Tom Cruise reportedly saved Cocktail co-star Elisabeth Shue from walking into spinning helicopter rotor blade: 'She almost died'

Tom Cruise reportedly saved the life of his co-star Elisabeth Shue on the set of the 1988 movie, Cocktail.

The incident has only just come to light, 33 years on from the hit movie, after a crew member recalled the details on a Facebook group called Crew Stories.

Camera operator Bill Bennett said Shue almost walked into a spinning helicopter rotor blade and it was Cruise who leaped into action, tackling her to the ground and thus saving her life. 

At the time, the actress, now 57, was talking to Cruise and the director after filming scenes from inside a helicopter. The helicopter had already landed on the beach and when the conversation ended, Shue disembarked while the blades were still spinning.

Rotor blades still turn even after the pilot has turned off the engine, and Shue would have unknowingly walked straight into them had Cruise not seen the incident unfold.

READ MORE: Tom Cruise admits he's 'broken a lot of bones' while performing his own stunts: 'I'm a very physical actor'

"Tom saw where Elisabeth was going," Bennett wrote in the Facebook group, according to The Sun.

"Tom is a pilot, rated in both airplanes and helicopters, and instantly saw the danger. He lunged after her, but only was able grab her legs, tackling her to the ground."

According to Bennett, you could see the "momentary anger" on Shue's face when she landed on the ground, apparently yelling to Cruise, "Why did you do that?"

"By that time he is pointing at the tail rotor which is now a couple feet away, screaming at her that she almost died," the cameraman added. "At that point she turned white, and he pulled her back towards the front of the helicopter and they walked away.

"All of us in the helicopter, we're quite shaken up by the close call, but there was nothing to be said. Tom had, in that instant, truly saved her life."

READ MORE: Aussie actor Bryan Brown reveals why he never made the move to Hollywood

In the film, Cruise played Brian Flanagan, who dreams of having a high-earning marketing job but doesn't have a business degree.

So to pay his way through college, he works as a bartender at a cocktail lounge owned by Doug Coughlin, who was played by Aussie actor Bryan Brown.

The pair become the best of friends until a falling out sees Brian move to Jamaica where he falls in love with artist Jordan Mooney (Shue).

READ MORE: Kyra Sedgwick says she accidentally hit the 'panic button' during dinner at Tom Cruise's home: 'I got a little nervous'

Despite Cocktail's box office success — it raked in US$171.5 million (approx. $221 million) in the box office — the film took out the 1988 Razzie Award for Worst Picture, with Cruise admitting in a 1992 Rolling Stone interview that the movie "was not a crowning jewel" in his career.

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