Hot Shots!
Tags: absurd, cult, comedy, humor

Plot synopsis:
The film begins at Flemner Air Base 20 years in the past. A pilot named Leland "Buzz" Harley (Bill Irwin) loses control of his plane and ejects, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnum (Ryan Stiles) to crash alone; although Mailman survives, he's mistaken for a deer owing to the branches stuck to his helmet and is shot by a hunter. Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) wakes up from a nightmare he's having about the event when Lt. Commander Block (Kevin Dunn) asks him to return to active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, to help on a new top secret mission: Operation Sleepy Weasel. Harley starts to show some psychological problems, especially when his father is mentioned. His therapist, Ramada (Valeria Golino), tries to keep Topper from flying, but she relents, and also starts to build a budding romance with Topper. Meanwhile, Topper gets into a rivalry with another fighter pilot, Kent Gregory (Cary Elwes), who hates Topper because of the loss of his father "Mailman" to Buzz Harley, and believes Topper may do the same to him.
Meanwhile, Block starts privately meeting with an airplane tycoon, Mr. Wilson, who has recently built a new "Super Fighter" that will make the American pilots superior. Block reveals that he brought back Topper for the reason of making Sleepy Weasel fail. Block would then report that it was the Navy's planes that were the real reason for the mission failure and that they need to be replaced with Wilson's planes. During one of the last training missions, an unfortunate accident between Pete "Dead Meat" Thompson (William O'Leary) and Jim "Wash-Out" Pfaffenbach (Jon Cryer) occurs, leaving Dead Meat dead and Wash Out reassigned to radar operator. Block believes this is enough to convince the Navy to buy new fighters, but Wilson brushes it aside as a "minor incident", and the planes need to fail in combat for anyone to take notice.
Meanwhile, Topper starts to show more and more feelings for Ramada, but she is also smitten with Gregory, who believes Topper cannot handle combat pressure. On the carrier U.S.S. Essess, Block reveals the mission to be an attack of an Iraqi nuclear plant and assigns Topper to lead the mission, much to Gregory's chagrin. Meanwhile, Wilson, who is also on board, coerces a crew member to sabotage the planes, putting the pilots' lives at risk. At first, the mission goes according to Block's plan. He mentions Buzz Harley to Topper, who becomes overcome with emotion and unable to lead the mission. Block just starts to call out for the mission to be aborted when Iraqi fighters attack the squadron. All the planes' weapons fail and Block realizes what has happened. He then tells Topper that he saw what really happened with Buzz and Mailman, that Buzz tried to do everything possible to save Mailman, but ended up falling out of the plane, failing in his attempts. Inspired, Topper single-handedly beats the Iraqi fighters and bombs the nuclear plant, despite sustaining heavy damage. Back aboard ship, Block decides that American planes will always be superior with pilots like Topper (and German parts). Wilson's plan is revealed and his standing with the military is lost.
Back in port, Gregory accepts Topper as a great pilot and lets Ramada be with Topper and the two begin a loving new relationship.

Review: Only time, will tell.The spoof genre is one that appears easy to do but things like Scary Movie, Spaceballs and others all show that it is not as easy as it appears  it is not enough to simply ape films unless it is done cleverly and funnily as well.
Some individual lines aren't as sharp as others but generally the film has enough great dialogue and funny movie spoofs (including quite a few Tom Cruise movies) to be consistently funny even after repeat viewings.The cast is often important in this type of thing and those who have suffered the Wayans brothers mugging in their 'spoofs' will know exactly what I mean  people like Leslie Nielsen make it look easy but it really isn't.
Although not the star of the film, every scene he is in is stolen by Lloyd Bridges  so great in Airplane, he gets the best lines here and his character is hilarious.
Much more fun that Top Gun and consistently funny with regular laugh-out-loud moments this is a great spoof that is only just short of the greats like Airplane and Naked Gun..
It's 2006 and I still believe this is one of the best parodies of all times, worth to include next to Spaceballs, Naked Gun and Scary Movie (all 3 of them).From time to time I like watching such movies, since I'm sick and tired of all the modern "shoot 'em up" or "philosophy for n00bs" type of films.
