San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Ask Mick LaSalle:
More on Tom Cruise.
Dear Mick LaSalle: I didn’t know you were polling. I HATE Tom Cruise! All that Scientology BS. After I saw the series about how awful Scientology is, I would never, EVER give my money to Tom in ticket revenue. He is dead to me.
Ellen Gonella, Los Altos
Dear Ellen Gonella: You’ve just given me a good reason why you’re not going to become a Scientologist, but no reason not to see “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.” As for him being dead to you, thank you for using a phrase that reminds me of my Staten Island childhood. However, when people say that, it usually means that the person is very much alive to them. As Dale Carnegie once said, “Nobody ever kicks a dead dog.”
Dear Mick: The only reason Tom Cruise is more popular than Clark Gable is that there are more viewers and access to his movies. Where is Tom Cruise’s movie that is as great as “Gone With the Wind” or “High Noon”? Comparing Tom Cruise to Gary Cooper and Gable is like comparing a Volkswagen to a Rolls-Royce.
Buck Cheshire, Pleasant Hill
Dear Buck Cheshire: I didn’t say Tom Cruise was better than Cooper and Gable, just that he has been popular for a longer period. Gable became famous in 1931 and died in 1960. Gary Cooper became famous in 1927 and died in 1961. And even before they died, they were understood to be stars of another generation. Tom Cruise became a big star in 1983 (“Risky Business”) and is still a top-tier attraction 35 years later. Think of all the box office stars — Eddie Murphy, for example — that have since faded. Maintaining that kind of hold on the public is an achievement in itself. But sure, Gable is more important in the history of movies. I suppose Cooper is, too, though I’m not a big fan.
Dear Mick: I don’t like talking about things I don’t like. But I really can’t stand Tom Cruise. As an actor, no matter what character he’s playing, he’s always first and foremost Tom Cruise. Ugh!
Anne Stevens, Santa Cruz
Dear Anne Stevens: You say that like it’s a bad thing. But James Stewart was always himself. Katharine Hepburn was always herself. Bette Davis was always herself. That’s a matter of having a strong screen personality. That’s what the best movie stars, the ones that last, are like: George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Greta Garbo, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Redford, Barbara Stanwyck. Now, it’s totally fine if the personality that is Tom Cruise doesn’t appeal to you. I can barely sit through a Barbra Streisand movie from her 1970s heyday. We can’t like everybody, and there’s no need to try. But I could never fault the young Barbra Streisand for acting like Barbra Streisand. That’s her. That’s her thing. It’s why other people like her.
Dear Mick LaSalle: (Tom Cruise) is an enabler and probable co-conspirator with the evildoers of Scientology. Therefore, a bad person. But also, a very gifted actor. Like Bill Cosby, a paradox.
Bernard Larner, Orinda Dear Bernard Larner: I don’t see either of them as paradoxes. Bill Cosby is a convicted sex offender and a great American phony. If Tom Cruise did anything remotely as evil, he would be prosecuted — he would deserve it, and no district attorney could resist such an easy chance to become famous. I have nothing good to say about Scientology, but whatever Cruise is telling himself as he brushes his blindingly white teeth every morning is obviously working — for him. And, aside from a few untoward couch-jumping incidents, I think Cruise has, if anything, been a positive presence in American life. I don’t want to skydive or fly helicopters. I don’t want to get my face injected with fillers, work out two hours a day or count every single calorie I consume. I’d much rather have Tom Cruise explore the outer edges of possibility for a man in his late 50s, while I sit there like a slob and watch him. Did you ever think — maybe he’s providing a public service? He’s Tom Cruise so the rest of us can relax.