MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 937 this week

Days of Thunder (1990)

 -  Action | Drama | Romance  -  27 June 1990 (USA)
5.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 5.7/10 from 40,623 users   Metascore: 60/100
Reviews: 86 user | 53 critic | 16 from Metacritic.com

A young hot-shot stock car driver gets his chance to compete at the top level.

Director:

Writers:

(story), (story), 1 more credit »
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 2005 titles created 4 weeks ago
 
a list of 369 titles created 8 months ago
 
a list of 1375 titles created 30 Dec 2011
 
a list of 13 titles created 3 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Days of Thunder (1990)

Days of Thunder (1990) on IMDb 5.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Days of Thunder.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Top Gun (1986)
Action | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

As students at the Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young flyer learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.

Director: Tony Scott
Stars: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer
Drama | Romance | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

A high school footballer desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.

Director: Michael Chapman
Stars: Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent with the only athlete who stays with him.

Director: Cameron Crowe
Stars: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger
Rocky III (1982)
Drama | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

When Rocky is defeated by a brutal challenger, Apollo Creed offers to retrain him in order to regain his fighting spirit.

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
Rocky IV (1985)
Drama | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

When Apollo Creed is killed in a match against a powerful Soviet boxer, Rocky decides to challenge him himself.

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
Action | Drama | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Based on H.G. Bissinger's book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.

Director: Peter Berg
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Derek Luke
Youngblood (1986)
Drama | Romance | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

A skilled young hockey prospect hoping to attract the attention of professional scouts is pressured to show that he can fight if challenged during his stay in a Canadian minor hockey town. ... See full summary »

Director: Peter Markle
Stars: Rob Lowe, Cynthia Gibb, Patrick Swayze
Drama | Romance | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

A washed up pitcher flashes through his career.

Director: Sam Raimi
Stars: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly
Rocky (1976)
Drama | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

A small time boxer gets a once in a lifetime chance to fight the heavyweight champ in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.

Director: John G. Avildsen
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
The Program (1993)
Action | Drama | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others ... See full summary »

Director: David S. Ward
Stars: James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Epps
Action | Romance | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.2/10 X  

Escaped convict Sam Gillen single handedly takes on ruthless developers determined to evict Clydie - a widow with two young children. Nobody knows who Sam is.

Director: Robert Harmon
Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Rosanna Arquette, Kieran Culkin
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

When Robin and his Moorish companion come to England and the tyranny of the Sheriff of Nottingham, he decides to fight back as an outlaw.

Director: Kevin Reynolds
Stars: Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
Russ Wheeler
...
...
Big John
...
Buck Bretherton
J.C. Quinn ...
Waddell
...
...
Jennie Burns
...
Darlene (as Donna Wilson)
...
Harlem Hoogerhyde
...
Cole's Crew
Stephen Michael Ayers ...
Crewmember
Edit

Storyline

Cole Trickle enters the high-pressure world of Nascar racing. He's a hot driver with a hot temper, and this attitude gets him into trouble not only with other drivers, but members of his own team as well. Written by Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

driver | nascar | racing | stock car | team | See more »

Taglines:

You can't outrun the thunder. See more »

Genres:

Action | Drama | Romance | Sport

Certificate:

PG-13 | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

27 June 1990 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Días de trueno  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$82,670,733 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(analog 70 mm prints)| (digital 35 mm and 70 mm prints)| (analog 35 mm prints)

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robin Wright was first suggested for the role of Claire Lewicki but was unavailable. See more »

Goofs

In the final Daytona 500, when Cole tells Harry, "I'm gonna make a hole to get through here" the car alongside Russ Wheeler changes from the #33 Skoal car to the #26 Quaker State car and back twice. See more »

Quotes

Harry Hogge: [discussing Cole's fearfulness after his big crash by intentionally destroying his engine during a race] You done it deliberate... done it deliberate! Nine thousand, four hundred RPM... according to the little tell-tale button.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Beverly Hills Cop III (2009) See more »

Soundtracks

"KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR"
Written by Bob Dylan
Performed by Guns N' Roses
Produced by Mike Clink
Guns N' Roses courtesy of Geffen Records
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

Painting by numbers produces an average film despite the cast
23 August 2004 | by See all my reviews

Eager for a winning formula, team owner Tim Daland puts together the inexperienced but naturally talented Cole Trickle and the retired but skilled mechanic Harry Hogge to hopefully bounce off each other to create a winning combination. After the expected bumps and friction between the two, they seem to blend well and start winning races. However, a major accident between Cole and his main rival, Rowdy Burns, puts them both in the hospital under the care of the professional and leggy Dr Lewicki. But will Cole be able to overcome the physical and mental scars that he got.

The comedian Rich Hall did a great routine once where he summed up the films of Tom Cruise by basically saying that each of them involves him being great at his job (pilot, bartender, driver) before suffering a crisis of confidence but meeting a beautiful lady who helps him over it in time to come good – hilarious in the telling because he was right and, true to form, Days of Thunder sets its stall out in the same way. That the plot is formulaic (father/son stuff, macho posturing, love interest, final big race etc) and it is a bit tiring at times because it is nothing new and it produces large sags during the film. The father/son stuff is OK if hackneyed but the romance is so sudden and fake that it left me cool and never engaged once. The racing stuff is fun, noisy and fast which I suppose is what most of its audience want; but this is still not a great action movie but kudos to Scott for managing to make a load of cars going round a circular track appear exciting.

The cast is more impressive on paper than they are in reality. Cruise plays his usual character and does it with no real charm or ability. He is trading off his fame here and his macho nonsense is rather tiresome. Kidman may have been Cruise's offscreen partner but viewers of this film will have seen their divorce coming because they have zero chemistry and she is poor throughout. It's not all her fault though, the script gives her nothing to work with. Thank god then, for Robert Duvall; he may be playing a fairly clichéd character but he does it well and steals every scene from his pretty but empty co-star. Support is good from Quaid and Rooker but Ewles is given too little time to make anything but a negative impression and Reilly had yet to prove his versatility and doesn't do it here.

Overall this is very much painting by the numbers in many regards. The plot is easy and lacks any sort of spark or innovation meaning that, when the cars are off the screen, it is easy for the film to get dull. The action scenes are OK but, as with F1, I find many motor sports to be dull and didn't get drawn into the predictable races as much as I wanted to. The script gives the cast nothing to really work with, and only Duvall comes out with any real dignity even if he has a cliché as opposed to a real person to play. This has all the failings you would expect and the end result of so little imagination is an average film that is watchable but no more than that.


17 of 33 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Things I learned from watching Days of Thunder.. billbowers93059
Turn 4 karym6
How did they not notice this? dpiddycanfly
How many People thought this movie was a *beep* joke? bobtheriaultjr
Days of Thunder Ride? dropkick86
sequel ?? williamlemoine
Discuss Days of Thunder (1990) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?