The movie itself is very well glued together, the scenes are dubbed with the perfect soundtrack to make you laugh 'till you fall off your chair and the comedy techniques are (as somebody said before me) classic - no fart/burp jokes or toilet humor.Overall, I'd watch it anytime..
is a smash comedy that has many, many laughs and is as silly as anything Abrahams has done with his uoltra successful team of ZAZ (Zucker Abrahams and Zucker) which made Airplane, Top Secret, The Naked Gun and The Kentucky Friend Movie.
Hot Shots deserves a place with them.Charlie Sheen plays a top gun type of charater that is trying to go against his father's reputation and still be able to fly and fight and all.
The movie however doesn't try and go with the plot, which is always good in these movies, and it succeeds in bringing silly, goofy laughs just by having Lloyd Bridges act totally and utterly hilariously insane, or in just having a pilot with moose antlers.
I'm not sure why, but I guess I was interested in seeing the first Hot Shots since my mom only has the sequel and I noticed the movie in Blockbuster, I also love Charlie Sheen in comedies, he works so well in spoofs.
(Dances With Wolves, etc.) There are many hilarious scenes, such as Jon Cryer's "Wall Vision" and Charlie Sheen's Indian nickname translating as "Fluffy Bunny Feet." You know something bad and funny is going to happen when Dead Meat reveals all that he's carrying-right before he goes on a mission.
So I did, and then became his Stand-In from there.Got to meet some of the great actors like Lloyd Bridges & Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. before they both passed on, Charlie Sheen (of course) and John Cryer.
This is a comedy from Jim Abrahams, spoofing Top Gun in which unstable fighter pilot Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) tries to complete his mission of destroying the Iraqi dictator's nuclear plants.It's non-stop laughs from start to finish, from unending gags to hilarious spoofs of movies such as Top Gun, Superman and Gone with the Wind.
I especially liked Lloyd Bridge's clueless and comedic performance as the incompetent Adm. Thomas Benson.This movie is not so much dumb as is pure fun and entertainment, as all the characters acted seriously on their "missions." The film has a fast-paced plot and story nonetheless, despite all the spoofed humor.
I bought this in Tesco for a tiny sum of £4.00 because i heard that it was really good, it has an 81% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was a box office success, grossing over $180,000,000.There you are kids, a bit of history, tell your friends!It took me a while (about 15 minutes) to get into the films humour, the jokes at the start produce giggles, some were just unfunny but as the film progressed the jokes got funnier and i was starting to see the good film that the critics were talking about!I'd love to spoil some of the funniest lines but, i'm not gonna, there are some real corkers in this film.What scores this film more points is that it was short, only 80 minutes or so, so it doesn't drag on and get old.Maybe i'm only giving this film a 7 because i missed some of the sight gags or something, i don't know.
Whilst most gags are just smile-worthy, there are a few that are the laugh-out-loud type.It takes of (mainly) Top Gun, and bits of other films such as Superman, Gone with the wind and Cocktail.Not quite as good as The Naked Gun trilogy, but certainly as good as the Airplane films.Charlie Sheen shows that he can play comedy films very well.Its a bit jumpy in a few places, but that could have been editing due to showing on TV.
Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino, Cary Elwes, and Lloyd Bridges provide the starring roles, and are all hilarious in every scene they carry.For some people, this type of humor is childish and won't elicit much more than a simple chuckle.
The chemistry between Sheen and Golino is incredible, Elwes is at his maniacal best, while Bridges basically steals the show as the hilarious old general who always seems to save the day in the end.This is a film that is kind of hard to explain in print.
is a fun and watchable film, is not to die laughing, most also ta far from a movie dull, the film that spoofs very films such as Top Gun, has a good cast, Charlie Sheen this very well, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Kevin Dunn, Jon Cryer (to find Charlie Sheen future in the series Two and Half Men), and etc, the soundtrack is good, has very funny scenes, the script has problems, some dialogues are weak, have unnecessary scenes, even the movie is short, It is unnecessary times Hot Shots!
It is not the best comedy of all time, more is far from being a bad movie, it's fun, and it has very funny scenes, plus the sequence of the film's funniest and fun Note 6.5.
Jim Abrahams, the director and co-writer of this film, is known for his completely wacky comedic adventures featuring antihero protagonists and absolutely stereotypical characters and villains, with notably the Airplane or Naked Gun series.Here, the theme is military, the lead is a young Charlie Sheen, and it's just about what one would expect out of these converging elements.
