tom cruise hair in cocktail

10 Stirring Facts About Cocktail

By roger cormier | jan 23, 2017.

One of cinema's greatest guilty pleasures, Cocktail starred Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan, a young man who unexpectedly achieves some fame as a "flair bartender" in New York City along with his mentor, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). Brian eventually takes his bottle-flipping skills down to Jamaica, where he falls for Jordan (Elisabeth Shue), a vacationing artist. Here are some facts about the Tom Cruise staple, in accordance with Coughlin's Law.

1. BRIAN FLANAGAN WAS ALMOST TWICE AS OLD IN THE BOOK.

Yes, Cocktail was originally a novel; it was written by Heywood Gould, and based on the dozen years he spent bartending to supplement his income as a writer. Whereas Tom Cruise's Brian Flanagan is in his twenties, Gould's protagonist was described as a "38-year-old weirdo in a field jacket with greasy, graying hair hanging over his collar, his blue eyes streaked like the red sky at morning." As Gould told the Chicago Tribune , "I was in my late 30s, and I was drinking pretty good, and I was starting to feel like I was missing the boat. The character in the book is an older guy who has been around and starting to feel that he's pretty washed-up." Disney and Gould—who adapted his book for the screen—fought over making Brian Flanagan younger, with Gould eventually relenting .

2. THERE WERE AT LEAST 40 DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPT.

The script went through a couple of different studios, and dozens of iterations. According to Gould , "there must have been 40 drafts of the screenplay before we went into production. It was originally with Universal. They put it in turnaround because I wasn't making the character likable enough. And then Disney picked it up, and I went through the same process with them. I would fight them at every turn, and there was a huge battle over making the lead younger, which I eventually did."

Bryan Brown explained that when Cruise came on board, the movie "had to change. The studio made the changes to protect the star and it became a much slighter movie because of it."

Kelly Lynch, who played Kerry Coughlin, was much more forthright about how Gould's vision for the story changed under Disney, telling The A.V. Club :

"[Cocktail] was actually a really complicated story about the ’80s and power and money, and it was really re-edited where they completely lost my character’s backstory—her low self-esteem, who her father was, why she was this person that she was—but it was obviously a really successful movie, if not as good as it could’ve been. It was written by the guy who wrote Fort Apache The Bronx, and it was a much darker movie, but Disney took it, reshot about a third of it, and turned it into flipping the bottles and this and that."

3. FOR A BRIEF SECOND, DISNEY WASN'T COMPLETELY SOLD ON TOM CRUISE IN THE LEAD.

Recounting the kind of story that only happens in Hollywood, Gould told the Chicago Tribune about one of his early meetings with Disney heads Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg. "Someone mentioned that this might be a good vehicle for Tom Cruise," Gould recalled. "Eisner says, 'He'll never do this, don't waste your time, he can't play this part.' And then Katzenberg says, 'Well, he's really interested in doing it,' and without skipping a beat Eisner says, 'He's perfect for it, a perfect fit!' That's the movie business: I hate him, I love him; I love him, I hate him!"

4. BRYAN BROWN'S AUDITION WAS "DREADFUL."

Director Roger Donaldson specifically wanted Bryan Brown to audition for the role of Doug. Brown flew from Sydney to New York and, almost immediately after his 20-plus-hour flight, was sitting in front of Donaldson. "He did the audition and he was dead tired and it was dreadful," Donaldson said . "After he did it I was like, ‘Bryan, do yourself a favor—we’ve got to do it again tomorrow.’ And he said, ‘No, no, I’m catching a plane back tonight.’ I couldn’t persuade him to stay and do it again, so I didn’t show anybody the audition." Instead, Donaldson told the producers and studio to watch Brown's performance in F/X (1986); clearly, they liked what they saw.

5. CRUISE AND BROWN PRACTICED THEIR FLAIR BARTENDING, AND USED REAL BOTTLES ON SET.

Los Angeles TGI Friday's bartender John Bandy was hired to train Cruise and Brown after he served a woman who worked for Disney who was on the lookout for a bartender for Cocktail . Bandy trained the two stars in the bottle-flipping routines , and Gould took Cruise and Brown to his friend's bar to show them the tricks they used to do . Donaldson claimed they used real bottles—and yes, they did break a few .

6. JAMAICA WASN'T KIND TO TOM CRUISE

The Jamaica exteriors were shot on location, where it was cold, and Cruise got sick. When he and Shue had to shoot a love scene at a jungle waterfall, it wasn't pleasant. "It’s not quite as romantic as it looks,” Cruise told Rolling Stone . “It was more like ‘Jesus, let’s get this shot and get out of here.’ Actually, in certain shots you’ll see that my lips are purple and, literally, my whole body’s shaking.”

7. THE FILM SCORE WAS ENTIRELY REWRITTEN IN A WEEKEND.

Three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre ( Lawrence of Arabia ) was Cocktail 's original composer, but the producers didn't think his score "fit in" with the story. They particularly didn't like one cue, so they called in J. Peter Robinson to fix it. Donaldson liked what Robinson did so much, that he asked the composer to take over and do the rest of the work. "All this was happening on a Friday," Robinson said . "I was starting another film on the following Monday and told Roger that I was going to be unavailable. 'We're print-mastering on Monday, mate!!' Roger said. So from that point on I stayed up writing the score and delivered it on Monday morning at around five in the morning."

8. "KOKOMO" WAS WRITTEN FOR THE MOVIE.

While it was The Beach Boys, by then minus Brian Wilson, that recorded the song which brought the group back into the spotlight, "Kokomo" was penned by John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas; Scott McKenzie, who wrote “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”; producer Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son; and Mike Love. Phillips wrote the verses, Love wrote the chorus, and Melcher penned the bridge. The specific instructions were to write a song for the part when Brian goes from a bartender in New York to Jamaica. Off of that, Love came up with the "Aruba, Jamaica ..." part .

9. ROGER DONALDSON IS SORRY ABOUT "DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY."

Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" hit number one thanks to its inclusion on the Cocktail soundtrack. The director heard the song on the radio one day while driving to the set. “I heard it and thought it would be perfect for the film," he said . "And suddenly it was everywhere. Sorry about that."

