Hot Shots!

Hot Shots! is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams, co-writer and co-director of Airplane!, and written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It stars Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Kristy Swanson, and Bill Irwin.[2] The film is primarily a parody of Top Gun, with some scenes spoofing other popular films, including 9+1⁄2 Weeks, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Dances with Wolves, Marathon Man, Rocky, Superman and Gone with the Wind.

A sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux, was released in 1993, with Sheen reprising his role.

The film begins at Flemner Air Base 20 years in the past. A pilot named Leland "Buzz" Harley loses control of his plane and ejects, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnham to crash. Although Mailman survives, he is mistaken for a deer owing to the branches stuck to his helmet and is shot by a hunter.

Topper Harley wakes up from a nightmare he is having about the event when Lt. Commander Block 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, commanded by the senile and accident-prone Admiral Benson. Harley experiences intense psychological problems, especially when his father is mentioned. His therapist, Ramada, tries to stop Topper from flying, but she relents, and also starts to fall in love with Topper. Meanwhile, Topper gets into a feud with another fighter pilot, Kent Gregory, a former boyfriend of Ramada and Mailman's son, who blames Buzz Harley for his father's death and believes Topper is dangerous.

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 accident between Pete "Dead Meat" Thompson and Jim "Wash-Out" Pfaffenbach leaves Dead Meat killed and Wash Out demoted to radar operator. Block believes this is enough to convince the Navy to buy new fighters, but Wilson calls it a "minor incident", saying the planes need to fail in combat.

Topper develops a strong emotional attachment to Ramada, but she is haunted by her past with Gregory. On the carrier S.S. Essess, Benson reveals the mission to be an attack of an Iraqi nuclear plant and Block assigns Topper to lead the mission, much to Gregory's protest. Wilson, who is also on board, instructs a crew member to sabotage the planes, putting the pilots' lives at risk. In the midst of the mission, Block mentions Buzz Harley to Topper, who has a panic attack and is unable to lead. 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, realizing what has happened, 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.

With his self-confidence restored, Topper single-handedly beats the Iraqi fighters and bombs the nuclear plant, dropping a bomb directly on Saddam Hussein. Back aboard ship, Wilson's plan is revealed, and his standing with the military is lost. Back in port, Gregory hails Topper as a great pilot and gives his blessing to Ramada to be with Topper. The end credits show Dead Meat and Mailman in spirit with Dead Meat saluting and Mailman giving a thumbs up.

Hot Shots! Part Deux

 Hot Shots! Part Deux

Hot Shots! Part Deux is a 1993 American parody film directed by Jim Abrahams. It stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna (parodying his Colonel role in the Rambo franchise), Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, and Jerry Haleva. Sheen, who portrays a spoof of John Rambo, went through a tough weight lifting/training program to gain the physique needed to play the role of an action hero. A sequel to Hot Shots! (1991) and the second installment in the Hot Shots franchise, the movie primarily spoofs the 1980s action films Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988).

Abrahams and Pat Proft wrote the screenplay. Members of both men's families have roles as extras.

Plot

One night, an American special forces team invade Saddam Hussein's palace and a nearby prison camp to rescue captured soldiers from Operation Desert Storm and to assassinate Saddam, but they find the Iraqis waiting for them, and the entire rescue team is captured. This failed operation turns out to be the latest in a series of rescue attempts which were foiled by the Iraqis, and consequently the advisors of President Benson suspect a mole in their own ranks. Colonel Denton Walters suggests that they gain the support of war hero Topper Harley for the next mission, but Topper has retired from the United States Navy and become a reclusive Buddhist in a small Thai village. Walters and Michelle Huddleston, CIA, arrive and try to persuade him out of retirement in order to rescue the imprisoned soldiers and the previous rescue parties.

