As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taugh... Read allAs students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 11 wins & 6 nominations total
Who Was Almost Cast in 'Top Gun'?
Who Was Almost Cast in 'Top Gun'?
The cast of Top Gun is so iconic, it's hard to imagine anyone else filling those roles, but Maverick and Iceman almost looked very different.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaStunt pilot Art Scholl was killed during the production of the movie, aged 54. He died when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a flat spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. Scholl's last words over the radio were "I have a problem - I have a real problem." The exact cause of the crash was never determined, and neither the aircraft nor Scholl's body were ever recovered. The film is dedicated to him.
- GoofsThe term "bogey" is misused throughout the movie. A bogey is an unidentified aircraft. Once identified, it is referred to as a "friendly" (for friendly aircraft), "bandit" (for non-friendly aircraft) or "hostile" (for non-friendly aircraft that may be fired at). In USN terminology, a non-friendly surface radar contact is a "skunk".
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits sequence features a history of the Top Gun program before the title of the film appears on screen, with the remainder of the opening credits devoted to footage of planes being launched from and landing on an aircraft carrier.
- Alternate versionsThe version of the film shown on the Paramount Network has nearly all of the profane language intact (basically everything but the word "shit"). However, this version also randomly cuts out several scenes and parts of scenes, presumably to fit in the network time slot allotted. Scenes missing altogether include (but are certainly not limited to) Maverick and Goose conversing in their housing regarding whether or not they'll graduate, and Jester and Viper conversing, with Viper revealing hew knew Maverick's "old man." The latter is especially surprising considering this plot point plays a major role in a later scene.
- ConnectionsEdited into MacGyver: GX-1 (1987)
- SoundtracksDanger Zone
Written by Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock
Performed by Kenny Loggins
Produced by Giorgio Moroder
Kenny Loggins courtesy of CBS Records
Featured review
Michael Bay's biggest inspiration. A romantic, stylish, cheesy and over the top 80s nostalgia film with an eye candy Tom Cruise. A cult classic indeed.
I like this movie, really. I think it is one of the biggest pieces of 80s navy/military nostalgia out there. Its saturated colors, disregard for technical accuracy and the over the top personalities of every character reminds us why the 80s were so great. The extravagantic flashy and superficially clear emotions evoqued in this movie are enough to convince people it has a story.
I have only seen these movie elements in Michael Bay movies. Movies like Armageddon (1998) or the first Transformers one. And I don't mean it in a bad way, I actually understand the appeal of such a movie. For some it'd be a "flight/pilot-porn movie", for others an eye candy piece of young Tom Cruise seeing there's a shirtless volleyball scene; and for others, like me, is brainless entertainment.
Surprisingly enough, I never thought this movie was cliche or cheesy. If this movie is cheesy, then every other movie from the 80s is also cheesy and with that logic none of them are. Because this is the sort of feel and personality the movies had back then. The difference is, the cliched and cheesy parts make the movies endearing because they add a unique personality to the already well-crafted stories.
And this movie would have been a heartbreaking story with a positive outcome but the story is just too bland even for the time. I love 80s movies, I have watched a lot of them, but this one unfortunately falls for me in some story aspects. It never tries anything new than the most stereotypical route for every single character to a point of even being able to predict the turn of events.
IN CONCLUSION; it is a fun, entertaining and plain dumb romantic-drama (not action drama as there's very little action, just long pilot flight scenes). Of course I have my problems with it (like the fact that I have no idea who is talking most of the times in the flight scenes because everybody sounds the same when shouting and they are all wearing helmets) but I realised that wasn't the reason this movie is a cult classic. Thanks to Tom Cruise's grin and the incredible energy and charisma he brings to the movie, he delivers an incredible performance that would cement his career as an action hero. The romance is amazingly well done and the soundtrack is an 80s nostalgia trip. A great movie to pass the time and not reflect upon or no take-away.
I have only seen these movie elements in Michael Bay movies. Movies like Armageddon (1998) or the first Transformers one. And I don't mean it in a bad way, I actually understand the appeal of such a movie. For some it'd be a "flight/pilot-porn movie", for others an eye candy piece of young Tom Cruise seeing there's a shirtless volleyball scene; and for others, like me, is brainless entertainment.
Surprisingly enough, I never thought this movie was cliche or cheesy. If this movie is cheesy, then every other movie from the 80s is also cheesy and with that logic none of them are. Because this is the sort of feel and personality the movies had back then. The difference is, the cliched and cheesy parts make the movies endearing because they add a unique personality to the already well-crafted stories.
And this movie would have been a heartbreaking story with a positive outcome but the story is just too bland even for the time. I love 80s movies, I have watched a lot of them, but this one unfortunately falls for me in some story aspects. It never tries anything new than the most stereotypical route for every single character to a point of even being able to predict the turn of events.
IN CONCLUSION; it is a fun, entertaining and plain dumb romantic-drama (not action drama as there's very little action, just long pilot flight scenes). Of course I have my problems with it (like the fact that I have no idea who is talking most of the times in the flight scenes because everybody sounds the same when shouting and they are all wearing helmets) but I realised that wasn't the reason this movie is a cult classic. Thanks to Tom Cruise's grin and the incredible energy and charisma he brings to the movie, he delivers an incredible performance that would cement his career as an action hero. The romance is amazingly well done and the soundtrack is an 80s nostalgia trip. A great movie to pass the time and not reflect upon or no take-away.
helpful•50
- quiqueperezsoler
- Oct 9, 2020
Tom Cruise Through the Years
Tom Cruise Through the Years
Take a look back at the life and career of Tom Cruise in photos.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Top Guns
- Filming locations
- 102 Pacific Street, Oceanside, California, USA(Charlie's house)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $180,258,178
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $8,193,052
- May 18, 1986
- Gross worldwide
- $357,288,178
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