10. THE REVIEWS—INCLUDING TOM CRUISE'S—WERE HARSH.

To conclude his two-star review, Roger Ebert wrote , "The more you think about what really happens in Cocktail, the more you realize how empty and fabricated it really is." Richard Corliss of TIME said it was "a bottle of rotgut in a Dom Perignon box."

In 1992, even Tom Cruise admitted that the movie "was not a crowning jewel" in his career. And Heywood Gould wasn't pleased with it at first either. "I was accused of betraying my own work, which is stupid," Gould said . "So I was pretty devastated. I literally couldn't get out of bed for a day. The good thing about that experience is that it toughened me up. It was like basic training. This movie got killed, and then after that I was OK with getting killed—I got killed a few more times since then, but it hasn't bothered me."

Cocktail ( 1988 )

21 mistakes.

Directed by: Roger Donaldson

Starring: Tom Cruise , Elisabeth Shue , Bryan Brown , Lisa Banes

Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance

DVDs can be longer or shorter under different countries' TV systems. Please try one of these times:

PAL: 01:18:14     NTSC: 01:24:46

Continuity mistake : As Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Shue are walking on the beach on their first date, they walk towards the camera, and you see the shadow of the camera crew very clearly.

Continuity mistake : Tom Cruise 's hair changes from long to short to long to short in some of the early scenes.

PAL: 00:04:48     NTSC: 00:05:12

Continuity mistake : When Tom Cruise enters the movie theatre, there's a movie written on the lights. When he leaves it, the name on the lights has changed.

Continuity mistake : In one of the scenes where Tom is throwing the bottles around, he throws up a spirit bottle, grabs it behind his back, and then it is a wine bottle.

Other mistake : When Brian & Doug are singing and walking drunk though the city, they come to a subway which Doug falls down. When Doug lands from the fall there is some water next to him but in the next scene the water has vanished.

PAL: 00:01:31     NTSC: 00:01:39

Continuity mistake : When Brian is asked what he wants to do with his life, he raises a beer and replies "Become a rich man", the angle swaps and his arm is down and the beer gone.

Sacha ★

Continuity mistake : Elizabeth 's character, Jordan, meets Brian on one day. Then the very next day (looks to be around noon or so) she comes to thank him for helping out yesterday. That evening, she and Brian go with Doug and Kerry to a club where she answers Kerry's question of "How long have you known him?" by saying "About 10 hours."

Continuity mistake : While kissing on the beach, Jordan's arms are around Brian's head. Then she lowers them, but just a frame later, from a new angle, they are around his neck again.

Continuity mistake : Brian meets Doug, who smashes an egg and pours it inside a drink. When the angle changes, the beer bottle changes level, moves away from the glass, and a Tabasco sauce bottle disappears.

Continuity mistake : Brian fills up a glass but, when the angle changes, two glasses appear filled up. (Now that's a good barman.

Continuity mistake : Brian and Doug are arguing in Jamaica. Brian says, "listen to the philosopher" while holding the glass with his right hand and leaving it on the counter. When the angle changes, the glass is in his opposite hand at chest level.

Continuity mistake : The first night Brian and Doug juggle in sync, from the front angle there's bottles, straws and a glass filled with ice in front of Doug. From the angle behind they're all gone. This keeps changing back and forth.

Continuity mistake : The first night Brian is juggling, a drink in front swaps from having two straws to one between angles.

Continuity mistake : Brian and Doug are arguing in Jamaica, and Doug boasts about what a womanizer he is. Then the straw on his glass starts moving around between shots.

Continuity mistake : While talking about who makes the mini umbrellas, Brian says, "My life is all night with a few daylight hours", then lowers his head. When the angle changes his head is up-straight and he's lowering it again.

Continuity mistake : When Doug threatens Brian with a broken bottle, it keeps turning around depending on the shot.

Continuity mistake : Brian is serving a beer in NY and a man says he's rented his flat. First he holds a beer, but from the next angle the hand is away from the glass.

More for Cocktail

Doug: Coughlin's Law: anything else is always something better.

Trivia : The main Bar was filmed at "TGI'S Fridays" in New York, NY. The Bar is now closed.

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Mixing It Up: Exploring the Iconic Cocktails from the Movie “Cocktail”

• developer on September 19, 2023

“Cocktail,” the 1988 romantic drama film directed by Roger Donaldson, is not just a classic of its time; it’s a celebration of mixology and the art of crafting the perfect cocktail. Starring Tom Cruise as the charming bartender Brian Flanagan, the film takes us on a journey through the world of bartending, love, and friendship. Along the way, it introduces us to several iconic cocktails that have since become staples in the world of mixology. In this article, we’ll delve into the delicious details of these cocktails, their history, and how you can recreate them at home.

The Red Eye

Our journey through the world of “Cocktail” begins with the Red Ey e, a simple yet refreshing cocktail. In the movie, Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) impresses his mentor Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown) by making this drink for the first time.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. tomato juice
• 1 dash of hot sauce
• 1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Fill a shaker with ice.
• Add vodka, tomato juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
• Shake well.
• Strain into a chilled glass filled with ice.
• Garnish with a lemon wedge and celery stick.

The Red Eye is a classic cocktail, often referred to as a “Bloody Mary Lite.” It’s perfect for those who enjoy the tangy flavors of tomato juice and a hint of spice.

The Woo Woo

Next up is the Woo Woo , a sweet and fruity cocktail that makes an appearance in the film during a beach party scene.

• 1/2 oz. peach schnapps
• 3 oz. cranberry juice
• Add vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice.
• Strain into a chilled glass.
• Garnish with a lime wedge or a cherry.

The Woo Woo is a delightful and easy-to-make cocktail, making it a favorite at parties and gatherings.

The Jamaican Bobsled

The Jamaican Bobsled is another fun and tropical cocktail featured in the movie. It’s a colorful and flavorful drink that reflects the movie’s beachy vibes.

