The time before Charlie
Sheen was obsessed with tiger’s blood and Adonis DNA due to the drugs he takes.
“Hot Shots!” released in 1991, is directed by Jim Abrahams, who directed spoofs
like “Airplane!” “Top Secret!” and “Ruthless People.” He also helped write the
screenplay along with Pat Proft, who had done great comedies like “Police Academy”
and “The Naked Gun: From the Flies of Police Squad!” It looked like Abrahams
seems to be excited to work together since many of the comedy titles end with
an exclamation point. The basic story is about a talented pilot named Topper
Harley (Charlie Sheen), who has been living on a Native America area because of
being haunted by a problem where his father Buzz Harley’s (Bill Irwin) had died,
‘Mailman’ (Ryan Stiles, who you might remember from “The Drew Carey Show,” “Drew
Carey Improv-a-ganza” and currently “Whose Line is it Anyway?”). Lt. Commander
Block, played by Kevin Dunn, finds Topper and asks him to join the ongoing war
in Iraq. What Topper doesn’t know is that Block has other plans and enlisted
Topper not because of his skills, but because of his insecurity. Block has made
a deal with a weapons dealer that will guarantee mission failure to that his
arms dealer can convince the government to buy new fighter jets.
Lolo said in their
review, “Spoofs are almost always outrageous, ridiculous, and downright dumb.
What separates the good ones from the bad is their ability to make you laugh,
and "Hot Shots!" (1991) is all of those things and simultaneously
hilarious.” This great comedy is mostly a parody of “Top Gun,” but it also has
other references from “9½ Weeks,” “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Rocky” and “The
Fabulous Baker Boys.” Lolo said, “More often than not when we watch this movie,
we find ourselves saying, "wow, that was so stupid," but we're
usually laughing when we say it, so that's a win-win in our book. "Hot
Shots!" (1991) relies heavily on physical comedy and sight gags, though
not all of the humor works. The most consistent source of hilarity comes from
Lloyd Bridges's character Admiral Benson, a career military man who has a
constant string of physical ailments and an oblivious nature that gets him into
some zany situations. Though it's Bridges that shines the brightest, the rest
of the cast gets their chance to produce an occasional laugh as well. Charlie
Sheen was a very charming actor when he was younger, and he had a terrific
knack for sharp, deadpan delivery. He does a great job mimicking a Tom Cruise
type of flyboy who thinks his poop doesn't stink.” The main problem when re-watching
movie like this is how dated many of the references are. “Hot Shots!” is very
much a product of its time, and people who didn’t grow up in the 90s and/or
aren’t familiar with many of the political and movie references may not think
this is funny than those who were born in the 80s and seen what happened then.
If this film may not be
as successful as some of the other 90s spoofs that came out, “Hot Shots!” is
still a good one to see at least once for Lloyd Bridges’ hilarious performance
mainly. Some movies completely have silly fun, and this is definitely one of
them. I think this is one of the funniest spoofs ever.
Seeing how I thought “Hot
Shots!” was a hilarious “Top Gun” parody, I really liked seeing “Airplane!” and
“Naked Gun” partner Jim Abrahams back in spoof form with this much funnier
sequel where Sheen’s Topper Harley is thrown back in action with huge muscles,
shaved chest and headband as a spoof on Rambo.
His mission is to “save
the men who went in to get the men who went in to get the men” following a
failed hostage rescue “somewhere in the Middle East.” Angie Errigo said in her
review, “His commander-in-chief: US President Tug Benson (Bridges), even more
gaga than Reaganbush.” Also in the film is Richard Crenna to reprise Trautman
from Rambo.
Errigo said, “Naturally
Abrahams and co-jokester Pat Proft are not content just to send up the Stallone
action man cycle and plunder everything from The Wizard Of Oz to Star Wars, T2,
Basic Instinct, No Way Out and Robin Hood : Prince Of Thieves.” In one scene (a
flashback to a better time and a romantic dinner for two in an Italian
restaurant) there are references to The Godfather, Casablanca and Lady and the
Tramp, highlighting that the best laughs are dependent on the support of a
great audience.
Errigo noted, “And as
always with Abrahams, what's glimpsed going on in the background is often as
funny as what's notionally happening immediately in front of the camera — just
check out those saffron-robed monks while Topper is being recruited from his
monastery retreat.” Best part: an “Apocalypse Now” reference guaranteed to
really excite people. Errigo said, “Shamelessly artless, silly beyond absurd
and truly juvenile.” When Charlie Sheen was on “Inside the Actors Studio,” he
said that Martin Sheen agreed to have that nod to “Apocalypse Now,” where
Martin Sheen’s team was sailing on their mission while Charlie Sheen and his
team are sailing towards their destination, if they agreed to donate the salary
amount of his choice to the charity of his choice. Charlie Sheen admitted that
since he couldn’t keep the lie he’s lived with for a long time that he filled
in the missing amount of money since they couldn’t come up with the amount Martin
Sheen wanted. What I really found funny about that scene was when both father and son simultaneously say
To end off: this is one
of those rare things where a sequel is funnier and more successful. I seriously
think everyone should check these two spoof movies out. They are funny and some
of the best spoof films out there and I think everyone will have a great,
hilarious time watching them, especially when they catch the other film
references in them.
Alright, look out next
week when I finish off “Parody Month.”
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