Topper initially refuses, but when yet another rescue mission (this one, in turn, led by Walters) fails, he agrees to lead a small group of soldiers into Iraq. He is joined by Harbinger, Williams, and Rabinowitz, the sole escapee of the prior rescue mission and whom Topper suspects to be the mysterious saboteur. They parachute into an Iraqi jungle close to the heavily guarded hostage camp and set off to meet their contact, who turns out to be Topper's ex-girlfriend, Ramada. Ramada guides them to a fishing boat that she prepared for their transportation. As they move towards the camp, she and Topper reminisce, and she explains that she was married before she met him. When she was informed that her husband, Dexter, was still alive and a prisoner in Iraq, she volunteered to participate in his rescue, but was instructed to keep this strictly confidential, forcing her to break up with Topper just as they were preparing to elope; this also led to Topper's decision to retire from the Navy.

Topper's team proceeds to the prison camp disguised as river fishermen, but a confrontation with an Iraqi patrol boat defeats them. When President Benson hears of the apparent demise of another mission, he decides to help the fight and joins additional forces in Iraq. However, Topper and his teammates have survived, and soon reach the Iraqi hostage camp. In the course of the operation, the alarm is raised and a gunfight ensues, during which Topper finds out that Harbinger is not the saboteur, but has merely lost self-confidence in fighting, and manages to inspire him. After the prisoners are freed, Topper goes back to free Dexter, who is imprisoned in Saddam's palace.

While the squad evacuates the hostages, Topper enters Saddam's palace and encounters the dictator himself, who pulls out his machine pistol and commands Topper to surrender. Topper overpowers Saddam, and they engage in a sword fight. President Benson arrives and orders Topper to rescue Dexter while Benson and Saddam continue the duel. Benson defeats Saddam by spraying him with a fire extinguisher, upon which he and his dog freeze and crack into pieces, only to subsequently melt, combine and reform as Saddam with his dog's head, fur, nose and ears. In the meantime, Topper manages to find Dexter, but is forced to carry him out on his shoulders as the Iraqis have tied Dexter's shoelaces together.

The squad heads back to the army helicopter, where Ramada, after an intense revelation involving unfounded jealousy, reveals and arrests Michelle as the saboteur who betrayed the previous rescue attempts to the Iraqis. Dexter arrives with Topper and insists on taking a picture of him and Ramada, but backs away too far and falls over a cliff. President Benson joins the escapees, and the evacuation team lifts off; Saddam is about to shoot down the chopper when Topper and Ramada get rid of extra weight in it by pushing a piano out the open door, which crushes him. Reunited, Topper and Ramada kiss as they fly off into the sunset.

Cast

Charlie Sheen as Topper Harley

Lloyd Bridges as President Thomas "Tug" Benson

Valeria Golino as Ramada Rodham Hayman

Brenda Bakke as Michelle Huddleston

Richard Crenna as Colonel Denton Walters

Miguel Ferrer as Commander Arvid Harbinger

Rowan Atkinson as Dexter Hayman

Jerry Haleva as Saddam Hussein

David Wohl as Gerou

Mitchell Ryan as Senator Gray Edwards

Michael Colyar as Williams

Ryan Stiles as Rabinowitz

Bob Vila as Himself

Martin Sheen as U.S. Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard

Ben Lemon as Team 2 Leader

Hot Shots! Part Deux

Hot Shots! Part Deux is a 1993 American parody film directed by Jim Abrahams. It stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna (parodying his Colonel role in the Rambo franchise), Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, and Jerry Haleva. Sheen, who portrays a spoof of John Rambo, went through a tough weight lifting/training program to gain the physique needed to play the role of an action hero. A sequel to Hot Shots! (1991) and the second installment in the Hot Shots franchise, the movie primarily spoofs the 1980s action films Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988).

Abrahams and Pat Proft wrote the screenplay. Members of both men's families have roles as extras.

