5 most essential Tom Cruise films

It's something of a fool's errand, picking just five films to represent the filmography of one of Hollywood's last true movie stars. And with a career spanning three decades, Tom Cruise, 51, has made shockingly few false moves.

So apologies for the lack of "Top Gun," "Jerry Maguire" and "Collateral." They're great. But these are better. And if the tabloids have soured you on one of Hollywood's most reliable moneymakers, these five films will remind you why he got to be such a big deal in the first place.

"Born on the Fourth of July" (1989): Oliver Stone's best movie won him his second Oscar for direction and scored Cruise his first nomination. Cruise plays Ron Kovic, a real-life Vietnam War veteran who returns home paralyzed and traumatized to a country he can't trust anymore as his horrified family asks, "What did they do to you in that war?" It's a transformative performance, the most physically and emotionally demanding role of his career. Kovic eventually heals enough to become an anti-war activist, but it's a long, painful road to salvation, and a viewing experience that's sadly as relevant today as ever.

"Magnolia" (1999): Cruise is never more interesting than when he goes off his own playbook, which he did in a big way playing a supporting role in this Paul Thomas Anderson ensemble film. He plays the unforgettably odious Frank T.J. Mackey, a narcissistic pick-up artist peddling misogynistic self-help courses and delivering unprintably sexist speeches onstage. This was not the Cruise we were used to. But what scored him the Oscar nomination was the emotional wallop that follows, when Mackey drops the act and is just an estranged son confronting his dying father. This is the most vulnerable Cruise has ever been on-screen.

"Risky Business" (1983): This is it, the drunken underwear dance that rocketed young Cruise to superstardom. And it's not an iconic movie moment just because Cruise has great gams. He taps into that primal, awkward joy of a teenager experiencing his first taste of freedom — raiding the liquor cabinet, getting half naked and acting like a goof. Things get out of hand, the way they do: a wrecked Porsche, an angry pimp and a smoldering call girl (Rebecca De Mornay) who just might be worth all the trouble Cruise gets into.

"Eyes Wide Shut" (1999): Stanley Kubrick's swan song paired Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman as affluent married couple Bill and Alice Harford, their intimacy electrifying their time on-screen. An admission from his wife that she once considered having an affair ignites something in Bill, sending him on a brief, intense erotic odyssey through New York's occult sexual underworld that quickly turns nightmarish, the sexual thrills plunging him into the dark parts of the city, and himself. It's a beguiling experience that defies summary — as with the best of Kubrick's work.

"Minority Report" (2002): This sexy sci-fi film is a 21st century Steven Spielberg classic. You can thank, in part, prolific sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, whose stories have been adapted into all manner of amazing films ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "A Scanner Darkly"). But you also have to thank Cruise, who carries the film on his shoulders as John Anderton, drug-addicted captain of PreCrime, a specialized police department that apprehends criminals before they commit crimes. It has the plot twists of a layered murder mystery, the breezy thrill of an action flick and the emotional resonance of a drama, set in a fully realized future world that has aged beautifully.

Reach the reporter at barbara.vandenburgh@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8371.