• 1 1/2 oz. white rum
• 1/2 oz. coconut cream
• 1/2 oz. blue curaçao
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• Crushed ice
• Fill a blender with crushed ice.
• Add white rum, coconut cream, blue curaçao, and pineapple juice.
• Blend until smooth.
• Pour into a chilled glass.
• Garnish with a pineapple slice and a cherry.

The Jamaican Bobsled is a tropical paradise in a glass. Its vibrant blue color and refreshing flavors make it a hit at beach-themed parties.

• The Last Barman Poet

Named after Brian Flanagan’s poetic ambitions in the movie, The Last Barman Poet is a cocktail that represents the artistry and creativity of bartending.

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• Lime twist for garnish
• Add light rum, blue curaçao, lime juice, simple syrup, and pineapple juice.
• Shake vigorously.
• Strain into a chilled martini glass.
• Garnish with a lime twist.

The Last Barman Poet is a cocktail that pays homage to the creativity and passion of bartenders. Its bright blue color and balanced flavors make it a true work of art.

The Flaming Dr. Pepper

In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Brian Flanagan and Doug Coughlin introduce the audience to the Flaming Dr. Pepper , a daring and fiery cocktail that involves lighting the drink on fire before consuming it.

• 3/4 oz. amaretto liqueur
• 1/4 oz. high-proof rum (overproof)
• 1/2 glass of beer (lager)
• Pour the amaretto into a shot glass.
• Float the high-proof rum on top of the amaretto.
• Fill a beer glass halfway with beer.
• Carefully ignite the amaretto and rum in the shot glass.
• Drop the flaming shot glass into the beer glass.
• Blow out the flame, and drink the cocktail quickly through a straw.

The Flaming Dr. Pepper is not for the faint of heart, but it’s undoubtedly a showstopper at any gathering.

But here is more. Here is a list of cocktails that are either made, mentioned, or play a role in various scenes throughout the film:

• Bloody Mary
• Brandy Alexander
• The Righteous Bison
• Black Russian
• Jamaican Bobsled
• The Frozen Banana Daiquiri
• Planters Punch
• Irish Coffee
• Old-Fashioned
• Vodka Martini
• Amaretto Sour
• Screwdriver
• Tom Collins
• Dry Martini
• Flaming Dr. Pepper

The movie “Cocktail” may be a love story, but it’s also a love letter to the art of mixology and the delightful world of cocktails. Each of the cocktails featured in the film has its unique charm and flavor profile, making them a hit with fans and cocktail enthusiasts alike. Whether you’re sipping on a Red Eye, enjoying the tropical vibes of the Jamaican Bobsled, or daring to try the Flaming Dr. Pepper, these cocktails are a testament to the creativity and craftsmanship that go into the world of mixology. So, the next time you watch “Cocktail,” consider shaking up one of these iconic drinks to enhance your viewing experience.

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The Best Tom Cruise Year Is ...

… maybe not the most obvious one. But when Cruise made ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Rain Man,’ he unlocked a new side that would define the quintessential movie star’s career for decades to come.

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You’ve probably already heard the stories about Tom Cruise’s preposterous level of effort in the new Mission: Impossible—Fallout, in which he plays the role of Ethan Hunt for the sixth time in 22 years. Of course the aggressively ageless 56-year-old performs his own stunts. At one point, he broke his ankle after slamming into the side of a damn building—and then pulled himself up, and ran across the roof. And then there’s the spectacular helicopter chase sequence, for which Cruise (again, of course ) learned how to really pilot a helicopter. Elsewhere, when he’s not risking life and actual limbs in Fallout , he is doing that rigorous, purposeful Tom Cruise sprint , like Jim Fixx on a Red Bull bender.

That’s the one thing everyone — fans and critics alike — always says about him: Tom Cruise works hard. Working hard is his brand. He’s, well, worked very hard to make it so.

But what if he didn’t work quite so hard? Not to suggest that Tom Cruise has ever coasted, exactly. But what if he let himself lay back just a little bit and allowed the centrifugal force of his one-in-a-billion movie-star charisma propel him forward? Is it possible that this would make the longest-tenured A-list movie star since Clint Eastwood even more watchable?

Almost 30 years ago to the day, millions of people lined up to see the latest Tom Cruise movie, and the stakes couldn’t have been lower. The mission was not impossible; it was impossibly mundane. What mattered were dreams … and cocktails … Cocktails & Dreams, if you will. And people were fine with that! All it took to put butts in seats was this simple log line: Tom Cruise plays a sexy bartender . That’s it. Nothing else was required — no special effects, no elaborate cinematic universe, and certainly no broken ankles.

This is not to say that Tom Cruise sloughed off in Cocktail, one of the more popular, and least reputable, films in his oeuvre. He tossed bottles in synchronized motion with costar Bryan Brown. He rode horses on the beach with love interest Elisabeth Shue. He resisted the string-bikini’d bod of Kelly Lynch. He reacted with appropriate pathos to one of the all-time left-field suicide scenes. He put in work.

When was the last time you watched Cocktail ? Oh, you’ve never watched Cocktail ? Wow … I really don’t want to spoil this one. I’ll run down the essentials: Cruise plays Brian Flanagan, a wannabe business tycoon and military veteran (!) who moves to the big city in order to get rich, and then becomes a bartender at a TGI Fridays. And that’s basically all you need to know.

What Cocktail is really about is the desirability of Tom Cruise circa 1988. Put another way: Everybody in this movie wants to fuck him — Shue, Lynch, even Brown, kind of. Women literally paw at his legs when he stands on a bar top to recite tavern-inspired poetry. (This is also a thing that happens in Cocktail. ) He is, in no uncertain terms, a sex object.

“Doug says you’re incredible with women — a real lady-killer,” Lynch drools near the end of Cocktail as she corners a semi-willing Cruise. “What’s your secret weapon?”

“Well,” Cruise says, flashing his trademark toothy grin, “what you see is what you get.”

He’s not lying.

