Charlie Sheen had to stop the studio sacking his co-star, and Navy SEALs still became a cult film

If you know anything at all about the film Navy SEALs, it’s probably either because you caught it in a bargain bin VHS double-pack, or because you remember that rather savage jab it took in Clerks. The film’s reputation hasn’t exactly been burnished by time—at least not amongst its stars. Both Michael Biehn and Charlie Sheen have openly said they thought the film was an absolute disaster. But, and here’s the real twist, this bomb ended up as a cult touchstone, especially for a surprising number of real-life Navy SEALs. If you find that a bit odd, you’re not alone.

Navy SEALs grossed just $25 million in the US—barely clearing its $21 million budget.

The Wild Road to Navy SEALs

On paper, Navy SEALs shouldn’t have been so messy. It started out at Cannon Pictures under the title S.E.A.L.S., with Kevin Bacon as the original lead (which for Cannon is practically Oscar fare, considering their usual stuff was more Michael Dudikoff than matinée idol). But Cannon’s collapse sent the project adrift. The rights then drifted to Orion Pictures—who were themselves never more than a couple of box office flops from financial ruin. Their other summer 1990 big hope? RoboCop 2. You get the idea.

The original push for the film came from Brenda Feigen, a William Morris agent, who convinced Chuck Pfarrer (an actual former Navy SEAL) to write what must have been, originally, a leaner, harder-edged script from his experience. That would be watered down by other writers until what landed on screen was much more 'Hollywood action adventure' than gritty realism—unsurprising, given the involvement of Gary Goldman (of Big Trouble in Little China and Total Recall fame).

• Michael Biehn was first set to star with Mark Harmon. Biehn would play Hawkins—the reckless hotshot, Maverick-style second-in-command—while Harmon was down as team leader Curran.
• Studio nerves booted Harmon, and next round Biehn was swapped to Curran, with Charlie Sheen (riding high off Platoon and playing the Tom Cruise game) brought in as Hawkins.
• Biehn signed on hoping this would finally be his breakout as a leading man. Spoiler: it wasn’t.

Directing Disaster

This is where things properly go off the rails. The studio first approached Ridley Scott (he bailed, of course), then actually signed Richard Marquand (of Return of the Jedi fame), but he died just before pre-production really kicked off. So, the job fell to Lewis Teague, a journeyman best known for Alligator, Cujo, and, crucially, for doing what Michael Douglas told him on The Jewel of the Nile. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of directorial authority.

Biehn, in particular, never clicked with Teague, and tried getting him replaced. The friction grew so bad that Orion boss Mike Medavoy reportedly almost sacked Biehn on the spot, only relenting after Sheen stepped in to smooth things over. When Sheen’s the comparatively responsible adult on your set, you know it’s chaos. Apparently, between episodes of heavy partying in Spain, Biehn and Bill Paxton (who played the sniper, nickname ‘God’), tried to patch up the script, but kept butting heads with Teague.

Movie vs. Reality

If you’re wondering what Navy SEALs is actually about, try this: a group of elite commandos rescue naval pilots from terrorists while losing a shipment of Stinger missiles, then have to get the missiles back. Hawkins (Sheen) butts heads with Curran (Biehn) after getting a teammate (a pre-fame Dennis Haysbert) killed by ignoring orders. A trip to Beirut, a whole lot of gunfire, and some remarkably rote heroics round out the plot. If you’ve seen Top Gun, you basically know the structure—there’s even a romantic subplot with Joanne Whalley-Kilmer as a journalist who joins the mission, only it’s so halfhearted the actual love scene got canned when Biehn turned up on the day with a cold sore. No, really. They just dropped it completely.

To their credit, the cast did at least go through a bit of SEAL training—two weeks handling weapons and playing soldier in the Spanish countryside. Not enough to make the onscreen action look authentic, but better than nothing.

A Flop Turned Cult Classic

Navy SEALs tanked at the box office, running into the juggernaut that was Ghost and earning far less than it needed to recoup its investment. There wasn’t even a proper premiere. Biehn has since called it the worst experience of his career. His hopes of leading-man status were dashed—he would get a bit of redemption later playing Johnny Ringo in Tombstone, but nothing like the stardom people predicted after Aliens and The Terminator. As for Sheen, this stumble plus the failure of Eastwood’s The Rookie nudged him towards comedy—his next move was Hot Shots!, an intentional Top Gun spoof that did much better for him.

And yet, improbably, the tape did numbers on VHS, gathering a faction of admirers who were either too young to know better or just liked their action movies with a dollop of cheese. It’s especially beloved in actual SEAL circles: Adam Brown of SEAL Team Six was said to have been pushed towards joining up after seeing the infamous stunt where Hawkins bails off a moving truck into a river. There’s even a golf scene so nakedly lifted from Top Gun’s volleyball round, it’s almost a parody. (That scene, for the record, only exists because Bill Paxton flat-out refused to do another football scene, and ended up directing it himself.)

The film is, let’s just say, not terribly subtle in how it copies its betters—from the synth-heavy score to the clumsy race jokes (which are at least called out by Whalley’s character). What sets it apart is just how all-in everyone appears to be despite, or perhaps because of, the absolute chaos behind the scenes. Plus, Biehn is, as ever, incredibly believable as a military man—it’s probably not his fault he kept being asked to play them.