Hot Shots!

"The mother of all movies."

1991 1h 25m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 2,566

ActionComedyWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The gang that created Airplane! and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this spoof. Topper Harley is a talented but unstable fighter pilot with an axe to grind: clearing the family name. His mission is to avenge his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers. He also gets involved in a relationship with Ramada Thompson, a woman with an unusually talented stomach. Hot Shots! makes fun of a variety of other films, from Dances with Wolves to The Fabulous Baker Boys.

“The mother of all movies.”

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Cast

Charlie Sheen
Topper Harley / Rhett Butler / Superman
Cary Elwes
Kent Gregory
Valeria Golino
Ramada Thompson / Scarlett O'Hara / Lois Lane
Lloyd Bridges
Admiral Benson
Kevin Dunn
Lt. Commander Block
Jon Cryer
Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach
William O'Leary
Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson
Kristy Swanson
Kowalski

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jim Abrahams
Writers: Pat Proft, Jim Abrahams
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

85 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 7.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

35 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Hot Shots! Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jim Abrahams, shot by Wilmer Butler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Sylvester Levay. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jane Kurson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Charlie Sheen and Cary Elwes and Valeria Golino carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jim Abrahams directs. Wilmer Butler behind the camera. Sylvester Levay scores. Jane Kurson cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

185 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Made its money back 7.0× over at the box office.
335 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Hot Shots! Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Jim Abrahams, shot by Wilmer Butler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Sylvester Levay. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jane Kurson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Charlie Sheen and Cary Elwes and Valeria Golino carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The mother of all movies.".
10IMDB entry: tt0102059 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Wilmer Butler
Original score: Sylvester Levay
Editing: Jane Kurson
Production design: William A. Elliott
Costume design: Mary Malin
Makeup / hair: Deborah Humphries
VFX supervisor: Mat Beck
Stunt coordinator: Ernie F. Orsatti
Runtime: 85 min · 1h 25m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $26,000,000
Box office: $181,096,164
Return: 697% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Hot Shots! (1991)

Part of

Hot Shots! Collection

Hot Shots! is a 1991 comedy spoof film starring Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Kevin Dunn, Jon Cryer and Ryan Stiles. It was directed by Jim Abrahams, and was written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. Carrying the same comedic vein as Airplane!, a film Abrahams co-directed, the film primarily spoofs the 1986 action film Top Gun, but also draws material from films like Rocky and Superman. It spawned a sequel in 1993, Hot Shots! Part Deux. Sheen and Cryer would later co-star in the television series Two and a Half Men, in which Stiles also went on to play a recurring role.