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Charlie Sheen in a promotional shot for Hot Shots! (1991)
Nowadays people
get their laughs from Instagram reels and get entertained by stand-up
comedians, but back in the 1990s the comedy genre was still cinematically big
enough to guarantee blockbusters such as the Hot Shots! (1991 – 1993) duo to be made.
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Hot Shots! (1991) poster
Hot
Shots!
(1991)
Topper Harley
(Charlie Sheen) is a fighter pilot who falls in love with the force’s
psychiatrist (a very sexy Valeria Golino), who will try to put some balance in
his unstable life, but things get trickier when the protagonist will participate
on a suicide mission.
Written by Jim
Abrahams (who also directed) and Pat Proft (who also executive produced), this
is a big budget (Bill Badalato produced on a $26 million and the film was
distributed by 20th Century Fox) parody of the then-recent Top Gun (1986) sensation (we tackled it
on a previous post), but it also satirizes iconic scenes from other mainstream
pictures of the time, including 9½ Weeks
(1986) and Superman (1978). Nobody
did surreal and wild comedies like Abrahams back then and even those who did
never had his success, and Hot Shots!
(1991) went on to gross a stunning $181.1 million, guaranteeing a sequel.
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Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Hot
Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Topper Harley
(Charlie Sheen) is now a Rambo-like soldier on a mission to save war prisoners
from Iraq that is under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein (Jerry Haleva), but
in the meanwhile he has to put his personal life in order as he is romantically
desired by his old girlfriend Ramada (Valeria Golino) and a C.I.A. sex bomb
(Brenda Bakke).
Written by Jim
Abrahams (who also directed) and Pat Proft (who also executive produced) this
bombastic sequel (it was budgeted at $25 million) is also funnier than the
original, as it parodies the plot structure and main characters of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), but
also incorporates many scenes that satirize then-recent hits such as Basic Instinct (1992). It grossed $133.8
million, so it’s surprising that we didn’t see more of the same.
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