I know, I know, he's a Hollywood homophobe who sues at the slightest hint that he might be one of those horrible, disgusting LGBTQ persons. But back in the Golden Age of the 1980s, everybody in West Hollywood thought that Tom Cruise was gay (I repeat, thought. They were mistaken, Mr. Cruise). His name -- a reference to gay cruising? His demeanor. His gay subtexts.
His beefcake: he displayed his chest and abs in nearly every movie, and sometimes gave us more.
As early as Risky Business (1983), we got shots of Tom dancing in his underwear and masturbating under the covers in his bed. Who cared that it had an absurd heterosexist plotline? What movie in the 1980s didn't? Or that the scene with the trans hooker was dripping with homophobia and racism. Every movie in the 1980s was dripping with homophobia and racism.
Top Gun (1986) gave us muscular semi-nude soldiers and a blatant gay subtext in the relationship between Tom and Val Kilmer.
Cocktail (1988) depicted a swishy, campy, super gay-coded stunt-bartender serving up the decadent 1970s lifestyle -- and getting a boyfriend -- for audiences terrified of Jerry Falwell, hate crimes, and AIDS.
Interview with the Vampire (1994) featured an obviously-gay vampire couple played by Tom and Brad Pitt. They even have an adopted vampire-daughter.
During the 1990s, reports of Tom's homophobia began to appear, and the gay subtexts began to disappear. Apparently he became gay-savvy enough to notice them and have them removed from the scripts.
But we still have the beefcake images, and the occasional flashes of nudity.
See also: Tom Cruise: All the Wrong Moves
The nude photos of Tom Cruise are on the NSFW site, RG Beefcake and Boyfriends
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