Half of the producing tandem behind the most testosterone-laden
action flicks, the name Jerry Bruckheimer has become synonymous
with explosive pyrotechnics and machine-gun fire. The producer of
such hits as Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Top Gun (1986), and Days
of Thunder (1990), Bruckheimer dissolved his partnership with hard-partying
producer Don Simpson in 1995, only weeks before Simpson's death
and after 14 tumultuous years together. Despite a reputation for
quantity over quality, Bruckheimer has remained one of Hollywood's
most successful producers ever, putting his distinctive stamp on
such adrenaline-fueled hits as Con Air (1997) and Armageddon (1998).
The son of German-Jewish immigrants, Bruckheimer was born on September
21, 1945. He grew up poor, living in a tiny house in a blue-collar
Jewish section of Detroit. Dropped off at a weekly matinee by his
mother and salesman father, Bruckheimer developed a love for the
cinema that eventually channeled him toward photography. He won
several local prizes before fleeing Detroit for Madison Avenue,
by way of the University of Arizona, where he received a degree
in psychology, and on the strength of a Bonnie and Clyde spoof he
helmed for Pontiac. The future producer left a lucrative advertising
job in New York to accept low-paying film work in the early '70s,
part of the pursuit of his dream. He worked with director Dick Richards
on his first few projects, as associate producer on The Culpepper
Cattle Company (1972) and producer on Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
and March or Die (1977). Bruckheimer began gaining notice through
a pair of Paul Schrader films, the Richard Gere hustler film American
Gigolo (1979), and the feline horror flick Cat People (1982). But
it was his first pairing with old buddy Don Simpson, on the 1983
surprise smash Flashdance, that kicked off his string of hits, which
has continued more or less unabated. The underdog story of a Pittsburgh
arc welder with dreams of ballet dancing, Flashdance used a synthesis
of music, sex, quick edits, and bold aspirations to rake in 95 million
dollars -- an incredible take for an unheralded R-rated film, making
it the third-highest box-office haul of 1983. Bruckheimer and Simpson
were on the map and then some. Forming Simpson-Bruckheimer Productions
and signing a long-term deal with Paramount, Bruckheimer and Simpson
complemented each other well, likening their partnership to a strong
marriage, but without the sex. Simpson's extensive industry contacts
and Hollywood ladder climbing earned him the nickname "Mr.
Inside," while Bruckheimer's practical experience with filmmaking,
much of it through advertising, qualified him as "Mr. Outside."
With both sides covered, the pair could do no wrong. Their popcorn
films fed the public's need for the loud and the proud, quickly
assuming iconic status and elevating such actors as Tom Cruise (Top
Gun) and Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop) to bona-fide superstardom.
In 1990, the team dissolved its deal with Paramount "by mutual
agreement," and began a non-exclusive, five-year pact with
Disney subsidiary Hollywood Pictures the following year. Initially
slowed, but undaunted, Bruckheimer and Simpson had their next big
wave of hits in 1995, releasing Dangerous Minds, Crimson Tide, and
Bad Boys in quick succession and reaffirming their relevance. However,
Simpson's behind-the-scenes drug problems were damaging the partnership
irreparably, and Bruckheimer called off the professional union at
the end of that successful year, at the close of production on The
Rock (1996). Simpson died a month later of heart failure. As both
Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, Bruckheimer excelled. Con Air was a
hit in 1997, and the Bruce Willis asteroid flick Armageddon grossed
the second most of any film released in 1998, at just over 200 million
dollars. Bruckheimer achieved mid-level success -- but at the cost
of ever-growing critical disdain -- with the releases of Enemy of
the State (1998), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), and Coyote Ugly (2000).
Hoping to mix Oscar credentials with his traditional blend of wham-bam
thrills, Bruckheimer provided the muscle behind Michael Bay's 150-million-dollar-plus
World War II action-romance Pearl Harbor (2001). But critics and
the Academy were not as receptive to this film as to such epic tragedies
as Titanic (1997) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), and issued Bruckheimer
across-the-board raspberries. The film was considered an unqualified
dud, its 200-million-dollar take well short of expectations. Bruckheimer
did achieve a measure of redemption later that year with the release
of Black Hawk Down. Ridley Scott's re-creation of an ill-fated U.S.
military mission in Somalia, the film scored raves and four Oscar
nominations, winning for its editing and sound.
