Was Tom Cruise The Biggest Star Of The 80s And 90s?

After the summer success of Top Gun: Maverick, it occurred to me that when it comes to the movies, Tom Cruise could possibly be the greatest of all time.

I know making a claim like this could possibly cause an argument.

Sure, there are other big hitters in Hollywood. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and more.

As I look back through the 80s and 90s, there doesn’t seem to be an actor who has a steadier stream of hits than Tom. Sure we can all pick and quote those iconic movies that have made him a box office mainstay, but lets go back and remember a few of them that you might have forgotten about.

1983's The Outsiders.

Alongside Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, and more, it might be easy to forget Tom as Steve Randle.

The same year, we saw the movie that would launch Tom on the celeb-meter.

1983's Risky Business.

Along with Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Bronson Pinchot, and Curtis Armstrong (Booger from Revenge of the Nerds), who can forget Tom's iconic moment making himself a whiskey and Coke with his TV dinner, before sliding into his parent's living room in his undies and socks to Bob Segar's "Old Time Rock N' Roll."

In 1985 he starred in Legend, followed by 1986's Top Gun and The Color of Money.

Things only picked up for Tom. In 1988, he starred in Cocktail and Rain Man, with a little uncredited cameo in the western classic Young Guns.

Things only heated up for Tom as we crossed into the 90s. In 1989 he starred in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, followed by 1990s race car classic Days of Thunder.

In 1992 we saw Far and Away, then A Few Good Men opposite an electric Jack Nicholson.

The Firm, Interview with the Vampire, Jerry Maguire, and the first installment of Mission: Impossible all followed.

Hey... it's definitely open for debate... but please show me another actor or actress that was more successful through the 80s and 90s than Tom Cruise.

~Chris Farber / Saturday Night "Mix-Tape."