“I know of three or four forests that are down staffed.” The Eldorado Hotshots medevac one of their own as Hump walks behind them during the New York Peak Fire in Nevada in 2006. He called it the “best job in the world.”Īfter 25 years, Hump says he became just the latest mentally fried, underpaid hotshot veteran to leave, at a time when California wildfires are at their worst. Hump rose up from a seasonal rookie firefighter to the prestigious position of supervisor of the Eldorado Hotshots. Hotshot crews of 20 to 22 people spearhead fire attacks, and it’s not uncommon for them to hike 10 miles daily with fire gear packs that can weigh up to 45 pounds. “Hump,” as fellow firefighters and friends call him, supervised hotshot crews from the US Forest Service on blister-inducing hikes to dig out fire lines, hack down trees and set blazes to fight advancing flames. “You are in a fog and expecting death or disaster around every corner … It collectively killed my hotshot spirit,” Humphrey, 44, said of the fire tornado. He says that terrifying moment forever changed his outlook. The fire tornado, which obliterated entire neighborhoods in Redding, California, during the massive Carr Fire, still haunts former hotshot supervisor Aaron Humphrey. However, by adding ruthless, Juvenalian satirical jabs at real-life politicians and corrupt arms manufacturers to a movie built on fonder, Horation parody of Top Gun’s goofy action-movie heroics, Hot Shots! gave edge and relevance to a fun, silly story.A swirling tornado of flames reaching 40,000 feet into the sky tore through a California city in 2018, leaving a veteran hotshot firefighter horrified. Often, the comedy of spoof movies could end up feeling somewhat toothless and juvenile, as a parody by definition prizes making audiences laugh over making a point. Much like Rick & Morty’s Prometheus parody poked light-hearted fun at the Ridley Scott movie but added sharper critiques of contemporary politics into its script, so too did Hot Shots! temper its off-the-wall absurdity with clever satirical stabs at the corporations profiteering off endless war through arms sales. The Iran-Contra affair gave the filmmakers a prime target to mock with pointed satirical barbs that gave Hot Shots! real edge despite the silliness and over-the-top nature of the spoof format. So, what made the spoof so successful?Īs well as affectionate spoofs of Top Gun and other ‘80s hits, Hot Shots! featured more pointed satire of the real-life politics of the day. In 1990, the creators of Airplane! earned both glowing reviews in years and a cool $180 million box office payday with Hot Shots!, a scene-for-scene Top Gun parody. However, despite how silly Top Gun was, there was still room for a movie to mercilessly parody the film and gain critical and commercial success in the process. The movie was a bombastic, self-consciously silly story that was unashamed of its cheesiness, and Top Gun director Tony Scott infused the action with winking self-awareness years long before later action auteur Michael Bay’s movies mocked their own excesses. Director John Carpenter even turned down the project upon reading an early draft, noting that the climactic dogfight would trigger World War III if it occurred in real life. Related: Why Top Gun’s Reshoots Were A MistakeĮven the most ardent defenders of Top Gun could not deny that much of the movie’s appeal came from how over-the-top its goofy heroics were, and how unlikely its escapist story was.
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