo, went through a tough weight lifting/training program to gain the physique needed to play the role of an action hero. A sequel to Hot Shots! (1991) and the second installment in the Hot Shots franchise, the movie primarily spoofs the 1980s action films Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988).

<i>Navy SEALs</i> (film) 1990 film by Lewis Teague

Navy SEALs is a 1990 American military action film, directed by Lewis Teague, written by Chuck Pfarrer and Gary Goldman, and produced by Brenda Feigen and Bernard Williams with consultant William Bradley. The film stars Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Rick Rossovich, Cyril O'Reilly, Bill Paxton, and Dennis Haysbert.

<i>Baa Baa Black Sheep</i> (TV series) American television series (1976–1978)

Baa Baa Black Sheep is an American television series that aired on NBC from September 23, 1976, until April 6, 1978. It was part period military drama, part comedy. In the final seven episodes, the character list was revamped, dropping some squadron pilots, adding a 16-year-old pilot and four nurses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Vengeance</span> U.S. operation to kill Admiral Yamamoto, 18 April 1943

Operation Vengeance was the American military operation to kill Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 18 April 1943 during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was killed near Bougainville Island when his G4M1 transport aircraft was shot down by United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft operating from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rex T. Barber</span> USAAF and USAF officer (1917–2001)

Rex Theodore Barber Sr. was a World War II fighter pilot from the United States. He is best known as a member of Operation Vengeance, the top secret mission to intercept the aircraft carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in April 1943.

<i>Iron Eagle II</i> 1988 Israeli-Canadian-American action film directed by Sidney J. Furie

Iron Eagle II is a 1988 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and written by Furie and Kevin Alyn Elders. It is the first sequel to the 1986 film Iron Eagle, with Louis Gossett Jr. reprising his role as Charles "Chappy" Sinclair, alongside newcomers Mark Humphrey, Stuart Margolin, Maury Chaykin, Alan Scarfe, Colm Feore, and Clark Johnson. An uncredited Jason Gedrick also returns as ace pilot Doug Masters in the film's opening scene.

<i>The Tuskegee Airmen</i> 1995 American television film

The Tuskegee Airmen is a 1995 HBO television movie based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit, the first African-American combat pilots in the United States Army Air Corps, that fought in World War II. The film was directed by Robert Markowitz and stars Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Lithgow, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth M. Taylor</span> World War II pilot and flying Ace (1919–2006)

Kenneth Marlar Taylor was a United States Air Force officer and a flying ace of World War II. He was a new United States Army Air Corps second lieutenant pilot stationed at Wheeler Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Along with his fellow pilot and friend George Welch, Taylor managed to get a fighter plane airborne under fire. Taylor claimed to have shot down four Japanese dive bombers but only two were confirmed. Taylor was injured during the incident and received several awards for his efforts, including the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar F. Perdomo</span> U.S. Air Force officer, "ace in a day" (1919–1976)

Oscar Francis Perdomo was a United States Air Force officer and fighter pilot who was the last "ace in a day" for the United States in World War II.

<i>The Dawn Patrol</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by Edmund Goulding

The Dawn Patrol is a 1938 American war film, a remake of the pre-Code 1930 film of the same title. Both were based on the short story "The Flight Commander" by John Monk Saunders, an American writer said to have been haunted by his inability to get into combat as a flyer with the U.S. Air Service.

<i>Insight</i> (American TV series) American television series

Insight is an American religious-themed weekly anthology series that aired in syndication from October 1960 to 1983. Insight holds a unique place in the history of public service television programming. Produced by Paulist Productions in Los Angeles, it was an anthology series, using an eclectic set of storytelling forms including comedy, melodrama, and fantasy to explore moral dilemmas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">99th Flying Training Squadron</span> US military unit

The 99th Flying Training Squadron is a training squadron of the United States Air Force, part of the 12th Flying Training Wing based at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyd Wagner</span>

Lieutenant Colonel Boyd David "Buzz" Wagner was an American aviator and the first United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighter ace of World War II.

<i>Only "Old Men" Are Going Into Battle</i> 1973 film

Only "Old Men" Are Going Into Battle is an iconic 1973 Soviet war drama black-and-white film produced in the USSR about World War II fighter pilots, written and directed by Leonid Bykov, who also played the lead role as the squadron commander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armour G. McDaniel</span> American fighter pilot (1916–1989)

Armour G. McDaniel, Sr. (POW) (WIA) was an American military officer who served as a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and commanded the 332nd Fighter Group's 301st Fighter Squadron, a Tuskegee Airmen unit. McDaniels also served as the Commandant of Cadets at Tuskegee Army Airfield. He fought in World War II and was briefly held as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Hot Shots!". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Hot Shots!". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Hollywood on Location (1990-1991)". Seeing stars. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  4. ↑ Benninger, Michael (2016-03-01). "Hot Shots". Pacific San Diego. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  5. ↑ Fox, David J. (1991-08-27). "Weekend Box Office : List-Toppers Are Listless". The Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2011-01-13.
  6. ↑ Cerone, Daniel (1991-08-06). "Weekend Box Office : 'Terminator 2' Surrenders Top Spot". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  7. ↑ Fox, David J. (1991-08-13). "In the Wake of 'Terminator 2,' a Slow Season : Box office: With three weeks to go in the summer, it appears there will be no records set. But it may yet prove to be the third-best summer on record". The Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  8. ↑ Fox, David J. (1991-08-20). "Weekend Box Office : The Summer Doldrums Continue". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  9. ↑ "Hot Shots!". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". 2018-12-20. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.