Top Gun

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This is an article about a movie. For the US Navy Fighter Weapons School or the US Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) course see TOPGUN. For the Nintendo game, see Top Gun (video game).
Top Gun
Image:Top Gun DVD cover.jpg
Directed by Tony Scott
Written by Ehud Yonay
Jim Cash
Jack Epps Jr.
Starring Tom Cruise
Kelly McGillis
Val Kilmer
Anthony Edwards
Produced by Don Simpson
Jerry Bruckheimer
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date May 16, 1986
Runtime 109 min.
Language English
Budget $15,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb page

Top Gun is a 1986 American movie starring Tom Cruise. The film also starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt and Michael Ironside, and featured early appearences by Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan.

Top Gun was directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures.

Contents

Cast

Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Cruise plays Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a cocky young United States Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot. Maverick is the son of a fighter pilot shot down during the Vietnam War and listed as missing in action, the details of which haunt Maverick to this very day.

The film begins with Maverick and his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer, the "backseater" in the two-man F-14) "Goose" (Edwards), flying wingman to lead pilot "Cougar" and his RIO, "Merlin" (Robbins), en route to intercept an unknown inbound (a "bogey"). It turns out to be two enemy MiG aircraft doing some spying , and although they ultimately do not engage the MiGs in combat, the experience unsettles Cougar. Maverick, low on fuel, heroically risks his own plane in order to help Cougar back to the aircraft carrier Enterprise.

As a result of this incident, Cougar realizes he has lost the edge and retires ("turns in his wings"). That means Maverick and Goose are now the best team in the squadron, and are sent to the Navy's elite "TOPGUN" fighter pilot school (US Navy Fighter Weapons School, now known as US Navy Strike Fighter Tactical Instruction) at Miramar, near San Diego, California.

While testing his instructors' patience with his reckless flying and establishing a rivalry with top student Tom "Iceman" Kazanski (Kilmer), Maverick also falls in love with his beautiful female civilian instructor, Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (McGillis).

When Goose is killed during one of the mock airborne engagements, Maverick begins to lose his nerve until a revelation about his father's fate helps him regain his composure in time for the climactic air-to-air combat sequence at the end.

Trivia

  • Goose's real name, Nick Bradshaw, is never spoken in the film (even by his wife and son); it can only be seen (briefly) on his and Maverick's fighter jet, on his flightsuit's name badge, and on his dog tags as Maverick throws them into the ocean.
  • Christopher Blair's callsign in the computer game Wing Commander III was originally intended to be "Falcon" but was later changed to "Maverick" as in homage to Top Gun. In addition, a character in the first Wing Commander game had the callsign of "Iceman".
  • The romantic comedy Sleep With Me (1994) includes a sequence in which a character, played by Quentin Tarantino, describes in detail his theory that Top Gun has a gay subtext. The sequence was written by Roger Avary.
  • Top Gun is also the name of a popular ride at several Paramount Parks (a Vekoma SLC and Arrow Suspended)
  • Bryan Adams was approached to allow his song "Only the Strong Survive" on the soundtrack. He refused because he felt the film glorified war and he didn't want any of his work linked to it.
  • Several aerial stunts were performed by Scott Altman, who would later become a NASA astronaut and Shuttle commander.
  • Aerial cameraman and pilot Art Scholl was killed during filming when his Pitts S-2 failed to recover from an inverted spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. The movie is dedicated to him.
  • 2 Uncredited actors: Adam & Aaron Weis (Twins) alternated performing as Goose's son.
  • Throughout the film 'enemy' fighters are named as MiG-28s. This designation was never used for a fighter aircraft; both the hostile jets and training adversaries were actually repainted Northrop F-5E Tiger IIs for the single seat jets and T-38 Talon for the Twin Seat Jets.
  • Not only did the US Navy supply vehicles and equipment for the film, they used its success by having recruitment booths in some theatres to lure outgoing patrons.
  • "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (which is played during the Maverick and Charlie love scene) received the Best Song Oscar in 1987. The film was also nominated for three Oscars in that year for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.

See also

Historical incidents similar to those in the film's climax:

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
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