I hadn’t watched “Cocktail” since I was a kid, but it loomed large in my memory these past 30 years as one of my favorites Summer Movies.
Maybe it’s the setting. Part of (though not nearly as much as I recalled) takes place on the beachy shores of Jamaica. Perhaps it’s the energetic demeanor of a young Tom Cruise; dressed in baggy tropical button downs and slinging bottles of rum, a famous actor at this point but not yet the superstar he was about to become.
More than likely it’s my own cloud of wistfulness. The movie ran a million times on Saturday afternoons when I was a teen, a point in life without responsibilities or serious cares that always seemed like an endless summer.
The Plot
Released in July of 1988, “Cocktail” was directed by Roger Donaldson and based on Heywood Gould’s novel of the same name. The nostalgia starts with the iconic Touchstone Pictures logo, followed by credits under unforgivable ’80s music. There are two montages within the first ten minutes. The decade was nearing an end, and they pulled out all the stops.
Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) has been discharged from the Army and needs a job while he attends business school in Manhattan. He lands a gig as a bartender, learning the art of flair bartending under the tutelage of veteran barkeep Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). I won’t divulge specifics, but the two become best friends, the story moves to the beaches of Jamacia, and a romance between Brian and Jordan (Elisabeth Shue) ensues.
The Cast
Tom Cruise was well known at this point. He had previously starred in “Risky Business,” “Top Gun,” and “The Color of Money” (another of teenage Matt’s faves that I need to revisit). The end of 1988 would see the release of “Rainman” and Cruise’s trajectory take off.
Brian Flanagan is a fun character, and Cruise pulls it off well. He’s overly confident, super good looking, and slicker than James Bond. I friggen love Brian’s baggy, button down tropical shirts. I would kill to own one now. On Tom Cruise’s back, they are seemingly tailor made. It’s a role written for no one else.
Bryan Brown’s performance as is what stuck with me the most. Doug Coughlin is an aging man with dreams he knows he will never attain. So, he puts on the face of the always happy bartender, flipping bottles and rocking with shakers while drowning his sorrows with the booze he is serving.
Doug offers Brian constant and cynical pearls of wisdom throughout the film, which he refers to as Coughlin’s Law. “Anything else is always something better.” He explains at one point. Or a line that remains one of my favorite movie quotes of all time, even though I was still years away from legal drinking age when I first heard it. “The luck is gone, the brain is shot, but the liquor we still got.”
Fun Film
Watching “Cocktail” for the first time in 30 years was a treat. But I was laughing at some of the issues I never noticed as a kid.
The script is jilted and the pacing is flawed. The friendship between Brian and Doug is sadly underdeveloped as it’s the best part of the film. The love between Brian and Jordan feels rushed, with unexplained jumps in time that can be confusing. And none of the customers seem to mind that the bartenders ignore them while talking to each other.
And in my mind, the entire story is set in the Caribbean. It was jarring to see that only the second act was on the beach, but they made the most of it. Filming was done on location at Frenchman’s Cove, Blue Lagoon, and the Dragon Bay Beach Hotel. The song “Kokomo” is played at one point. It absolutely qualifies as a Summer Movie.
Still Great
“Cocktail” has flaws, but its simplicity and fun more than make up for them. It’s a perfect recipe for sunny days and warm nights.
Welcome to Summer!
