I sawTop Gunfor the first meter the day I graduate from middle shoal in 1986 . gratuitous to say , at geezerhood 14 , I fucking loved it – I did n’t do it what chemistry between wild-eyed leads was hypothecate to appear like ; I did n’t realize that plots could or should be fat . When you ’re brimming with testosterone and blissfully unwitting of timbre cinema , Top Guncan only be describe as " pure amazing . "

That was 30 years ago . Now that the movie ’s as old as the reviewers who crapped on it were when it total out , I ’m toss off it back in my DVD player , Googling anything remotely contextually relevant , and bashing out 30 thought on what I once regard one of the smashing picture of all fourth dimension .

1. This movie is a stealth tearjerker…

What I remember most from my first time is n’t the movie itself , it ’s walking up to the theater and check a class fellow sitting on the bridle shout her eyes out after catching an earlier showing . I asked what was awry , and she just bawled , " Goose ! "   An 60 minutes after , I was cry , too – even on rewatch . Anthony Edwards plays the perfect tragical crony : he is completely selfless , devote 65 % of himself to Maverick – playing Mav ’s wireless intercept officeholder in both the cockpit and in life – and the other 35 % to his family . The only clip he ’s sorry is when those obligation collide ; his only personal indulgence is his mustache . Tragic sidekicks only lick when they deserve better , and nobody deserved well more than Goose .

2. …but not because of the soundtrack

Harold Faltermeyer ’s " Maverick Is Sad / Goose Is all in " root belong in a Dario Argento horror scene where the very sad heroine is submit a nice bathing tub right on before her apartment building is infested with demons . But the stupidity of the " MIS / GID " theme is more than made up for by Faltermeyer ’s " Top Gun Anthem , " featuring longtime Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens ( he also played on Michael Jackson’sBad ) . It ’s so all-fired triumphant that it obscure all caravan of thought diverging from " This movie / America is the turkey ! ! "

3. It’s surprisinglylighton jingoism

At least when compared to , say , Rambo : First Blood Part II , Missing in Action , Red Dawn , orIron Eagle . The Russians are scarcely inTop Gun– for sure , their MiGs enter challenge airspace and their pilots are robotic dicks , but they ’re not stage as the van of an invading power , and the script hold in pretty much zero anti - Commie dialogue .

4. But the movie has plenty of historical rewrites

Maverick ’s maverickness is attributed to his always flying against the ghost of his father , a Vietnam - era pilot who , accord to the official authorities business relationship , died because he " screwed up . " afterwards on , Viper ( Tom Skerritt , who served in the Air Force in real life-time ) let out that Maverick ’s daddy died a hero saving his squadron , but " that ’s not something the State Department tells dependents when the battle occurred over the wrong line on some single-valued function . "

Now , that ’s some impossible John Rambo bull on floor both macro ( that line was either the border of Laos or Cambodia , a delicate nation whose collapse following its hapless entanglement in Vietnam show in one of history ’s most vicious government , but hey , who care about cartography ) and micro ( surely the State Department would ’ve just said , " He pass heroically … over Vietnam " alternatively of needlessly trashing his reputation , potentially piddle off the kin enough to launch an inquiry ; is " If we say he have it away up , they ’ll never suspect he was flying over Cambodia " even remotely coherent ? )

All that being said : this irresponsible folderal is ultimately less about Hollywood helping America get over its Vietnam building complex , and more about Maverick ’s character development . Yeah , it ’s faineant fiber development , but they could n’t very well say Maverick wing recklessly because he had ADD – that ’d be ho-hum , and also , Tom Cruise does n’t believe in ADD .

Tom Cruise in Top Gun

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5. The screenwriters were either terrible at math, or had access to classified government secrets

At the clock time of filming , America ’s bombardment of Cambodia was believe to have commenced in March of 1969 . It was n’t until Bill Clinton ’s release of Air Force data in 2000 that we learned the sorties had started four long time earlier , on October 4th , 1965 . Duke Mitchell ’s plane disappeared on November 5th , 1965 .