Some parts are really funny, where the absurd is taken to a point made necessary to laugh, but mostly there's a lot of very forgettable filler, and the plot is obviously extremely thin, not that this would constitute a flaw for this sort of film but we're really not given too much else and have to settle for the on screen fun from scene to scene which there just isn't masses of.All in all it's alright, something of a fun watch, better than other similar efforts gone awry..
Well, i have to say it wasn't such a good idea, because over the years i've come to expect a subtler, higher quality humor from the comedies, and the never-ending sequence of jokes or moments that were supposed to be funny no matter what grew old and tiresome rather fast.
In the line of Airplane, Naked Gun and the Files of the Police Squad, Hot Shots is one of those films that you can watch again and again and see extra jokes that you hadn't noticed before.
There are great "set piece" jokes but also the humour that comes from knowing the in-joke and in this film that is mainly at the expense of Top Gun.Charlie Sheen sizzles in this film, and is at his comedic best, and John Cryer (also of Two and Half Men fame) is very good, but it is Lloyd Bridges that steals the show in every scene he's in.
Hot Shots is a good movie with a good story line,a great cast and plenty of hilarious scenes.Its from one of the writers of Airplane and Naked Gun,but this movie certainly doesn't have as memorable or funny scenes,and no lines that you will find yourself quoting for the rest of your life.But its still a decent funny movie,better than Top Gun,the movie it parodies,I'm never been a big fan of Top Gun because its just very boring and extremely cheesy.I did get a good kick out of seeing Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer,starring alongside each other long before Two And A Half Men,I find Jon Cryer very funny,and is the only reason why I still watch the new Two And A Half Men episodes.Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) must save a mission that has been sabotaged by weapon manufacturers..
Now, time and familiarity now lessen the impact of each gag but the movie remains good silly fun overall and a worthy successor to the "Naked Gun" franchise, having been co- written and directed by one third of the Z.A.Z. team, Jim Abrahams.
Here he and co-writer / executive producer Pat Proft delightfully skewer the "fly boy" movie, specifically "Top Gun", in its tale of a talented fighter pilot, Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen, who really is very good at this sort of thing) who's having a hard time dealing with the legacy of his dad Buzz (Bill Irwin), who was equally talented yet utterly reckless.
ROY!" A top notch supporting cast acquits themselves well, including Sheens' future "Two and a Half Men" co-star Jon Cryer, William O'Leary, Kevin Dunn, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Kristy Swanson, and Heidi Swedberg, with small roles for the likes of Proft (as the lounge singer), film composer Marc Shaiman as the pianist, Ryan Stiles as the ill fated "Mailman" Farnham, and Don Lake as the doctor.
this movie was fantastic and very funny and it keep me coming back to watch it again not because it was slap stick and a military movie.i came to enjoying this title because Charlie sheen was in it with some other actors from TV from other show's also this movie was a offshoot to top gun in some seen's.
Most likely because I remember it as being funnier than it actually is, or maybe I was just confusing it with Part Deux.Whatever the reason, seeing the film again has done little to restore my love for the spoof genre, being a very hit and miss affair that primarily lampoons 80s blockbuster Top Gun, but also throws in random references to other films along the way.
A few of the gags are funny (I enjoyed the silly repeat joke with the chihuahua), but the greater percentage fall flat on their face; given how rapid-fire the jokes are, that's an awful lots of groans over 84 minutes.I guess I'm going to have to go even further back through the annals of comedy to find a really good parody; I just hope that Airplane, Top Secret and The Naked Gun are actually as good as I think they are..
It's a spoof of Top Gun, and they get everything right.The cast is the best: Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Bill Irwin, and more.
Having seen the terrific "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun," I felt like there was very little "need" to make "Hot Shots!," a spoof of "Top Gun" and other military and non-military movies.
Cary Elwes, for example, gets second-billing, but I didn't feel any real sense of play from his character and yes, even in a movie like "Hot Shots!", there still needs to be some sense of place, as there was in the sequel, even if it's just random space.
there are numerous sight gags to send you laughing, lots and lots of slick one liners, too many to list here, many many funny moments as this movie parodies such as Top Gun and a few others,, spawned a sequel as well 2 years later.
you got characters like Dead Meat , and Washout which make the film even more funnier,, there are a few star cameos as well,, look for them,, overall this movie will have you laughing very hard i know it did for me..
