Days Of Thunder

Days of Thunder (1990) directed by Tony Scott is a film about an open–wheel race car driver trying to make it in the National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR). Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) is picked up (hired) by race team owner Tim Daland (Randy Quaid). Daland convinces Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall), a retired crew chief, to come out of retirement and be crew chief to his race team. Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker) is Trickle’s racing nemesis; he is a hot headed driver who will do whatever it takes to win the race. Trickle meets Dr. Claire Lewicki (Nicole Kidman), Trickle’s love interest, after his crash involving Burns at Daytona Speedway. The races at Daytona speedway, along with all of the other races, were filmed on location at real NASCAR tracks. The filming at each of these tracks captured what it is like at a
NASCAR race. The fans in the stands were real NASCAR fans, not just actors. This allowed the movie to have a “more real” feel to me. The writer Robert Towne, director Tony Scott and co-writer Cruise spent a great deal of time with NASCAR drivers, such as Richard Petty, to get a better understanding of stock cars and NASCAR. In doing so, this made the film a more accurate take on NASCAR. Petty told Towne and Cruise about his crash. “He said it was almost in slow motion.” Cruise said Petty had told him. Petty tells Cruise “All he can remember was that he was looking at the ground, and it was lifting up.” Petty also told them that he was temporarily blinded from the crash (Rolling Stone 54). After talking with Petty, “Towne develops a story about a guy who had an accident where nothing physical happened to him, but he confronted subsequent problems that are a result of him having more talent than experience” (Rolling Stone 54). Towne based Cruise, Duvall and Quaid’s characters loosely on real life NASCAR people. The accident or “the big one” as NASCAR fans call it at Daytona Speedway, involving Burns (Rooker) and Trickle (Cruise), Trickle to start looking at certain things differently than he had before. As a result of the accident Trickle meets Dr. Lewicki. Dr. Lewicki plays a big role in helping Trickle, with her “tell it like it is” attitude. Towne is showing the viewers a different side in the life of a racecar driver, that is not often seen by the fans; that drivers are people too and have many fears. At the Daytona 500, Hogge (Duvall) tells Dr. Lewicki the reason why Trickle hasn’t gone and seen Burns; “A driver doesn’t want to relive history, if you can get a race car driver to a funeral you have made history.” This is a true statement for many drivers; for Towne to show, this makes the movie more interesting to watch for me. For people who don’t watch NASCAR, this aspect of the film can give them a better understanding, that this sport is not a bunch of guy driving in circles, these are real people who drive something that could kill them at any time. I believe that Towne, with the help of Cruise, did a suburb job in capturing some struggles that not just NASCAR drivers go through but all race car drivers struggle with. In Ralph Novak’s People Weekly review of Days of Thunder he points out that “that there are such dumb scenes as one where Trickle (Cruise) and Burns (Rooker) engage in a bumper car battle on the streets of Daytona Beach” (People Weekly 11). I have to disagree with Novak’s take on this scene, I believe this scene shows the viewer’s how deep the feud is between these two driver’s, even though it is not really clear as to how it started or how it ended. Novak also points out that he feels there was an unanswered question to some of the story line. I agree, I feel he was looking for Towne to give the answer to how Hogge’s (Duvall) old driver died. I feel that Towne left it up to the viewers to decide which version of events they believed Hogge’s or NASCAR’s. Jack Kroll’s Newsweek review, points out that the love scene between Dr. Lewicki (Kidman) and Trickle (Cruise) was “cute-dumb” (Newsweek 65). I felt that the love scene was just right for this movie. There was just one sex scene, if you can even call it that. The scene showed how Dr. Lewicki and Trickle progressed in their relationship as friends and lovers. In this scene Trickle and Dr. Lewicki are in bed and Trickle is telling her what it is like to drive a race car and what it is like to be in control of something so powerful. Trickle uses sugar packets to demonstrate what it looks like. This shows me that Trickle is opening up to Dr. Lewicki and trusting her with his fears. Kroll feels bad for Duvall, who has to play a guy who in two different scenes, “has to talk to a racecar” (Newsweek 65).
I think these two scenes are amazing. In the first scene Hogge (Duvall) is telling the car all of the things he is going to do to get it “race ready”. This scene shows how much Hogge cares about his job as a car builder, and crew chief. For me, this scene also shows how much Hogge respects the racecar, and what potential it has. This is not just a hobby or sport to Hogge; this is his way of life. In the second scene Hogge speaking to the car about the upcoming race with Trickle (Cruise), shows Hogge’s concern for Trickle. Concern that Hogge felt he could not express to Trickle with all that he was dealing with already. Talking to the car was Hogge’s outlet and made him feel a little more at ease after giving the car instructions on how to “handle” Trickle.
Days of Thunder has drama, action and even “the big one,” what more you could ask for in a movie, for me not much more. Fast cars, big crashes, sexy drivers, and even a very pretty doctor, make this film easy to watch. This movie is a must see movie for NASCAR
fans.

Works Cited

Days Of Thunder. By Robert Towne. Dir. Tony Scott. Perf. Tom Cruise Robert Duvall Randy
Quaid Nicole Kidman. 1990.
Kroll, Jack. "Fans, Start Your Engines." Newsweekly. 2. 9 July 1990. 65.
Novak, Ralph. "Days of Thunder." People Weekly. Vol. 34. 2. 16 July 1990. 11.
Ressner, Jeffrey. "On Thunder Road With Tom Curise." Rolling Stone. 12-26 July 1990. 50+.
Schickel, Richard. "Crash Course." Time. Vol. 116. 3. 16 July 1990.