Cocktail played a pivotal role in consolidating Cruise’s burgeoning stardom, a star vehicle built on the flimsiest of premises that grossed $78 million domestically (and another $93 million around the world), good for the ninth-best box-office haul of 1988, an achievement that could only be attributed to Cruise’s mega-watt marquee appeal. But it never fully registered as a career triumph. Not long after Cocktail unleashed so many dubious fads on American pop culture — including two of the era’s most grating pop hits, the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” to say nothing of acrobatic mixology — Cruise distanced himself from the film.

“It’s painful as hell,” Cruise says of watching Cocktail in a 1990 Rolling Stone profile . “I mean, I worked my ass off on that movie.” Again with the work ethic, Tom.

Defenders of Cocktail have tried to couch it as a “secretly dark” look at ’80s “greed is good” culture, a depiction not far off from the eccentric barfly novel on which it is based. Screenwriter Heywood Gould, who also wrote the book, later claimed that the script went through 40 different iterations, with the film’s studio, Disney, constantly pressing to make Flanagan younger, more likable, and, ultimately, more Cruise-like. But even after all of those revisions, Cocktail was still watered down further during production.

“It was a much darker movie,” Lynch told The A.V. Club in 2012 , “but Disney took it, reshot about a third of it, and turned it into flipping the bottles and this and that.”

When I revisited Cocktail recently, I could see traces of the more biting film it might have been. Flanagan is a prototypical working-class stiff who is twisted by capitalism into a money-obsessed douche, lending his blandly handsome bro-ness a faintly tragic lilt. But I prefer to accept Cocktail on its own compromised, cheesy terms. Forget the Reagan-era subtext. This is an enjoyable dumb movie, and it is best appreciated as a superficial confection. What you see is what you get.

And it deserves better. Cocktail isn’t any campier than Top Gun , with its slow-motion volleyball action, overwrought “Take My Breath Away” love scene, and Val Kilmer’s playfully unrestrained homoeroticism. So why is Cocktail the movie that Cruise has to live down?

In May, Cruise started filming Top Gun: Maverick , which is currently slated to arrive in theaters around this time in 2019. Cruise started teasing the possibility of a sequel to the 1986 film two years ago, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! He is, as always, committed to the enterprise, even if it is wholly unnecessary. But the closest Cruise will likely ever come to reviving Cocktail was a career-spanning bit with another late-night host, James Corden, on that same 2016 press cycle. This is a shame — I would rather watch a prequel delving into Flanagan’s mysterious Army background than a movie about Maverick’s kid . Call it Cocktail: First Blood. (I will nevertheless watch the movie about Maverick’s kid.)

This willingness to revisit Top Gun , and reticence to embrace Cocktail , presumably boils down to one thing for Cruise: He had to train in an F-14 to make Top Gun , whereas Cocktail only needed that dumb hook — Tom Cruise plays a sexy bartender — to be a success. He worked hard on Cocktail , but he didn’t have to work hard. He just had to be Tom Cruise.

But he didn’t want to be that Tom Cruise anymore. And he wouldn’t be ever again.

For millennials and Generation Z, there’s never been a world in which Cruise wasn’t among the most famous people on the planet. (August 5 marks the 35th anniversary of Risky Business , Cruise’s big breakthrough, released one month after his 21st birthday.) He’s practically an elemental property at this point.

But there have been oscillations in his fame. You might remember them, the way you can recall down seasons for a dynastic sports franchise. Like in the mid-’00s, during that disastrous press cycle for 2005’s War of the Worlds , marred by the Oprah Winfrey incident and that time he got testy with Matt Lauer. (When does Cruise get awarded his revisionist history bonus points for the last one?) The past few years have been another struggle: 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and 2017’s The Mummy were widely derided duds. But his late-’10s period hasn’t been as down as you might think: Last year’s American Made , while not exactly great, is awfully hard not to watch when it pops up on airplanes or HBO.

Cruise has been around for so long, all while working steadily and prolifically, that you can break his career into notable eras, or even memorable years. Many of his notable films come in bunches. There’s 1986, the year of Top Gun and The Color of Money , his first movie to gross more than $100 million and his first “adult” drama . There’s 1996, the “blockbuster” year, distinguished by Jerry Maguire and the first Mission: Impossible , which combined grossed more than $731 million worldwide. (That’s about $1.2 billion in 2018 dollars.) There’s 1999, the “prestige” year, with Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia , neither of which nabbed him that elusive Oscar . And then there’s the opposite of a prestige year, 2012, marked by late-career guilty pleasures Rock of Ages and (the pretty good!) first Jack Reacher film.

But if I’m picking my favorite Tom Cruise year, I’m going back to 1988, his “transitional” year, when he released Cocktail at the end of July and Rain Man , his road movie–buddy picture with Dustin Hoffman, one week before Christmas. Between the release of those radically different movies, from October to December, he filmed Born on the Fourth of July with Oliver Stone, playing the paraplegic Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, which garnered him his first Oscar nomination.

Rain Man was even more successful than Cocktail , tallying a worldwide gross of nearly $355 million and four Oscars. (It was no. 1 at the American box office that year, which seems all the more incredible in these franchise-saturated times.) Cruise undoubtedly was a primary reason for the former, though he wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award. But Rain Man gave him something far more valuable — a pathway to the “mature” second act of his professional life, to the success of Born on the Fourth of July and beyond.

When you look at the best years of Cruise’s career, there’s an obvious yin-and-yang quality, typically balancing an action tent-pole like Top Gun and Mission Impossible with a “smaller” film such as The Color of Money or Jerry Maguire. This contrast is starkest in ’88, between the disreputable camp classic and the award-winning family drama.

An oft-repeated complaint about Cruise’s recent filmography is the loss of that balance. It’s been this way for about 15 years. In the early ’00s, he made two risky sci-fi films, 2001’s Vanilla Sky and 2002’s Minority Report , and his overall best movie of the 21st century, 2004’s Collateral , along with requisite business-minded ventures like 2000’s Mission: Impossible II and 2003’s forgettable but very profitable The Last Samurai.