You feel like you're watching a movie, instead of a string of stupid "hey this is from this movie", "hey that's from that movie" scenes strung together.Lloyd Bridges is fantastic as the clueless admiral, Carey Elwes plays one of the most egotistical jerks I've seen, and Charley Sheen's comic timing with his lines really bring this one together.The other great part is you don't even have to have seen the movies its spoofing to understand what's going on or to laugh at the jokes.
Jon Cryer whom Charlie costars in two and a half men is also great in this one and Lloyd Bridges is right at home in a spoof movie.
Adding to the fun are Lloyd Bridges as the dumb boss Admiral Benson and Valeria Golino as the much sought after base psychiatrist.Of the many movies that it spoofs, the most notable is Top Gun. There is a little bit of boxing from Rocky, at bit from the old Gone with the Wind, and many more movies.
"Hot Shots!" is a comedy that parodies a number of films, particularly "Top Gun" (1986).
Also notable is Cary Elwes as Topper's dashing flight school rival, Valeria Golino as Topper's love interest and Lloyd Bridges as the flight school's commander Lloyd Bridges' performance is not as funny as his role in "Airplaine!" (1980), but he has funny lines and scenes in this film.The film's comedy is a mix of slapstick humor, quips and satires of other movies.
- Valeria Golino shows comedy of top class doing this hilarious remake of Suzie Diamond.Lloyd Bridges also brings several funny moments into the movie.
This movie contains some good sight gags plus the talents of Lloyd Bridges and Charlie Sheen, but it lacks the vitality and great script of 'Airplane'.Still, it's good fun for the most part and I always find something new to laugh at each time I view it.
Never less then enjoyable, Hot Shots is an instantly likeable spoof comedy that doesn't primarily try to take the p*ss out of Top Gun, but serves as a very memorable movie.
It's not amazing or spectacular but has its moments of comedy that show that whatever you did to see this movie is not wasted.Topper Harley is wanted to test out a new plane for the navy and meets up with a rival, an attractive secretary and a loony Admiral(brilliantly done by Lloyd Bridges).It's not a long film but it's fine to watch when bored though watching it time and time again may drag the jokes out of it.
is a very funny movie although not as funny as The Naked Gun, and Airplane, but I still think Hot Shots!
All in all, I rated this movie 9/10 and recommend it to comedy fans, especially to fans of The Naked Gun and Hot Shots 2.
the movie hot shots is obviously a broad comedy.you really have to look at the big picture to understand its genius.it's sort of like the monty python gang doing their take on hamlet and playing it straight.that's the genius of hotshots,that the actors play it as if they too were doing hamlet.of course there are several funny bits contained in the movie,and two sequences which are absolutely hysterical.but it is the intentional over the top acting that really makes this movie.i suspect they may have had to do numerous takes for many scenes, because the actors could not keep a straight face.the dialogue is brilliant in this movie and delivered perfectly deadpan every time.and of course there is also some physical comedy,which doesn't hurt.this was a much more enjoyable movie than the naked gun series.
Some of the jokes try too hard to get a laugh, but a lot of them work quite good.Consider this movie is from Jim Abrahams, one of the directors from 'Airplane!' and 'Top Secret!', and you know you have a very funny movie here.
Cary Elwes however does surprising good and Lloyd Bridges is simply hilarious, I have to admit that I laughed at nearly every scene with him in it.Not the best comedy of all time but funny enough to watch over and over again.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
It comes as no surprise that Jim Abrahams, one of those men, was a co-writer and the director of "Hot Shots!", a film spoofing mainly "Top Gun." Something that worked about films like "Top Secret!" and such is that though they spoofed a certain genre, in that case spy movies, they also threw in gags spoofing some other films.
"Hot Shots!" is a good film, dare I say funny, but it isn't as great as it could and should have been.
Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino, Cary Elwes, Jon Cryer and Lloyd Bridges star in this 1991 comedy.
This is obviously a spoof of "Top Gun," but also pokes fun at other classic films like "Dances with Wolves," "Gone With The Wind" and "Superman." Sheen (Wall Street) plays Topper, a navy pilot who has issues mainly dealing with his father's death.
This is a good comedy spoof with a good cast and if you like "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" films, I recommend this..
Charlie Sheen plays the main character Topper Harley, and we can see Lloyd Bridges as a stupid man, as always and Cary Elwes.The movie makes a fool out of the 80ties classic "Top Gun" all the way and has dozens of hilarious scenes.