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Tom Cruise is one of the most successful stars Hollywood’s ever produced, and with a resume that includes Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, and the multi-billion-dollar Mission: Impossible franchise, who can argue with that claim?
Not HBO Max, which is adding tons of new movies featuring the four-time Oscar nominee in September.
Watch With Us has been a fan of the actor since the 1982 sex comedy Losin’ It, and what better way to honor him than by spotlighting three underrated films that showcase his still-undervalued skills as an actor, star and cultural icon.
‘American Made’ (2017)
Barry Seal (Cruise) has a pretty sweet life. He’s a commercial airline pilot who works for the CIA by helping them spy on Central American countries. He also has a side hustle smuggling in drugs from cartels who think Seal’s CIA job will provide them with enough cover to penetrate the American market. They’re right, and Seal and the drug cartels rake in more cash than they know what to do with. But Seal’s reckless spending, plus a brother-in-law who blackmails him for more moola, gains the attention of the FBI, which doesn’t like one of its citizens breaking multiple domestic and international laws. Seal’s sweet life quickly turns bitter and, if he’s not careful, it could be over sooner than he’d like.
Based on a true story, American Made is a riveting crime drama that sees Cruise play a rare non-heroic role. Beneath his all-American looks, Bobby isn’t that great of a guy, and his desire for a better life puts his family in danger of being assassinated by drug kingpins or arrested by American authorities. But Cruise shows why everyone around Bobby is seduced by him: with his devil-may-care attitude and movie-star charisma, the Cocktail actor makes you buy Bobby’s outlandish plan to get rich quickly that eventually proves to be his undoing.
‘The Outsiders’ (1983)
Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell) doesn’t have much in life, but he has just enough to get by. As a poor teenager in small-town Oklahoma, he belongs to the Greasers, a group of outsiders that includes his brothers Darry (Patrick Swayze) and Sodapop (Rob Lowe) and best friend Johnny (Ralph Macchio). When Ponyboy dares to start a romance with Cherry (Diane Lane), whose boyfriend belongs to a rival group, the affluent Socs, he unknowingly starts a turf war that will change his life — and those who he holds near and dear — forever.
Based on S.E. Hinton’s beloved 1967 young adult novel of the same name, The Outsiders was initially a victim of everyone’s high expectations. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who was still riding high from his ’70s masterpieces, and starring a cast full of then-newcomers, it wasn’t the outright classic everyone expected it to be. But time’s been kind to the flawed adaptation, with Howell, Lane and Macchio shining as players in a love story that’s doomed from the beginning. As fellow Greaser Steve Randle, Cruise stands out in a supporting role, playing a character whose bad-boy swagger intimidates his rivals and attracts girls from the right and wrong sides of the tracks.
‘The Firm’ (1993)
Young lawyer Mitch McDeere (Cruise) didn’t have much growing up, which is why he accepted the generous job offer from a little-known Memphis firm right after he graduated from Harvard Law School. How could he risk a six-figure salary, a house in the suburbs and a new car? When Mitch discovers the firm is a front for the mob, he soon regrets his decision. But no one leaves the firm, at least not alive, and if he cooperates with the FBI and testifies against his employers, he’ll lose his law license and will have a target on his back for the rest of his life.
Released in the summer of 1993, The Firm began Hollywood’s love affair with author John Grisham, whose bestselling legal thrillers have been adapted into various movies and TV shows over the last 23 years. The Firm remains the best of them, and that’s due to the sharp direction by old pro Sydney Pollack, a snappy, smart script by David Rabe, David Rayfiel and Robert Towne and an outstanding cast that includes (deep breath), Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gary Busey, Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, David Strathairn and Holly Hunter, who earned an Oscar nomination for her spunky performance. It’s Cruise, though, who drives this film with an energy that’s both infectious and a little desperate. His Mitch is always one step ahead, but it takes work to outsmart both the feds and the mob, and Cruise isn’t afraid to show his character’s increasing desperation and eventual exhaustion.
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