Cruise hasn’t made a movie remotely like Collateral since then. In the past decade, he has tilted heavily to tent-poles with astronomical budgets, including four more Mission: Impossible films. Then again, Hollywood has also abandoned yang in order to focus solely on yin. And Tom Cruise and Hollywood are nothing if not symbiotic. You don’t get to your 35th year as a movie star without always adapting to the present climate.

Cruise has been a rare constant in Hollywood since the early ’80s. But neither Cruise nor Hollywood has stayed the same. There have been several reinventions for both American institutions along the way.

Time, for one, moved much slower in 1988. A lot could happen in six months. The Tom Cruise of Cocktail is not the Tom Cruise of Rain Man. When you toggle between those films, you get the rare opportunity to witness an iconic actor grow up in real time.

Tom Cruise in 1988 is like U2 in 1983. In the video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” filmed live at Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver, Bono is still an awkward kid — he has a mullet, a sleeveless shirt, knee-high boots, and an abundance of spirited high kicks. He’s not really the stadium-rock Bono yet. But every so often you catch a glimmer in his eyes that says, I think I know how to own these people. I’m not there yet, but I’m on my way. Cruise similarly came into his own as a grown-up star in the transition from Cocktail and Rain Man. Though Bono didn’t completely lose the mullet for another four years, Cruise’s transformation was far more condensed.

If Cocktail truly is a failure — I don’t think it is, but Cruise does — it is first and foremost a failure of career planning. It’s a little like Bono briefly reverting to his Under a Blood Red Sky guise between The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Cocktail was a throwback to the early ’80s Tom Cruise of Losin’ It and Legend , before he got his act together and became the Tom Cruise, a movie star who transcends time, generations, and bodily harm . Cocktail feels out of place between The Color of Money and Rain Man in Cruise’s catalog, in the midst of his “apprenticeship” period, when he dutifully shared the spotlight with respected elders from the ’60s and ’70s like Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman, on the way to becoming an elder himself. (This continued with Robert Duvall in Days of Thunder , Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men , and Gene Hackman in The Firm , culminating with Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut. )

Standing next to distinguished gentlemen makes you look distinguished. In Cocktail , Cruise resembles a man in his mid-20s who still lives with roommates and sleeps on a mattress on the floor. In Rain Man , he’s that same guy after he’s settled down with a nice girl and an IKEA charge card. This shift from innocence to experience defines the crux of Cocktail and Rain Man. After Cocktail , a cinematic mullet if there ever was one, Cruise would never be so guileless again on screen.

Rain Man made Paul Thomas Anderson realize that he loves Tom Cruise more than most people.

“He’s funny too!” Anderson raved last December to Bill Simmons . “Cruise is funny . When you see Tom Cruise on screen, name me anyone else that can do that right now.”

Cruise’s portrayal of Charlie Babbitt — luxury car huckster, mocker of his disabled brother, impatient clapper when people aren’t moving fast enough — helped to inspire Frank T.J. Mackey, the role Anderson created for Cruise in 1999’s Magnolia. You don’t need to squint hard to see the parallels. Charlie and Frank are unlikable assholes nursing wounded hearts and troubled relationships with their fathers. They abuse people as a way of keeping the world at arm’s length, the ultimate form of self-abuse. And when they achieve catharsis, they aren’t redeemed — their souls have thawed, but they haven’t stopped being assholes.

They are also, like PTA says, very funny characters, mostly because they are excuses for Cruise to launch into prolonged mental breakdowns. Is there anything better than Tom Cruise huffing, puffing, gesticulating, becoming unglued, yelling , and finally losing his freaking mind?

For years, distinguished directors lined up to run Cruise through the wringer: Scorsese, Levinson, Stone, Pollack, De Palma, Crowe, and Kubrick all delighted in driving him absolutely wild. What fresh torture can we inflict on Tom Cruise this time? Put him in a wheelchair! Strip him of his lucrative sports-agent career! Send him on a metaphorical “journey into the night” that doubles as a rumination on the compromises inherent to any marriage! Now, step back and watch the glorious madness commence.

During the prelude to the 61st Academy Awards, Hoffman was the favorite to win Best Actor for Rain Man . He did just that. (The other nominees that year included Tom Hanks for Big and Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver , both of whom seem leagues better in retrospect.) At the time, Hoffman’s performance was widely admired as a landmark in the portrayal of a disabled person on film. But since then, Hoffman’s stock has plummeted and Cruise’s has skyrocketed. It’s now become a cliché to talk about how much better Cruise is than Hoffman in Rain Man , even though he supposedly has the less showy role.

This is only half true. Cruise is indeed superior to Hoffman’s mannered, dated performance as Raymond Babbitt, which now seems like a cartoonish caricature of a person with autism. But Cruise’s work in Rain Man can’t really be described as not showy. While Hoffman exists as a static irritant, Cruise is reactive to the extreme. He’s big and bombastic, and he dominates the film’s dramatic arc. He’s the one the audience relates with, the one who changes from the start of the story to the end — not much, but enough. It’s dazzling to witness. Rain Man is the greatest breakdown of Tom Cruise’s career.

If Cruise’s role was merely to support Hoffman’s campaign to win a second Oscar, he doesn’t act like it. He knew how good the role of Charlie was. He spent two years working on the script, starting back when he was promoting Top Gun in 1986. “What I gave him is the thing that he hasn’t often had the opportunity to do: work with a full character,” Levinson told Rolling Stone in 1989.

As Charlie, Cruise is a man constantly reminded of how he falls short, and there is no guarantee that he won’t carry on making the same mistakes after the credits roll. It is a complicated depiction of adulthood, whereas Flanagan’s magical turnaround in Cocktail — he marries Shue, agrees to be a father to his unborn child, and opens his own bar — is a child’s fairy tale.

If it’s been a while since you watched it, or you’ve never seen Rain Man , go do it now. My wife and I revisited it last week, and we barely noticed Hoffman. Meanwhile, we couldn’t stop laughing — or cringing — at Cruise. We hadn’t seen it since our two kids were born, and now it was impossible not to watch Rain Man as an allegory about the frustrations of parenthood. Charlie is not a parent; he’s merely tasked (by his own greed and resentment over essentially being cut out of his father’s will) with taking care of his brother. But his rage over, say, not being able to get his brother to board an airplane , in spite of deploying simple logic and facts , felt extremely familiar.

