7 Best Tom Cruise Movies of the 80s

Born in Syracuse, NY on July 3, 1962, Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood’s most popular actors and producers, receiving numerous accolades for his work, including three Golden Globe Award and three nominations for Academy Awards.

He has a net worth of $570 million as of 2020 and is one of the highest paid actors in the world. He’s also one of the highest-grossing box office stars of all time, with films grossing over $4 billion in North America and over $10.1 billion around the world.

Tom Cruise in the Early 80s

Tom Cruise’s early career started when moving to New York City with his mother and step father to pursue an acting career. He first found a job as a busboy and later went to Los Angeles to try out for television roles, where he landed a contract with CAA and started acting in films. His first film was Endless Love (1981) where he appeared in a bit part, followed by a major supporting role as Billy in Taps.

In 1983, he was made part of the ensemble cast of The Outsiders before starring in All the Right Moves and Risky Business which was described as “A Generation X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise.” It was then in 1986 where he landed the major role of playing Maverick in Top Gun, where his career really took off.

Top Tom Cruise Films of the 80s

1. Top Gun (1986)

Directed by Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures, Tom Cruise played Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchel, a young naval pilot working off the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, along with his best friend and Radar Intercept Officer, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). Together, they are given the opportunity to train at the US Navy’s Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, CA.

After being released, Top Gun first had mixed reviews from critics, but most loved the action scenes, effects, aerial stunts and acting performances from Cruise and Kelly McGillis (Charlotte). Despite its mixed reviews, the film had grossed $356 million in the US with a budget of just $15 million. It maintained its popularity throughout the 80s and also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin.

Fun fact: a sequel, Top Gun: Maverick will be released on July 2, 2021, after being postponed twice due to COVID-19.

2. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Directed by Oliver Stone and based on an eponymous 1976 autobiography by Ron Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July is a biographical war drama film about the life of Kovic (Cruise) over a 20-year period. The story covers his childhood, military service and paralysis during the Vietnam War and then his transition to anti-war activism.

After the film’s release, it was praised by critics for its story, including Tom Cruise’s acting and Stone’s direction. While they initially had a $14 million budget, it ended up costing $17.8 million after reshoots when Al Pacino (who would have played Kovic) and producer Bregman left.

Despite going over budget, the movie was largely successful at the box office as it grossed over $161 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 1989. The film also won four Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

3. Rain Man (1988)

Directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass, Rain Man is about an abrasive, selfish young wheeler-dealer named Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) who discovers his estranged father died and left his multi-million dollar home to his other son, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). Raymond is an autistic savant of whom Charlie didn’t even know. The only items left for Charlie were his father’s beloved vintage car and rosebushes. Valeria Golino also stars alongside Tom Cruise as Charlie’s girlfriend Susanna.

Rain Man was the highest grossing film in 1988, winning four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards in March 1989, including Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading role for Hoffman, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. The film crew had also received an additional four nominations. The movie also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.

4. Risky Business (1983)

Written and directed by Paul Brickman and starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay, Risky Business is about a once young, smart, innocent boy, Joel (Cruise) who lives with his wealthy parents in Chicago’s North Shore of Glencoe.

His future means everything to him, but his friend, Miles, steps in and calls a prostitute on his behalf. Turns out, she happened to be a trans woman, who Joel paid for her to leave. But before she did, she gave Joel the number of another prostitute, Lana, who Joel also called and invited over.

She was a gorgeous young blonde who fooled around with him the rest of the night and asked him for $300 the following morning for her services. He didn’t have the money on hand, so he went to the bank, leaving the prostitute in his home, where she stole his mother’s expensive Steuben glass egg.

The film had a great presentation for themes including loss of innocence, coming of age, capitalism and materialism, grossing over $63 million with just a $6.2 million budget.

5. The Color of Money (1986)

Directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Richard Price in association with Touchstone Pictures, The Color of Money is a drama film based on the 1984 novel by Walter Tevis. The movie features the continued story of a pool hustler and stake horse Edward “Fast Eddie” Felson, who decides to introduce a student to his game of scamming others in pool halls.

He meets talented, green Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise) and proposes a partnership. When Fast Eddie leads Vince through various pool halls and teaches him the tricks of scamming, he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent’s showboat antics which leads to a major argument and fallout between the two. But Eddie soon takes up playing again and takes on Vincent as an opponent.

The film won an Academy Awards for Best Actor, National Board of review Awards for Top Ten Films and National Board of Review Awards for Best Actor. It also grossed $52.3 million with a budget of $13.8 million.