6. Seriously, these songs

Everything you require to love about the difference between the seventies and eighties can be learn via back - to - back listening of AC / DC ’s " Highway to Hell " and Kenny Loggins ' " Danger Zone . " Bon Scott really was manoeuver to nether region ; he died from " misadventure " ( i.e. , booze ) a few months after eat up that strain . The only peril Loggins solicit was recording so many song for soundtracks that people felt oblige to make up a legacy - defining nickname for him , " The King of Movie Soundtracks . "

7. They use “Take My Breath Away” like a matchmaking Terminator

Every time you think Cruise or Kelly McGillis has drink down off the wild-eyed subplot via their terrible chemical science , up pops Berlin ’s Academy Award winner for Best Original Song , methodically haunt them with a warmth that perfectly will not stop , ever , until sweet , sugared love is made .

8. Val Kilmer embodies everything that’s wrong with Method acting

If Kilmer were to defend this preening locker - room humans - swagger carrying into action , he ’d say something like , " The pilots who go to Top Gun do n’t expend their entire life preparing their mind to walk around that locker room in a towel . They ’re just tiddler who dreamed about fly , and once they realize they also have to shower down together , they do n’t have the emotional equipment to care that experience . As a discipline actor , I can represent that guy in that storage locker room more in effect than a guy who was there . And that ’s why I ’m going to prance around like a rooster . " What Method hater give out to sympathise , though , is that there are windows in time when realistic characterisation of buffer walk around a locker room are wholly deficient to enamor the national zeitgeist , and what is required is , in fact , Professional Actor Val Kilmer conduct a Pilot Walking Around a Locker Room . One of those windows in time is summer 1986 .

9. But this is one of Meg Ryan’s best performances

She convincingly bring a woman happy with her spirit and the good man she ’s found , despite whatever strain his other commitment have put on their marriage . A lesser actress would have come across as naïve , or barely there ; Ryan comes across as a force out of nature , a wave of joy that recognizes the fortune but refuses to be fall by them .

After Goose give way , she tells a shell - floor Pete Mitchell : " God , he hump flying with you , Maverick . He would have fly anyway … without you . He ’d have hated it , but he would have done it . " Her manner of speaking is overflowing with empathy , torment , reproach , and the common sense that she already knows that if she ’s going to put her lifespan back together , she ’ll never be able to see Maverick again . That scene was a hell of a lot punishing to pluck off than afake orgasm .

10. Is it a gay epic?

You ca n’t take root the debate by taking a court approach . For every additional piece of grounds that call , " Yes ! God , yes ! " ( how did Tom Skerritt stroking Tom Cruise ’s back while Cruise wears nothing but tight white briefs not even makeTarantino ’s claptrap ? ) , another airfoil to sabotage the possibility ( the erotically charged elevator vista was a reshoot , and Kelly McGillis jade a hat because she ’d already change her tomentum for another movie , not to appear more boyish ) . Unless you sleep together the director ’s intent , it ’s all a short silly , anyway : you ca n’t call a bunch of guy gay just because they ’re unseasoned , shirtless , and un - self - conscious ; and you ca n’t traverse the possibleness either , because chance - wise , some of them are definitely homophile . The only certainty here is that no man should ever play beach volleyball in jeans .

11. Well, there’s no harm in speculating

As long as you ’re not looking for a determinate answer , and especially if it gives you another reason to rewatchTop Gun . If you ca n’t help yourself , though , await elsewhere : there ’s homoerotic subtext in fairly much every eighties motion picture involving male under the eld of 25 , fromPorky’smultiple phallus - inspection lineups toYoungblood ’s Patrick Swayze / Rob Lowe involuntary pubic shave . ( Actually , do n’t watch that – it ’s really uncomfortable and offensively unmoored in reality , like if Lars von Trier filmed a scene about typical North American footlocker - elbow room deviltry . ) Also , South Pacific .

12. Michael Ironside sure seemed confused

The conversation where Tony Scott explained to him that he did n’t have to kill anybody with his bare manus must have been hilarious . " I should at least bite someone , right ? " " What ? Um … Hey ! Can somebody fetch me a Fresca ? Where in the hell is the goddamn , er , Fresca ? "

13. “Never leave your wingman” doesn’t make any sense

The wingman abide the lead aircraft . leave your wingman would implicate calculated maneuver design to lose that support , which you ’d only do if you were defecting . If Hollywood has the lead and Maverick decide to leave Hollywood to chase after Viper , Maverick is not leave behind his wingman , he ’s abdicating his own wingman responsibleness . Granted , " Never abdicate your wingman responsibilities " is not a line for the ages , but leave that people have based their entire life philosophies on this backwards rule , we should strain to come up with something both snappy and exact for …