The central struggle of taking care of a person who can’t take care of themselves is over control. The dance between caregiver and care-receiver requires the giver to convince the receiver to acquiesce; this means the receiver is actually in the power position at all times, even when it appears that the opposite is so. No matter Rain Man ’s other deficiencies, particularly when judged according to modern sensibilities, the way the film depicts that dance still feels true.

Charlie Babbitt is Patient Zero for Cruise’s strongest subsequent performances, which all concern power in some way. Cruise plays men who want to command their surroundings, and can’t, thus causing all that imminently watchable turmoil. Ron Kovic can’t control his body. Cole Trickle can’t control his emotions behind the wheel. Lt. Daniel Kaffee can’t control his court case. Mitch McDeere can’t control his own life once it is infiltrated by the mob. Jerry Maguire can’t control Rod Tidwell. William Harford can’t control his wife’s sexual desires. Frank T.J. Mackey can’t control the TV reporter who is about to expose him.

And that need for control clearly resonates with Cruise in his real life. What could be the cause of his fixation on hard work? Could it be a desire to account for every possible outcome, to ensure that he never falls from his perch? Either way, all of that planning and plotting and persnickety obsessing has clearly paid off. If you can will yourself to run on a broken ankle, or carry on each time news breaks about the weirdness of your personal life, you can accomplish anything.

But nobody is perfect. For Cruise, Cocktail represented a loss of control — he couldn’t change the final product or prevent the short-term damage it caused to his reputation. But with Rain Man , he was able to channel his control-freak tendencies into a character who must accept that the arc of the universe is long but bends toward accepting that Wapner must be watched in five minutes.

By the end of 1988, Tom Cruise showed that he could sublimate himself on purpose . He turned powerlessness into a superpower.

Steven Hyden is the author of two books, including Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock , out now from Dey Street Books. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine , The Washington Post , Billboard , Pitchfork , Rolling Stone , Grantland , The A.V. Club , Slate , and Salon . He is currently the cultural critic at UPROXX and the host of the Celebration Rock podcast.

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Reflecting on recent retro style

’80s Movie Style: Cocktail

August 8, 2016 by Kate 3 Comments

My plan for today’s post was to revel in the ’80s goodness of beach resort movies. Yet after re-watching the 1988 film  Cocktail   after many years, I realized that its best design moments happen away from the beach. Like when Tom Cruise punches an arrogant artist, causing him to crash into a metal sculpture of a giant cockroach. Or when Tom Cruise punches a Park Avenue high-rise staff member, causing him to crash into a large geometric sculpture with Memphis-Milano style. Not everything fabulous in this film is destroyed by a fistfight. Keep reading for a recap of the movie (spoilers follow), as well as some fun retro screen shots…

Wardrobe Highlights

Before we get started, let’s take some time to appreciate the revolving door of ’80s awesomeness that is Tom Cruise’s collection of button-down shirts throughout the film. Scroll down and enjoy. My favorite is the yellow…what about you?!

As you can see by the photo above, there’s a love story in Cocktail . Let’s start with the basics. Tom Cruise plays Brian Flanagan, a business student by day and a bartender at a New York T.G.I. Friday’s by night. And with the way this film portrays the college experience, you wonder why anyone would decide to do anything but work forever at T.G.I. Friday’s. Especially if you meet a mentor like Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown), who quickly teaches Brian the ways of flair bartending. Yes, juggling bottles of rum is a heck of a lot more fun than Brian’s homework assignment to write his own obituary.

While Brian and Doug talk about going into business together, their plans are thwarted when Doug seduces Brian’s girlfriend. Fast forward a couple of years, and Brian has gone to Jamaica to make big bartending bucks so he can start saving up to open his own bar. There he meets Jordan (Elisabeth Shue), and all is going well… until Doug tracks him down and bets him that he could never successfully seduce a rich woman. Apparently unconcerned with ethics or loyalty, Brian accepts the challenge and quickly starts up with Bonnie (Lisa Banes, shown above and below).

Are you still with me here? As a reward for your attention, I’ll share a surprise cameo: the dad from 90210! See him at the far left in the photo above?! Cheer up, James Eckhouse. In two years, you’ll be on a hit television series…Of course, as Brian runs off with Bonnie, Jordan happens to witness their drunken stumbling across the beach. Maybe her perfectly tousled hair and perfectly tousled necklace can be a comfort to her during her time of need:

Jordan heads back to New York. Brian goes back to New York with Bonnie. Anyone else think it would be fun to start a Tumblr of ’80s screen shots featuring New York cityscapes?…

Design Highlights

So here’s the dilemma…Bonnie treats Brian like a boy toy. We’re really not supposed to like her. She does crazy things like ask him to get her carrot juice. And force him to wake up early to a view of her doing aerobics. But look at that bedroom! The Deco lamp, that Art Nouveau headboard. OK, so the robe she bought Brian could use some help. But how bad could this woman be?

She obviously has good taste in wallpaper! And with her eye for glass block, we can almost forgive her coldness.

But Brian can’t, and soon we can’t either…

One evening, Bonnie takes Brian to an art show and asks him to take her fur coat instead of introducing him to her friends. One of these friends is a rude sculptor, and while it was hard to get a good screen shot of Tom Cruise punching him and destroying the large metal cockroach he created, trust me when I say a pedestal comes crashing down.

Brian dumps Bonnie and realizes he’s been a true jerk to Jordan. Here he is, trying to convince her to take him back. Her apartment is an artist’s loft with white walls and an abundance of windows.

…and a geometric metal headboard! It’s the perfect backdrop for revealing a pregnancy. See, I told you there would be spoilers!

When Jordan won’t listen to Brian’s pleas to take him back, he tries to find her at her parents’ Park Avenue apartment. While it’s supposed to seem a bit stuffy, there are definitely some interesting modern elements, like the lavender moulding, the chrome benches/stools, and that crazy Deco-style pattern on the upholstery:

As you can see, there are also a lot of difficult conversations in this film. I won’t give away the ending, but I will share a couple of shots from when Brian takes down the bellboy, destroying a Memphis Milano-style sculpture in the process. It was probably made of styrofoam, but who cares when the geometry is this good?! In defense of Brian, he was punched first. By the cockroach sculptor too!

