MovieChat Forums > Days of Thunder (1990) Discussion > Good, could have been great (from a dieh...

Good, could have been great (from a diehard fan's perspective)

posted 11 years ago by ARosser14
11 replies | jump to latest

First off, I make it a personal rule to accept any movie for what it is and judge it as such. I don't dwell on what should have been done differently, usually. This movie is one of the exceptions to the rule. Yes, Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson, and company were trying to make a Hollywood-ed up version of NASCAR stock car racing and for better or worse they essentially succeeded. It was Hollywood-ed up and taken for what it is, it's a great movie.

From the perspective of a die-hard fan, though, it could have been even greater but for a handful of details. Of course one of the main gripes is the shifting gears once already in high gear. I know they had to illustrate him "dropping the hammer" and showing what he really had, but still. Also the beating and banging at Daytona that left Cole and Russ' cars in shambles was ridiculous. A little door rubbing, yes, but I've been watching racing for over 20 years and that was not rubbing. That was trying to knock the hell out of one another. Neither car would have been remotely competitive, much less in contention to win, after even a couple of those encounters, leastwise not without some repair work in the pits and a caution flag to get caught up.

Cary Elwes's dialogue as Russ Wheeler was likewise beyond over-the-top and reached ridiculous levels. I get that they were trying to create the image of a villain, but in reality NASCAR would have black flagged his ass quicker than you can say Nicole Kidman's leg had he declared before the race and then said on the radio that he was going to intentionally put Cole in the wall and then did it. Could have been easily rectified had they simply had him play nice for the cameras and then tell his crew he would wreck Cole, then have him do it on the track without saying he was going to on the radio.

Most everything else I was satisfied with. I enjoyed the character development, the relationships between Cole and Claire/Harry/Rowdy, and the sounds of the cars along with Zimmer's score was pure perfection. Just a few things gnawed at me that keep this from being a better movie.

[–] TheLordofTheHarvest 11 years ago

I feel the same way you do for the most part. I still rank this as my favorite NASCAR related movie because it set out to make it all look good in Hollywood style, while "Talladega Nights" ruined all the good work this movie did.

The thing that bothered me was the lack of any Nascar racers in this besides Rusty Wallace and Richard Petty. They should have included at least Dale Earnhardt and Darell Waltrip (The Sports biggest personalities of the time) and gave them a role to play. The real drivers never factor into any of these races besides Petty who got spun out at the beginning, it's almost like they never exist. The same with that Aldo guy, he talks a little and flips the bird that one time but never showed up much besides that. The movie made it out that the sport was only dominated by three guys but in reality competition was at it's best back then.

Elwes was just being himself, an extremely hammy actor. He always overacts when playing an American, especially from the South. He's a decent actor but this was not one of his strong roles. Your right about NASCAR not putting him up with threats, but back in those days they were not as strict. They probably would have watched them until he went after Cole, them Black Flag him for trying to mess with him. At Daytona where speeds were really fast then, they did not want a death from an incident like an intentional wreck at 200 mph. They liked aggression but they did not want a death to be caused by it, especially nowadays.

[–] ARosser14 11 years ago

They did have Harry Gant and the late Neil Bonnett (still weird to say 19 years later) as well, but I agree it would have been nice to have had more actual Winston Cup drivers on screen. Having, for instance, Bill Elliott come by and say "Good race, Cole" or something like that.

And that's what I meant, they would have black-flagged Russ had he run into Cole after making the threat. They wouldn't have for the threat but they would have had an eye on him.

[–] Inspector81 11 years ago

You guys do know that this movie was actually based on Rick Hendrick right?

Randy Quaid (Tim Daland) = Rick Hendrick

Tom Cruise (Cole Trickle) = Geoff Bodine/Tim Richmond

Robert Duvall (Harry Hogge) = Harry Hyde (Tim Richmond's crew chief)

Michael Rooker (Rowdy Burns) = Dale Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt was actually in this movie, he was racing on the front row of the Daytona 500 showed in the beginning, but the fact that they had a character based on him was probably why they didn't want to have a redundant character. Besides you can see Dale in a cameo in Stroker's Ace with Ricky Rudd and Kyle Petty.

