During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a co-producer with Don Simpson of a string of highly successful Hollywood films for Paramount Pictures. He first met Simpson at a screening of 1973's "The Harder They Come" at Warner Brothers. The two worked together and created Bruckheimer's first big hit, 1983's "Flashdance", which brought in US$95 million. He had a number of other hits during that time period, including the "Beverly Hills Cop" films, "Top Gun", and "Days of Thunder". "Top Gun" marked his first collaboration with English director Tony Scott who directed six films for Bruckheimer. The first "Beverly Hills Cop" movie, which was supposed to star Sylvester Stallone launched Eddie Murphy's career and became Paramount's highest grossing winter release in the company's history in just five days.