As Brian leaves the Park Avenue apartment with Jordan after the fight, he says to her father, “It didn’t have to be this way, you know.” Just think of the design damage that could have been avoided! With that, I’ll leave you to watch this film for yourself. Grab a drink umbrella to embellish your favorite beverage as you enjoy a range of ’80s design styles.  XOXO, Kate

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August 13, 2016 at 9:37 am

Oh Kate! 😀 This post was more entertaining than watching the actual film! Hilarious. As always, I love your blog!

August 15, 2016 at 10:38 pm

Thank you for reading, Jenny! It’s not hard to find things to love about this movie. And thank you for your kind comment!

March 13, 2019 at 3:38 pm

Hey, I was searching for the watch he is wearing in this film? Do you know?

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Hollywood actor Tom Cruise (L) is welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, 28 August 2003. During a press preview in Tokyo today, Tom Cruise unveiled some clips of his latest film "The Last Samurai", which portrays Japan as a nation in an historic struggle to maintain its warrior traditions. AFP PHOTO / Kazuhiro NOGI/POOL (Photo credit should read KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/GettyImages)

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Cocktail Goofs

"Er, someone wasn't on top of their game that day..." See the goofs, blunders and plain ole mistakes in the 1988 Romantic Comedy movie starring Tom Cruise , Elisabeth Shue , Bryan Brown, Lisa Banes

Gina Gershon , Kelly Lynch , Laurence Luckinbill, Ron Dean , Robert Donley, Ellen Foley , Andrea Morse, Chris Owens, Justin Louis, John Graham, Richard Thorn, Robert Greenberg (II), Sandra Will Carradine, E. Hampton Beagle, Richard Livingston, Jean St. James Update Cast

Bogus Blunders

Sometimes an apparent goof is not a real mistake

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15 of Tom Cruise's Dreamiest Throwback Photos in Honor of His Birthday

From being an 'Outsider' to becoming 'Top Gun,' the 'Mission Impossible' star turns 61 on July 3, 2023

Tom Cruise turns 61 on July 3, 2023, and to celebrate, we're going to kick back with a Cocktail, turn on the latest Mission: Impossible and maybe engage in some Risky Business. Or, we could just look back on these 15 dreamy throwbacks of the Hollywood all-star!

All-American Guy

A popped collar and double denim? Tom Cruise circa 1980 was totally dreamy. Cruise wouldn't get his acting break until 1981 , when he appeared in the film Endless Love, but he was already a star!

Totally Preppy

A young Tom Cruise wearing a corduroy jacket with elbow patches makes us wish he could tutor us after school.

Greaser Dude

Cruise hit the big screen in 1982 as Steve Randle in The Outsiders.

The Outsiders

At the premiere of the film in 1982, Cruise, Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez made a pretty great-looking trio.

Taking Risks

In 1983, Cruise starred in Risky Business and we will never look at a men's dress shirt and tighty-whities the same ever again.

Cool and Casual

At a screening for Risky Business , Cruise had us swooning with his long locks, T-shirt and jeans.

Long Hair, Don't Hair

Cruise let his luscious locks fly free at the premiere of The Breakfast Club in 1985.

Is there anything more attractive than Tom Cruise going incognito in a leather jacket and sunglasses in 1985?

An Officer and a Gentleman

Well, okay, his character in Top Gun was technically a lieutenant, but you get the picture.

Cruise had a head of hair that defied physics and a jaw that could cut glass at the 1986 Top Gun premiere afterparty.

Sorry, we forgot what we were saying, we got lost in Cruise's blue eyes!

Black Tie Affair

Cruise looks just as good dressed to the nines as he does dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

How about a Cocktail ? Cruise starred in the film (and rocked this blue floral shirt) in 1988.

Winner, Winner

In 1990, Cruise won the People's Choice Award for his role in Born on the Fourth of July.

Standing Firm

Cruise starred in the 1993 legal thriller, The Firm , in which he played a Harvard-educated lawyer, a.k.a. the man of our dreams (despite his character's shady business dealings).

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Cocktail 1988

Brian: I am the last barman poet / I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make / Americans getting stinky on something I stir or shake / The sex on the beach / The schnapps made from peach / The velvet hammer / The alabama slammer. / I make things with juice and froth / The pink squirrel / The 3-toed sloth. / I make drinks so sweat and snazzy / The iced tea / The kamakazi / The orgasm / The death spasm / The Singapore sling / The dingaling. / America you've just been devoted to every flavor I got / But if you want to got loaded / Why don't you just order a shot? / Bar is open.

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How old was Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail?

Tom Cruise was 25 in Cocktail when he played the character 'Brian Flanagan'.

That was over 36 years ago in 1988.

Today he is 61 , and has starred in 86 movies in total, 70 of those since Cocktail was released.

How old do you think he looks in the movie?

In Cocktail, I think Tom Cruise looks:

Did you know?

• Director Roger Donaldson has worked with Tom Cruise just once in his career.
• Tom Cruise's first movie was as 'Billy' in Endless Love, released in 1981 when he was 18
• Cocktail scores 6.06 out of 10 on TMDB .

The cast of Cocktail

Tom Cruise's other movies

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Tom Cruise’s hair in Top Gun is the perfect post-lockdown cut 

By Faye Fearon and Joe Mills

Tom Cruise’s cropped haircut in Top Gun is simple, slick and a go-to summer grooming reference I’ll be showing my barber when he reopens next week. What should I ask for to achieve this cut? And do you have any hair product recommendations to style it similarly?  

Joe Mills: Tom Cruise’s haircut in Top Gun is the perfect summer crop; it has just enough length to be versatile and give you a quite a few styling options. 

When it comes to the cut, ask your barber to leave 2.5 inches of hair on top and a bit more length around the fringe. This style needs to have some texture added in order to give it some movement and to stop it from sitting too flat. The back and sides will be in need of a scissor cut – not too close but off the ear and into the neck. 