Plot

One night, an American special forces team invade Saddam Hussein's palace and a nearby prison camp to rescue captured soldiers from Operation Desert Storm and to assassinate Saddam, but they find the Iraqis waiting for them, and the entire rescue team is captured. This failed operation turns out to be the latest in a series of rescue attempts which were foiled by the Iraqis, and consequently the advisors of President Benson suspect a mole in their own ranks. Colonel Denton Walters suggests that they gain the support of war hero Topper Harley for the next mission, but Topper has retired from the United States Navy and become a reclusive Buddhist in a small Thai village. Walters and Michelle Huddleston, CIA, arrive and try to persuade him out of retirement in order to rescue the imprisoned soldiers and the previous rescue parties.

Topper initially refuses, but when yet another rescue mission (this one, in turn, led by Walters) fails, he agrees to lead a small group of soldiers into Iraq. He is joined by Harbinger, Williams, and Rabinowitz, the sole escapee of the prior rescue mission and whom Topper suspects to be the mysterious saboteur. They parachute into an Iraqi jungle close to the heavily guarded hostage camp and set off to meet their contact, who turns out to be Topper's ex-girlfriend, Ramada. Ramada guides them to a fishing boat that she prepared for their transportation. As they move towards the camp, she and Topper reminisce, and she explains that she was married before she met him. When she was informed that her husband, Dexter, was still alive and a prisoner in Iraq, she volunteered to participate in his rescue, but was instructed to keep this strictly confidential, forcing her to break up with Topper just as they were preparing to elope; this also led to Topper's decision to retire from the Navy.

Topper's team proceeds to the prison camp disguised as river fishermen, but a confrontation with an Iraqi patrol boat defeats them. When President Benson hears of the apparent demise of another mission, he decides to help the fight and joins additional forces in Iraq. However, Topper and his teammates have survived, and soon reach the Iraqi hostage camp. In the course of the operation, the alarm is raised and a gunfight ensues, during which Topper finds out that Harbinger is not the saboteur, but has merely lost self-confidence in fighting, and manages to inspire him. After the prisoners are freed, Topper goes back to free Dexter, who is imprisoned in Saddam's palace.

While the squad evacuates the hostages, Topper enters Saddam's palace and encounters the dictator himself, who pulls out his machine pistol and commands Topper to surrender. Topper overpowers Saddam, and they engage in a sword fight. President Benson arrives and orders Topper to rescue Dexter while Benson and Saddam continue the duel. Benson defeats Saddam by spraying him with a fire extinguisher, upon which he and his dog freeze and crack into pieces, only to subsequently melt, combine and reform as Saddam with his dog's head, fur, nose and ears. In the meantime, Topper manages to find Dexter, but is forced to carry him out on his shoulders as the Iraqis have tied Dexter's shoelaces together.

The squad heads back to the army helicopter, where Ramada, after an intense revelation involving unfounded jealousy, reveals and arrests Michelle as the saboteur who betrayed the previous rescue attempts to the Iraqis. Dexter arrives with Topper and insists on taking a picture of him and Ramada, but backs away too far and falls over a cliff. President Benson joins the escapees, and the evacuation team lifts off; Saddam is about to shoot down the chopper when Topper and Ramada get rid of extra weight in it by pushing a piano out the open door, which crushes him. Reunited, Topper and Ramada kiss as they fly off into the sunset.

Cast

 Charlie Sheen as Topper Harley

Lloyd Bridges as President Thomas "Tug" Benson

Valeria Golino as Ramada Rodham Hayman

Brenda Bakke as Michelle Huddleston

Richard Crenna as Colonel Denton Walters

Miguel Ferrer as Commander Arvid Harbinger

Rowan Atkinson as Dexter Hayman

Jerry Haleva as Saddam Hussein

David Wohl as Gerou

Mitchell Ryan as Senator Gray Edwards

Michael Colyar as Williams

Ryan Stiles as Rabinowitz

Bob Vila as Himself

Martin Sheen as U.S. Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard

Ben Lemon as Team 2 Leader