14. Neither does the idea ofTop Gun II

A sequel?!Top Gunwithout that ensemble cast of characters might as well beEdge of Tomorrow II : More Tomcats– butCruise and Jerry Bruckheimer both want to do it . Bruckheimer says the new plot will demand Cruise showing young pilot how stunned monotone are , but that seems unlikely : Cruise insists he ’ll only do the sequel if it does n’t rely on CGI , and to do a movie leverage panoptic military hardware , you ’ve got to play ball with the military on hand approval , a sketchily subject relationshipthe originalTop Gunhelped seal . As is evident by the preponderance of " marauder " references in newspapers not reporting on a continuation to another sweet 1980s movie , the armed forces does not retrieve drone are stupid .

15. Tom Cruise hadn’t quite nailed the leading-man look

This might have been the movie that chart him on a course for Ultimate Hollywood Power – but you’re able to evidence he had n’t achieved it quite yet because in many scenes , he seem almost as short as he really is . There ’s no way 1996 Cruise would have allowed Anthony Edwards to seem 7 inch taller than him , not whenhe would n’t permit Katie Holmes appear 2 inch tall than himat her own damn wedding .

16. And his “I’m about to have sex” face is ridiculous

It should be call Innocent Terror . It ’s like Blue Steel melted in the inferno of a 12 - year - old boy ’s emotions . If you could look that vulnerable while staring at someone that heavily , you would re - lose your virginity 12 times a week , only to wake up up afterwards to a note reading , " You were tremendous , I recognize you ’re going to make some lucky little girl very felicitous . "

17. Not all ejection malfunctions end in tragedy

Sometimes they end inMAXIMUM REFRESHMENT .

18. Cougar is the most interesting supporting Gunner

Aka John Stockwell , aka John Stockwell Samuels IV . If you were around in the ' 80s , you might recognise him from his earlier photographic film , ChristineandLosin ' It , which , shockingly , was directed by Curtis Hanson ( LA Confidential , 8 nautical mile ) and follows an even younger Tom Cruise as he lose it to Shelley Long . But that ’s just the acting . Despite being from Galveston , Stockwell start out as a model in New York in the seventies and ' 80s , taste in the mediate ofThe Andy Warhol Diaries . There ’s John hooking up with the future Bianca Jagger , even as Mick was courting her ; there ’s Hamptons goddess Barbara Allen compare John to uber - handsome creative person Peter Beard ; there ’s John " falling in love " ( according to Warhol ) with Walter Cronkite at the 21 Club bar ; there ’s John rushing up to see a dead soundbox in the eye of the street ( ? ! ) Stockwell later dove into directing – kinda literally , with the azure masterpiecesBlue CrushandInto the Blue . Oh , and his next feature isKickboxer : Vengeance , star a little slice of Belgium named Jean - Claude Van Damme .

19. Having only one black character is pretty realistic

The Navy and Air Force ’s record of recruit dark pilots ( and , presumptively , RIOs ) rest , by their own admission , pretty dismal well into the 2000s . So , perhaps appropriately , Sundown is one of the most perfunctory Mandatory Black Guy roles ever written . Clarence Gilyard is forced to spend most of the movie just lurking around , most distressingly in a towel , rest over Jester ’s berm , try on to visualise out what the hell to do with his face as the camera accidentally trains on him for like a min . When he finally gets to babble , it ’s to bitch out Maverick for not engaging , a garb - down so innocent of empathy , it ’s almost as if nobody bothered telling him GOOSE JUST give-up the ghost . Also , he ’s a black man whose call signboard is Sundown .

20.Top Gunwas basically a two-hour-long commercial

Ray - Ban Aviators : huge sales spike . Kawasaki Ninjas : unequaled superbike dominance . Even military recruitment went through the roof – the Navy have a massive surge in enquiry , with very rough estimate indicating that 90 % of the increase interest group come from clotheshorse feeling the penury for speed right after downing a giant boxwood of Goobers .

21. But the Navy couldn’t legally leverage the movie for recruiting

They could allow the jets , carriers , and expertise necessary to get the movie made and ascertain the script was sufficiently Navy - friendly , but they could n’t call up potential recruits and ask , " Oh , hey , have you seenTop Gun ? It ’ll be just like that . " They did figure out a clever workaround , though , with the above commercial message that evokesTop Gunthrough a immensely shittier knockoff interpretation of " Danger Zone . " The US Navy : where resourcefulness never sleep , because this fearsome song is always blaring .

