Top Gun (1986) is pure 1980s American gun-ho patriotism as well as an unofficial
recruitment ad for that country’s air force. It features Tom Cruise in the
nascent stages of his career as the world’s biggest movie star, U.S pilots
flipping off those pesky Russians in the air, and the chart-topping single by
Kenny Loggins, Danger Zone. Many
aspects of this movie are now dated, but on first viewing it is hard not to be
pulled in by the adrenaline-pumping ride.
For many people
this movie was a defining moment in pop culture, leading viewers to either
adopt the nickname “Goose” or “Maverick,” or go a step further and actually
join the air force. That was not the case for me since I was born the same year
Top Gun came out, and I don’t think I
was ever its specific target audience anyway. When I think of Anthony Edwards I
don’t think of him flying fighter jets, I think of him operating on patients as
Doctor Greene on E.R. However over
the years I kept seeing the cultural influence of Top Gun, whether it was by hearing that Kenny Loggins song, seeing the
parody Hot Shots!, or hearing people
quote “I feel the need, the need for speed.”
About two years
ago I got to it through my Netflix queue, and although I couldn’t quite follow
all of the aviation terminology it was fun seeing Tom Cruise be the best at
what he does. This was before all of the weirdness with Scientology, the messy
divorces, and whatever happened with this year’s The Mummy. Here we have a young Tom Cruise, back when it was normal
for him to look this young, taking on the role of cocky U.S air force pilot Pete
“Maverick” Mitchell. Just how cocky is he? Cocky enough to fly his plane upside
down over a Soviet plane to flip off the pilot and take a picture.
Despite the
obviously huge ego, Maverick and his partner Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony
Edwards) are accepted into Top Gun school, which I guess trains them to be “the
best of the best” or something along those lines. There is a tremendous amount
of testosterone in those classrooms with every hot-shot pilot having adopted a
cool nickname and each wanting to prove they are the best pilot there is. You
have among others Val Kilmer as “Iceman,” Tim Robbins as “Merlin,” and John
Stockwell as “Cougar.” Even Maverick’s superior has the nickname “Stinger.”
(Another 80s fun fact: the actor who plays Stinger, James Tolkan, also plays Principal
Strickland in Back to the Future.)
During the Top
Gun classes Maverick catches the eye of civilian instructor Charlotte Blackwood
(Kelly McGillis) with both his reckless attitude and his actually impressive
piloting skills. While they start a tentative romance, Goose has feet firmly on
the ground so to speak with his wife (Meg Ryan) and daughter. Eventually
Maverick’s cockiness catches up to him during a deadly training accident, which
makes him question his career as a pilot. Will Maverick regain his confidence
and get back in the air? That’s a bit like wondering whether or not there will
be a happy ending in a romantic comedy.
The story is of
course not the key attraction of Top Gun,
but rather the spectacular aerial action sequences directed by the late, great
Tony Scott. Most people will never fly in fighter jets like the ones shown in
the movie, and if you are prone to air sickness you definitely wouldn’t want to
anyway. The cameras capture footage of these aircrafts flying at high speed and
high altitude, pilots frantically ejecting out of the cockpit when things go
wrong, and in one harrowing scene a plane going into a stomach-churning flat
spin. It does indeed take a special kind of person to want to do this job.
Looking back on
the movie 31 years after its release, it is pretty staggering to see how many
things have changed in the world of Top
Gun. Russians are not fighting Americans with aircrafts, but with fake news
articles on Facebook. There are now many American pilots who don’t fly actual
aircraft over enemy territories, but instead pilot drones from the safety of
their home country.
Even the movie’s
machismo can now be put into question. In 2009 Kelly McGillis came out as a lesbian,
there have been plenty of rumours about Tom Cruise in that regard, and the
movie Sleep with Me (1994) features a
monologue by none other than Quentin Tarantino about the homoerotic subtext in Top Gun. Make of that what you will.
Since 1980s pop
culture is all the rage right now, there is apparently a Top Gun sequel on the way. Given everything that has changed over
the years it should be very interesting to see what the story will look like
and if Maverick will be training pilots to fly drones instead of planes. The
original Top Gun meanwhile seems
destined to become a relic of a time gone by.
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