There's a lot of things technically wrong in this movie like Top Gun was with the real life Navy, but it doesn't matter because it's FUN to watch and both films brilliantly capture the spirit of why fast jets and fast cars are AWESOME.

[–] ARosser14 11 years ago

"You guys do know that this movie was actually based on Rick Hendrick right? "

Well aware.

And it wouldn't have had to have been Earnhardt. Hendrick's drivers at the time were Rudd, Kenny Schrader, DW, and Greg Sacks (who served as a stunt driver along with Bobby Hamilton and Tommy Ellis), could have used them.

[–] ARosser14 11 years ago

I do appreciate that my first racing hero, Davey Allison, was sort of featured. His helmet and the door of his Havoline Ford are in the opening montage.

[–] Inspector81 11 years ago

I love the opening montage set to Hans Zimmer's music, it's one of the best scenes in the movie. Davey was the man, if you look closely, you can also see Larry McReynolds prepping Ricky Rudd's Quaker State ride on pit row when he was still his crew chief.

[–] ARosser14 11 years ago

Yep, the montage is great. It was fun even as a kid (and I was real young when this movie came out, which explains why my mom was so horrified by certain aspects of it) to point out the real life cars like the Stavola Brothers' Snickers Buick of Rick Wilson, Felix Sabates' Peak Pontiac that Kyle Petty drove, and as you said Kenny Bernstein's Quaker State Buick.

[–] Mississippi20 11 years ago

I think Geoff Bodine was driving that Quaker State car in 1990 that Larry Mac was the crew chief for....I never noticed Larry Mac in the film so I guess I'll have to look out for that.

As a diehard NASCAR fan I have to agree that the opening montage is fantastic because it captures the culture of the sport and the excitement of race day so well. It's beautifully photographed and the music is great.

As far as the realism? This was a sequel to Top Gun; it was intended to be a huge box office hit for a widespread audience. The guy who made it (Tony Scott) knew nothing about NASCAR and the guys producing the film (Bruckheimer/Simpson) were all about making a hit. So it's not a surprise they had the cars bumping and banging more than what's realistic - but I can forgive it because 1.) it's a movie and movies are escapism and not reality and 2.) Tony Scott photographs the action scenes beautifully. The scenes - if not realisitc - are still entertaning.

Personally I have a bigger issue with the sloppy editing - they insert a shot of Rowdy Burns' car at Phoenix while it's suppose to be the Daytona 500 or they insert a shot of on-track action at the high-banks of Daytona when they are suppose to be at Phoenix etc. It's probably something that 95% don't notice since they aren't NASCAR fans or watching closely enough but still.

It's a pretty cheesy movie to begin with just like Top Gun. Yet both still entertain.

[–] ARosser14 11 years ago

All good points except that it would have been Brett Bodine. And I nearly said that but I wasn't sure if the opening scenes were from the 1989 Pepsi 400 or the 1990 Daytona 500. It seems like it was the former, since it appears to be very hot (camera man setting up his camera illustrates this), in which case it would have been Rudd. Kyle Petty's car has his 1989 scheme as well, and Terry Labonte is shown to be the driver of Junior Johnson's Budweiser car (with the mostly white paint scheme they ditched starting in 1990, the same time Geoff took over the ride). Turning all this on its head is the aforementioned Snickers car, the Stavolas were sponsored by Miller High Life in 1989.

[–] Mississippi20 11 years ago

Yes, Brett Bodine - you're correct…..got my Bodine brothers mixed up. Brett drove that Quaker State car in 1990. I only remembered because of NASCAR's infamous flub at North Wilkesboro that year where the pace car incorrectly picked up Bodine as the leader (this was before electronic scoring I guess). It robbed a win from Darrell Waltrip.

[–] LukeLovesFilm28 10 years ago

So, basically, everyone hates this highly entertaining classic because of a few technical issues?? Ever hear of picking a movie apart?? If critics and film scholars did that to the great old classics of the 30s and 40s, film might have died out 30 years ago.