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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 08610 DVD
- Running time: 162 minutes
- Year: 1991/1993
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 15/15 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2 * DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Trailers
Director:
- Jim Abrahams
(Airplane!, Big Business, First Do No Harm, Hot Shots!, Hot Shots! Part Deux, Jane Austen’s Mafia, Ruthless People, Top Secret, Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael, TV: Police Squad)
Producer:
- Bill Badalato
Screenplay:
- Jim Abrahams and Pat Proft
Music:
- Sylvester Levay / Basil Poledouris
Cast:
- Topper Harley: Charlie Sheen
Ramada Rodham Thompson: Valeria Golino
Admiral Benson: Lloyd Bridges
Lt. Kent Gregory: Cary Elwes
Lt. Commander Block: Kevin Dunn
Kowalski: Kristy Swanson
Col. Denton Walters: Richard Crenna
Michelle Rodham Huddleston: Brenda Bakke
Commander Arvid Harbinger: Miguel Ferrer
Dexter Hayman: Rowan Atkinson
You know what the Hot Shots! films are about. From the director of the first Airplane film as well as Top Secret and the Police Squad series, both the two movies on this disc star Charlie Sheen as Ace pilot Topper Harley with Valeria Golino as love interest Ramada Rodham Thompson and the late Lloyd Bridges as Admiral Benson in film one and the President in the sequel.
The first film finds Topper being recalled to serve on the SS Essess and to destroy Saddam Hussein’s nuclear plants, but he’s certainly not the right man for the job, being psychologically-imbalanced and the sketches take in spoofs of many films including Top Gun, Dances with Wolves, The Fabulous Baker Boys, 9½ Weeks and Superman.
The sequel, which is much better than the original, brings in Richard Crenna as Col. Denton Walters who finds Topper working at a monastery as an odd-job man and the CIA want him to lead a rescue mission into Iraq, since team after team have screwed up rescuing hostages taken during Desert Storm. Yes, it’s a send-up of Rambo and all other actioners like Commando, but with additional totty in the form of the exceptionally gorgeous Brenda Bakke and a cameo from Sheen’s dad Martin.
However, it’s quite sad that with the BBFC these days allowing uncut versions of films if a higher or the same certificate allows, Fox have plucked for the censored versions of these comedies, especially since they’ve allowed an uncut Romancing the Stone to come out as a 12-certificate.
As it is, the films here have been censored by 22 seconds and 67 seconds respectively, the latter losing the back-flip sex scene despite it fleetingly being mentioned in the trailer. And there’s no reason to issue them on two separate DVD 5s, since they would both have easily fitted on a single DVD 9.
Brenda Bakke. Yummy, but censored.
Both films are presented in their original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and are anamorphic, but both either have obvious artifacts or grain in dark scenes. The sound is also rather unimpressive. Firstly it’s too quiet, although not as much as Fox’s Commando DVD. Special FX sounds only come at comedic moments and they’re not exactly OTT in the sonic department.
Each film is split into 15 chapters, menus are static and silent and the only extras given are Trailers for each film. Why couldn’t Fox put on the 30-minute spoof documentary, Hot Shots! Part Deux: A Filmmaker’s Apology ?
Sorry Fox, but if you’d sourced a decent print for each film, ensured they were both uncut, added some decent extras and actually added some subtitles, I would be recommending this one to all fans of the films, but given what we have here, you’d be best looking out for Region 1 DVDs.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.