For nearly two decades, Tom Cruise has primarily been known as an action movie star – and especially for the Mission Impossible movies. But from the early 80s until the mid-2000s, Cruise could frequently be found acting in some of the best drama movies and was Oscar-nominated three times. And one of his best movies is leaving Netflix on August 1.
Tom Cruise broke through in 1983 with The Outsiders (alongside several other young actors including Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez), and with his star-making role in Risky Business. In 1986 (the same year as the release of Top Gun) he co-starred with Paul Newman in Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money. In 1988, Cruise co-starred with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.
In the ’90s, Cruise turned to quality thriller movies A Few Good Men and The Firm. He also co-starred with Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire and was Oscar-nominated for Jerry Maguire. Cruise rounded out the decade by starring in Stanley Kubrick’s last movie – Eyes Wide Shut – and played a brilliant supporting role in the best Paul Thomas Anderson movie Magnolia (for which he was deservedly Oscar-nominated).
The last time that Cruise really stretched his dramatic acting muscles was in the early 2000s – in Vanilla Sky (2001), Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Michael Mann’s Collateral, and reuniting with Spielberg for War of the Worlds (2005). These are definitely amongst the best Tom Cruise movies.
Along with Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise’s other Oscar nomination for Lead Actor came for Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July (1989). It’s one the best war movies, and is a kind of follow-up to Stone’s Vietnam movie Platoon. Cruise plays the real-life figure Ron Kovic over the course of 15 years – from idealistic recruit, to injured and disillusioned alcoholic. Kovic then became a prominent anti-war activist.
If you’re used to the Tom Cruise of the Mission Impossible movies (which are fantastic, of course), watching Born on the Fourth of July will be a revelation – just because it shows a very different side to him. So, be sure to catch it on Netflix before August 1.
If you want to find out what’s new on Netflix for August, you can do so now. Check out our guide to the best action movies – where you’re sure to find a running Tom Cruise or two.