Days of Thunder (1999, DVD)

1990 brought us a thrilling action film about NASCAR and the ins and out of racing. It also brought us our first glimpse of the unknown Nicole Kidman, as a doctor who ends up treating two of the drivers later on in the movie. She is a bright spot in the film, and it ended up kick-starting her career. Let's not overlook the star of the show though, Tom Cruise, who helps to carry the film as a young driver moving over from a different form of racing to be with the "big boys." When a racing team needs a new driver, the new owner wants to try out Cole Trickle, who has performed quite well on a number of other circuits, but has never been behind the wheel of a stock car until the day he shows up to test for the crew and owner. Randy Quaid plays the owner willing to give him a try, and he has his dealership sitting as the lead sponsor. He has brought in Harry Hogge, a famous pit leader (played by Robert Duvall) to get the team off the ground, and has high hopes for them all.

Harry is not so sure about this new hot-shot kid who shows up to his audition riding a motorcycle, and is shocked that he has never even been near a stock car. But Trickle's comment about it just "being a car" makes him chuckle a little, and he ends up giving the kid a chance. After seeing a couple of practice laps, he is quite impressed, because Trickle seems like a natural behind the wheel. They all know they have a long road ahead of them if they are going to succeed, but they dive right into getting cars ready for Trickle to race as the season gets underway. Of course racing on the track is different than a practice lap, and the rough racing of NASCAR seems like it could prove to be too much for Trickle. He has a steep learning curve, and his inability to tell Harry what he needs done to the car leads to them not even being able to finish a race at first.

For most of the movie, we get to see how the NASCAR circuit works, and just how much work goes into getting the right car ready on the right day to win one of the races. No easy business to say the least, and the movie presents the sport in a very exciting fashion. Tom Cruise was pretty good in his role as Cole Trickle, and but I liked Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall in their parts even more. Duvall has always been a great actor in my opinion, and the way he portrays a car builder and pit man from the South is just spot on from what I would expect to see. He bring a ton of great acting to the part, and in areas, he even steals some of the scenes from Cruise. This is all right with me though, because there were some instances where I wasn't buying into Cruise as the race car driver. But, maybe that is why I liked the film, because it really seemed like you were dealing with a driver that had no experience in NASCAR, and Cruise did go in with a clean slate.

Days Of Thunder is a pulse-pounding, action packed thrill ride, whipping around a race track at about 180 miles per hour. They put a lot of exciting moments into the film, and by saying Tony Scott is the Director, you should already have a feel for what to expect. Toss in Jerry Bruckheimer as the Producer, and you know that they are going to try to build up the action. Hans Zimmer did the score for the film, and it is very well done with slow interludes that start to really pick up as the excitement level of the film starts to climb. He has always been great with his scores, and this movie is no exception. Days Of Thunder is a film much like Top Gun, but exchange the planes for race cars. The action slowly builds as the movie goes on, a love story is thrown in the middle, and the climax is so exciting that you are on the edge of your seat. This is by far the best film I have seen about racing and NASCAR, but I think it can appeal to a very wide audience. I liked just about everything in the film, from the supporting actors to the cinematography used from the front of a race car speeding around a track. With great imagery it makes you feel like you are right there in the race. I do highly recommend Days of Thunder, and having it my collection means it gets popped in every now and then just to feel a quick paced adrenalin rush.