22. The actors prepared by going on real Navy missions

Tony Scott film real planes flown by real Navy pilots , but the final ingredient that helped him achieve the kind of in - tune tension and agitation CGI will never match was have got the actors all ride along on F-14 hops . ( Kilmer was the only cast member who refused , because experiencing things establish great performances impossible . ) Whatever you think of the acting generally , during the cockpit scenes , every alarmed head - act and " Shit , that was close ! " add up from a station of rightful frenzied excitement . For those scenes , I ’ll take a licitly pumped - up Rick Rossovich over any actor ever , even Eddie Redmayne ( or Val Kilmer ) .

23. This might beTop Gun’s most lasting image

That sky is the color of whatever mustard they use in heaven . Jesus , it ’s all so beautiful .

24. Rick Rossovich is the best well-meaning doofus ever

I ’m willing to bet all the money still left in Jeb Bush ’s Super PAC that no one in Hollywood has ever had a high-risk thing to say about Rossovich . His goodness must come from a genuine place – though , as with any dear thespian , his ability to project a real place from inside of a faux position ( i.e. , movies ) take up real chop . Him not even being nominated for Best Supporting Actor forRoxanneshould have been the scandal of the 1988 Academy Awards , instead of the far - less - significant or -surprising arguing that the media in reality did cover on – namely , thatChevy Chase suck at host awards shows .

25. The American educational system is broken

I assumed I ’d be capable to Google at least 14 different graduate thesis on the ethnic , political , and psychosexual deduction of the love scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis , but I have n’t been capable to get across down even one .

26. It cost $15 million to makeTop Gun

Five years by and by , it cost $ 26 million to make Charlie Sheen’sTop Gunparody , Hot Shots!There are plenty of perfectly rational reason for this : Tony Scott saved a hazard by deliver script approval ( he only had to ante up for flatulency for the squirt ) ; threshold - of - stardom Tom Cruise was only paid $ 2 million ; Tim Robbins was only paid $ 2 ; inflation – but all the intellectual account in the world wo n’t change the fact that life ceased to have any illusion of meaning the moment theHot Shots!budget reach out $ 15,000,000.01 .

27. “Mighty Wings” was kind of lame

I would emphatically pay to see a movie where the real Cheap Trick were kidnapped by Scientologists and replace by Cheap Trick golem who interact with the cast super awkwardly before recordingTop Gun ’s godawful mop up - credits routine , " Mighty Wings . " During the recording session , Robot Rick Nielsen ’s circumference would start sparking wildly , and he ’d look really neural because he ’s afraid Jerry Bruckheimer will calculate out what happened , but Bruckheimer just sound out , " Wow ! Now , that ’s some rock ' n ' roll ! " and Robot Rick Nielsen and the rest of Robot Cheap Trick are like , " Yeah ! " and have the best time finish the song as the real Cheap Trick are cast out into outer blank inside the two - dimensional square prison house fromSuperman II .

28. The movie has its own official commemorative day

The " Official Top Gun Day"Facebook pagehas over 21,000 fans – pretty impressive for a pageboy dedicate to a movie that came out eight years before the launch of GeoCities . accord to itswebsite , Top Gun Day is " like talking Like a Pirate Day , only way cooler , " and I have to agree that participatory moves like " Call your friends and evidence them , ' I ’m going to Top Gun ! ' and then hang up " are way cooler than saying " chummy " and " argh " for 24 hours . Itscall - sign generatormight be a little off , though ; patently , if I enlist , I would be Lt . David " Gun Shop " Blend .

29. There’s some fantastic scolding

30. Love it or hate it, it’s as ’80s as it gets

The most poignant line fromRoger Ebert ’s review : " Movies likeTop Gunare hard to refresh because the safe part are so good and the bad parts are so relentless . " He trust that then , and I believe it now , but maybe there were more good parts than the film ’s contemporaneous critics allow for , and not all of them happened in the sky .

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David Blend is Thrillist ’s theatre director of content . His favorite Tom Cruise movie is All the Right Moves , but that ’s mostly because he ’s a vast fan of Craig T. Nelson . Enter his personal danger zone byfollowing him on Twitter .

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John Stockwell in Top Gun

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