Losin' It (1983): Tom Cruise and the Lost History of Tijuana

Some movies teach their stars lessons that stay with them for the rest of their careers. This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens looks at Losin' It, the 1983 teen comedy that began as Tijuanaand starred a young Tom Cruise alongside Jackie Earle Haley and Shelley Long. Four teenagers head across the border in 1965, expecting an unforgettable adventure. Instead, they stumble into a chaotic night of bad decisions, romance, and trouble. But the real story begins with the movie audiences first saw during its 1982 test engagements. Originally titled Tijuana, the film later changed distributors, changed titles, and was re-edited before its wider 1983 release as Losin' It. For Tom Cruise, the experience offered an early lesson about how much a filmmaker can lose control of a movie after production ends. We explore how watching Tijuana become Losin' It gave Cruise an early glimpse into the realities of Hollywood filmmaking. Years before he became one of Hollywood’s most powerful stars, the experience helped shape his understanding of creative control, filmmaking, and the importance of protecting the quality of a movie. Along the way, we revisit the film’s unusual history, its brief 1982 theatrical test, and the version audiences eventually received in 1983. Losin' It may be a forgotten early Tom Cruise comedy, but its troubled journey offers a fascinating glimpse at the lessons that helped shape one of Hollywood’s biggest careers.