Personally, I recommend asking for your hairline at the back to have a slight taper, as the original on Tom Cruise is a little heavy. This will also help your hair grow out better between cuts. You want a slightly square feel through the sides as well, but nothing clippered as this will be too short.

Styling-wise, there’s a bunch of options. You can part your hair, wear if forward or push it up and back with a messy quiff. I would first of all reach for a sea salt spray as a base product in order to ensure texture. Try Triumph & Disaster’s Karekare Tonic – this works best with four to five pumps spread through clean, damp hair. 

Karekare Tonic by Triumph & Disaster, £19.95. triumphanddisasteruk.com

After this, reach for the hairdryer (Parlux if you’re in search of a good recommendation). You don’t need a brush for styling here, as you want to prioritise texture and attitude over a clean and smart appearance. If you want the slightly messy look like Cruise, work the dryer and your hair up and back from your face until it’s dry. For a softer, more forward look, dry your hair from the crown forward and, at the end, direct the airflow at the front and push the fringe up and over to one side.

Hairdryer by Parlux, £89.95. parlux.co.uk

For the finishing products, it all depends if you want a glossy or matte look. This is up to you, but I’ll talk through both. To get the hair stood up and back, I would go with Triumph & Disaster’s Ponsonby Pomade. With a five-pence-sized amount to start, work the product into your hands and then use your fingers like a brush to style it. If you feel you need more product, repeat this process. This will give it the shine and hold that Cruise masters. 

Ponsonby Pomade by Triumph & Disaster, £21. triumphanddisasteruk.com

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If you want to wear the hair forward, reach for Kevin Murphy’s Free Hold styling paste. Take a five-pence-sized amount and rub it into your hands. After this, work it through your hair – start from the crown, moving it forwards towards the fringe. When you get to the front, push your hair up and to the side. Again, add more if needed and this will give you a slightly more matte finish.

Free Hold by Kevin Murphy, £25. kevinmurphystore.com

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Suri Cruise, 17, pictured with beautiful long hair as she heads off for last vacation with mom Katie Holmes before her 18th birthday

The daughter of tom cruise lives in new york with her actress mother.

Suri Cruise looked so grown up on Wednesday when she she was captured heading on vacation with her mother, Katie Holmes  from New York. 

The mother-daughter duo were pictured getting into a car with their luggage as they headed off for the Easter weekend. Suri's beautiful long hair took centre stage of the pre-holiday snaps. The 17-year-old donned a pair of fabulously vibrant red trousers covered in white swirls, a corduroy navy blue jacket with a shearling collar and black trainers. 

Meanwhile, mom Katie oozed glamour wearing an oversized army-green jacket and beige trousers. The actress slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses, and opted for a pair of chunky black sandals for footwear.

The mother-daughter trip came just weeks before Suri turns 18 on April 18. Katie is exceptionally private about her daughter, and whether or not she will go to college has yet to be revealed. 

However, Suri has been involved in two of her mother's movies, Alone Together and Rare Objects, where she can be heard showing off her impressive singing voice.

Therefore, it is likely that the youngster may want to follow in her movie star parent's footsteps for a career in Hollywood.  Listen to Suri's incredible vocals in the video below.

Prior to their latest appearance in New York, the duo were spotted back in December for  Katie's 45th birthday celebrations.  The pair couldn't have looked more similar in the photos.

Katie looked effortlessly glamorous,  sporting a grey and black leopard print maxi dress, which she paired with classic white boots. 

Meanwhile, Suri was wrapped in a cozy grey tweed coat, oversized maroon scarf and black pointed-toe heels.

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Katie shares Suri with her ex-husband Tom Cruise,  who is reportedly estranged from his daughter. Tom and Suri haven't been pictured together in public for over ten years.

He does however pay £400,000 a year in child support which will come to an end when she turns 18 in April.

The former couple had a whirlwind romance and were engaged in June 2005, two months after they started dating. They welcomed Suri one year later. The pair split in August 2012.

Katie and Suri couldn't be closer and Katie has previously opened up about becoming a mother at 27: "I was happy to become a mom in my twenties. It's been nice that our ages fit … how do I put this? Every age that my child has been and my age at that time has been a good match. We kind of grew up together," she told Elle UK.

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Rihanna walks on the wild side in leopard-printed minidress for night out

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She’s ready to roar.

Rihanna showed her dedication to the ‘mob wife’ aesthetic as she celebrated her friend Melissa Forde’s birthday in Los Angeles Thursday, wearing a leopard-print minidress and coordinating fur-trimmed coat to party in style.

The “Umbrella” singer, 36, sported her sassy strapless mini with a black bra peeking out from the top at celeb hotspot The Nice Guy, covering up with a long coat in a similar animal print fabric.

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The luxe topper featured wide black fur-trimmed sleeves and a coordinating collar, and she added another fuzzy touch with a matching Louis Vuitton mink mini bag, which retails for  between $5,000  and  $15,000  on the resale market.

Rihanna also showed off her new hair color for the celebrations, sporting nearly platinum blond locks in soft waves.

The Fenty Beauty founder added sheer black tights and pointy black pumps to her look, shading her eyes with oversized Tom Ford sunglasses featuring gold-tinted lenses.

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The Grammy winner added plenty of bling to her look in the form of several diamond necklaces, a thick gold chain and a sparkling cocktail ring featuring what appears to be a skull wearing sunglasses.

Rihanna — who recently told Interview that her partner A$AP Rocky’s stylish outfits make her “look like his assistant” — appeared to be having a blast at the get-together, smiling and singing in a fellow guest’s Instagram Story as friends sang happy birthday to Forde and presented her with a cake.

Last week, the “Diamonds” singer headed to dinner in another standout look, wearing an ivory satin Adam Lippes coat with loose Balenciaga jeans ($1,260) and a graphic tee, draping herself with multiple strands of pearls.

After seeing these glam looks, there’s definitely no mistaking RiRi for anyone’s assistant.

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