The Big Picture

• Tom Cruise's cameo in Young Guns is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment that lasts only seconds.
• Cruise's face is concealed beneath a hat, mustache, and sideburns, making it difficult for viewers to even recognize him in the film.
• Cruise became good friends with Young Guns star Emilio Estevez on The Outsiders.

Would it be accurate to dub Tom Cruise “The King of Hollywood”? He’s easily the most powerful actor of his generation, and given that his filmography reads like a compilation of the most critically and commercially successful films of the last forty years, there’s an argument to be made there. It’s the sort of achievement that only comes from a lifetime dedicated to one leading performance after another, and for the most part, Cruise has done just that. But this doesn’t mean that he’s above the occasional minor role. When used appropriately, such as in Austin Powers in Goldmember or Tropic Thunder, these minor appearances can serve as delightful self-parodies that exemplify why Cruise is such a beloved actor. However, the same cannot be said for a strange blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Young Guns, a 1988 Western released shortly after his rise to Hollywood legend. It’s easily the most perplexing role of his career. Considering this is the same man who introduced the world to foul-mouthed studio executive Les Grossman, that’s saying a lot.

When Does Tom Cruise Appear in 'Young Guns'?

The 1980s saw the release of numerous coming-of-age films centered on a select group of young actors nicknamed the “Brat Pack." Young Guns isn’t a core entry in this movement, but thanks to a starring turn by the group’s unofficial president Emilio Estevez — alongside appearances by two of its associated members, Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland — it can absolutely be included in the conversation. The film recounts the escapades of notorious outlaw Billy the Kid (Estevez) during the Lincoln County War of 1878, starting with Billy’s recruitment into the Regulators posse by rancher John Tunstall (Terence Stamp) and ending with the gang’s collapse following the infamous Battle of Lincoln. Despite being one of the year’s biggest box office successes (enough to warrant a sequel two years later that chronicled the remainder of Billy’s life), reviews were decidedly mixed, with The Washington Post comparing it to a “Western-style dress-up party for Hollywood kiddies.” Years later, this frat house energy would see Young Guns becoming a moderate cult classic, although its overall reputation still languishes beneath other Westerns from the same period like Dances with Wolves and Pale Rider.

Those intrigued about watching Young Guns because of the promise of a surprise Tom Cruise cameo should know that they’ll be waiting a long time. It takes until the climatic shootout between the film’s vying factions for Cruise to waltz his way into the carnage as a henchman to the villainous Lawrence Murphy (Jack Palance), but don’t take that as a sign to cheer and applaud. Indeed, Cruise barely has time to fire his revolver before he’s gunned down by Charlie Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko), resulting in a total screen time that can be measured in seconds. It’s an outcome that will disappoint fans, and given how heavily Cruise’s face is concealed beneath the obligatory wide-brimmed hat, mustache, and comically large sideburns, most probably won’t identify him even with advanced knowledge. It’s possible this was an intentional choice by director Christopher Cain to prevent the sudden appearance of the high-profile actor from distracting from the wider film (for context, Top Gun had been released two summers earlier). A sensible decision, but it also made his cameo even more baffling.

Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez Became Friends on 'The Outsiders'

Which brings us to the salient question here – why did Cruise accept such a minuscule role? Cruise himself has never provided an answer, but interviews with his coworkers suggest that it was simply a bit of fun between friends. Cruise had met Estevez when he appeared alongside him in Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal coming-of-age drama The Outsiders (a milestone in both their careers), and the two had enjoyed a close relationship ever since. When Cruise visited Estevez on the set of his latest film a few years later, this friendship is what allowed him to make a brief (uncredited) appearance. Jump forward to 1996, and history would find itself being repeated when Estevez made a brief (uncredited) appearance in Cruise’s latest starring vehicle, Mission: Impossible. While Estevez would survive long enough to get his screen time measured in minutes, his equally abrupt send-off has sparked rumors that his involvement was a form of delayed retribution for Cruise’s anticlimactic death in Young Guns. Estevez himself has denied this — in an interview with Uproxx, Estevez claimed that his hiring was part of a larger plan to enlist recognizable actors to be killed during the film’s prologue, thereby raising the stakes for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt — but it’s still an interesting theory.

Young Guns co-star Kiefer Sutherland has also expanded on this episode in the succeeding decades. During an interview on the Loren & Wally radio show on WROR-FM in 2019, Sutherland reminisced about his experiences shooting both Young Guns films, with specific reference to two surprise cameos — Cruise, and musician Jon Bon Jovi:

“[Bon Jovi] and a few other people – Tom Cruise was one of them – they all wanted to say they had been in a Western, and no one was making them. So when we did Young Guns, a lot of Emilio’s friends came out and we put a beard on them, stick ’em on a roof [and] shoot ’em off the roof.”

Sutherland recalled the same story practically word-for-word to Spin magazine three years earlier, with both interviews supplying some much-needed explanation for Cruise’s appearance. Bon Jovi would later contribute to Young Guns II’s soundtrack with the chart-topping hit "Blaze of Glory," in addition to making another cameo as a prisoner early in the film’s runtime. There’s no indication that Cruise followed suit, although given how sneakily he was inserted in the original, who can say for certain?

'Young Guns' Is a Fun Addition to Tom Cruise’s Filmography

Four months after the release of Young Guns, Cruise cemented his status as Hollywood’s next superstar thanks to a leading role in Rain Man, the Best Picture-winning dramedy that ended 1988 as the highest-grossing film of the year. Before long, he was receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Born on the Fourth of July and headlining box office sensations like it was child’s play. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. These days, few people are as ubiquitous with cinema as Tom Cruise — something that his unlimited popularity and endless acclaim seems keen to reinforce at every turn. A downside of this fame is that Cruise can never again appear in a film without dominating our whole perception of it, but that also makes his appearance in Young Guns even more worthy of celebration. In many ways, it’s the perfect cameo — flawlessly integrated into the existing film while serving as a fun piece of cinematic trivia for those in the know. Perhaps Cruise could be tempted to repeat it should the rumors of a Young Guns 3 ever produce something concrete. After the endless hardships he’s faced making the last few Mission: Impossible movies, maybe he could use a lighter and more fun role.

Young Guns is available to stream on Freevee.

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