Cruise was coming off Cocktail and The Color of Money, two films that showcased his attitude, and hand-eye coordination. Here he showed a much more complex character, and held his own against an Oscar performance by Dustin Hoffman. Charlie Babbitt was the main man. Uh oh, main man. Yeah, definitely main man.

This wasn't the greatest film ever put on celluloid, but as Cruise's first leading role, it proved that he was going to be a star, underwear or not. It's great to watch today, and see how much he's changed since, and how much he hasn't!

As we may have guessed from Rain Man, Cruise was destined for glory, and in Oliver Stone's second Viet-Nam movie, he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. He actually did win two awards that year, Chicago Film Critics' and also the Golden Globe, for what is still perhaps his best performace.

Certainly the best director Cruise has starred for, Stanley Kubrick allowed Cruise to have as much of an influence on his film as any actor ever had. Cruise was in a Coppola film, but it was not much of a role. A nice little footnote is that this was completed just prior to the break-up of Tom and Nicole, so it must have been quite an interesting set to be on.

In what has proved to be his best year on-screen, this was the second release, following Eyes Wide Shut. Magnolia was also a break in a trend of huge studio movies, and while it's strange seeing the world's biggest movie star in a smaller film role, he pulled it off with aces, scoring another Oscar nomination, although he swept most other awards shows. Once again, he proved that he could play a great prick.

Cruise found a beautiful synergy when he met up with Cameron Crowe (as we'll see again later this year!), playing a great everyman in Jerry. Once again, he found himself opposite an Oscar-winner in Cuba Gooding Jr., who proved to be one of his greatest foils.