And The Oscar Goes To...

Continuing my NASCAR theme from yesterday, I wanted to comment on why Days of Thunder is definitely among the top 5 movies of all time. (MD, relax, I like it, but I understand that it's really not that great) I happen to catch part of it last night on TV (edited version of course).

First, the cast. You've got everything from a guy who might be running for President (Fred Dalton Thompson) to a lunatic Scientologist (Tom Cruise). Let's not forget the legendary Robert Duvall or Keith Urban's wife, Nicole something. John C. Reilly plays a fairly significant role. Randy Quaid, Michael Rooker, and several NASCAR notables (the late Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant, Rusty Wallace, Dr. Jerry Punch, and Richard Petty) round out the known cast members. Whether you like the movie or not, the cast is impressive.

Second, the action. Most (I said Most, not all) of the driving sequences are moderately believable. They do abuse the cars more than they could really have done and still raced competitively, but the cinematography at least doesn't look cheesy. I've seen documentaries on the making of the movie and several of the stunts they did were very real and the results were fairly unpredictable.

Third, truth in presentation. From all I can gather, the presentation of the material is fairly true to what the sport was like in that era. NASCAR comes from very southern roots, but with the help of TV coverage (Cole: "ESPN, the coverage is excellent, you'd be surprised how much you can pick.") and exposure from things like this movie it began to emerge onto the national scene in the 90's. While there are still lots of good ol' boys in NASCAR, talented people from all over the country have emerged in every capacity - drivers, crew chiefs, owners, etc. All of this has contributed to make it the fastest growing sport in the country. Keep in mind, it's about the only sport where the equivalent of AAA games (using a baseball comparison, AAA is the level right below the majors) are all shown on TV and some of what would be AA (one step below AAA) are also televised.

You may have no use for Days of Thunder. I don't condone everything in the movie - there are certainly a fair number of off color words used. But the cast alone makes it worth watching.