6. All the Right Moves (1983)

Directed by Michael Chapman, All the Right Moves is a sports drama about Stefan Djordjevic (Tom Cruise), who is the star player of his high school football team who’s hoping his talents will earn him a scholarship and move him out of his small hometown of Ampipe, PA. But a heated argument between him and his coach (Craig T. Nelson) gets him booted from the football team, and he’s blacklisted from college recruiters. So Stefan must fight for the chance to live out his dream and escape from a dead-end future.

While the film wasn’t nominated nor won any awards, it did gross over $17 million at the box office with a budget of $5.6 million.

7. Legend (1985)

Directed by Ridley Scott, Legend is an epic dark fantasy adventure story, revolving around Jack, a pure being who must stop the Lord of Darkness, who plans to cover the world in darkness forever. Most describe this film as a dark fairy tale and return to more original and even disturbing fables originating from the ancient times oral tradition.

This movie was not a commercial success when it was first released, but it did win the British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography in 1985 for cinematographer Alex Thomson. It was also nominated for a number of other awards, including:

• Oscar for Best Makeup
• Academy of Science Fiction
• Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Makeup
• BAFTA Awards for Best Costume Design
• Best Makeup Artist
• Best Special Visual Effects
• DVD Exclusive awards
• Young Artist Awards

But despite all the nominations, the film only grossed $23.5 million with a $24.5 million budget.

Tom Cruise’s Films with Minor Roles

1. The Outsiders (1983)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Outsiders is based on the 1967 novel by S. E. Hinton, where Jo Ellen Misakian and her students inspired Coppola to make the film at Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, CA. It had various up-and-coming stars, including C. Thomas Howell (who won a Young Artist Award), Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swazy, Ralph Maccio, and Diane Lane. The film also inspired the Brat Pack genre of the 80s, where a rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and rich Socs heats up when one gang member kills a member of the other. While Cruise didn’t have a strong role, it helped him to land the starring role as Joel in Risky Business.

The movie received mostly positive reviews from movie critics, mostly for the acting performances, specifically Macchio being singled out for praise. The movie grossed $33.7 million at the box office with only a $10 million budget.

2. Taps (1981)

Directed by Harold Becker, Taps is a 1981 drama starring George C. Scott and Timothy Hutton about a group of military school students who decide to take over their school and save it from closing. While it was Sean Penn’s first film role and Cruise’s second, Cruise only had a supporting role, playing David Shawn.

But it was this film, along with another film, Endless Love that gave him the opportunity to star as Joel in Risky Business, where he would have his big break.

With a budget of only $14 million, the movie grossed almost $36 million at the box office.

3. Endless Love (1981)

Endless Love is another 80s romance drama directed by Franco Zeffirelli, starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. Tom Cruise had a minor role as Billy. The movie was also based on the 1979 novel, written by Scott Spencer.

The story is about a love-obsessed couple where a 15-year-old girl is thwarted by her parents’ disapproval of her relationship. So she burns down her family’s home and is committed to a psychiatric hospital.

While the movie was unfavorably compared to the book, which featured the dangers of obsessive love as well as receiving poor reviews, its theme song became a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100. The song also received an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nomination for “Best Original Song” in addition to five Grammy Award nominations.

Tom Cruise’s Less Successful Films

1. Cocktail (1988)

Directed by Donaldson and written by Heywood Gould, this 80s rom com was based on Gould’s novel. The Cocktail is about a young business student living in NYC, Brian Flanagan (Cruise) whose dream is to go into marketing. But he learns how to bartend to pay for college and make ends meet, where he meets his veteran boss, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). Working together, they show off special tricks and charisma while bringing in large tips and crowds – until they have a falling out. Flanagan ended up moving to Jamaica to raise money to open his own bar, where he fell in love with the beautiful artist Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue).

Despite its success in the box office, grossing over $171.5 million, the film had horrible reviews from critics. One had said, “There are no surprises in Cocktail, a shallow, dramatically inert romance that squanders Tom Cruise’s talents in what amounts to a naive barkeep’s banal fantasy.”

2. Losin’ It (1983)

This American-Canadian film was directed by Chris Hanson and involves four teenagers trying to lose their virginity. Losin’ It takes place in 1950s Los Angeles where the group is on their way to Tijuana, Mexico. Dave, Spider and Woody (Cruise) are there to lose their virginity while Wendell came to buy fireworks. They pick up a young woman named Kathy, who tags along because she wants a quick divorce from her husband. But they quickly find themselves in a series of adventures and troubles south of the border.

This film received a ton of negative reviews from critics and has a 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes according to 10 reviews.

What’s Your Favorite Tom Cruise Film?

Even if it’s not from the 80s, Tom Cruise starred in many highly successful films, including the Mission Impossible series, Jerry Maguire (1996), Minority Report (2002), Interview with the Vampire (1994), The Last Samurai (2003), Vanilla Sky (2001), and The Mummy (2017). What are your favorites? Please let us know in the comments below!