Top Gun (1986)
Trivia
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Spoilers (12)
Charlie's "older man" date at the officer's club is the real-life "Viper", Pete Pettigrew. He is a retired Navy pilot and TOP GUN instructor, and shot down a MiG during the Vietnam War. He served as the technical consultant on the film.
Anthony Edwards is the only actor who didn't vomit while in the fighter jets.
When the guys, as students, were first being spoken to by Charlie in the hanger, Maverick explains that he gave "the bird" to a MiG. She asks how he saw the MiG up close, and he says he was flying inverted. Right then, Ice coughs "bullshit" and the guys laughed. The "bullshit" line was ad libbed by Val Kilmer, and everyone's reactions are genuine.
Val Kilmer did not want to be in this film, but was forced to by contractual obligations. However, it became one of his most iconic roles in his career.
Stunt 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.
Riding on the back of this film's success, the U.S. Navy set up recruiting booths in the major cinemas to try and catch some of the adrenaline charged guys leaving the screenings. They had the highest applications rate for years as a result.
After the "car chase" when Charlie tells Maverick that she didn't want anyone to find out she was falling for him, Maverick originally had a line to say. Tom Cruise forgot the line and "ad libbed" by kissing Kelly McGillis instead. Tony Scott liked it so much, he left the scene like that.
The tension between Maverick and Iceman isn't just down to good acting, Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer kept their distance from each other and never socialized.
The Navy only authorized two actual missile shots to be filmed for the movie. You can clearly pick out these two shots, ultimately shot from several angles each in order to use both shots repeatedly during the dogfighting scenes, because the aircraft firing the missile is holding a steady altitude and heading, something that would never happen in a real close-in dogfight. All other missile shots shown in the movie were conducted using miniatures of both the planes and rockets. The company that produced and fired the model missiles did such a good job that the Department of the Navy conducted a preliminary investigation into whether any additional live firings of missiles, beyond the two originally authorized, were done for the filmmakers.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell's first name was Evan in early scripts of the film. It was later changed to Pete as an homage to Pete Pettigrew, who worked on the film. (Pettigrew appears in the bar scene early in the film as Charlie's older male date.)
Tom Cruise had to wear lifts in his scenes with Kelly McGillis. Cruise is 5'7" (1.70 m) while McGillis is 5'10" (1.78 m).
The character portrayed by Kelly McGillis is based on Christine Fox, a civilian flight instructor the producers met on a visit to Miramar while doing research to prepare for the movie. Fox eventually rose through the ranks at the Pentagon, retiring in May 2014 as Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense, the highest post ever held by a woman at the Department of Defense.
Jerry Bruckheimer on convincing Tom Cruise to sign on to the film after his initial reluctance: "So they (the Navy) take Tom up there, and they do five Gs. They do barrel rolls, they do everything. He's heaving in the plane. He gets on the tarmac, runs to a pay phone ... and he said, 'I'm in. I'm doing the movie. I love it. This is great.'"
The F-14 pilot who "flipped the bird" at the MiG pilot was Scott Altman of VF-51, who eventually became a NASA astronaut flying as pilot on two missions and as commander on two more missions.
No one had ever "buzzed the tower" at Miramar before. The Navy pilots, who were flying the scenes for the film, drew straws to see who would get to do it. It went to Lieutenant Commander Lloyd "Bozo" Abel. Michael Ironside just happened to be at the hangar that day, and the plane flew low enough to where he could actually see into the cockpit as it flew by. He said it was one of the most spectacular things he'd ever seen.
The Pentagon charged Paramount Pictures 1.8 million dollars to use all of their planes and aircraft carriers for the film.
Most of the actors who portrayed F-14 crewmembers received backseat rides in the F-14, and several of the scenes which appear in the film were filmed with the actors in the air.
Paramount Pictures commissioned Grumman, the makers of the F-14, to develop and install special camera mounts on the plane. This allowed the filmmakers to use real aerial point-of-view footage of the Tomcat in flight.
All of Maverick's stunt flying in the film was done by Scott Altman, who later went on to become an astronaut.
When Tom Cruise went up in a real F-14 for the first time, he was with Lieutenant Commander Lloyd "Bozo" Abel. After Bozo did some maneuvers, Cruise finally had no choice but to reach for his sick bag. However, as he did so, Bozo did a maneuver that put Cruise's head to the floor of the cockpit as he struggled to activate the intercom to tell Bozo what was happening. When Bozo finally leveled the plane, Cruise hit the intercom and said, "Bozo, didn't you see I wasn't in your rear-view mirror?" Bozo replied, "Sorry, but then again, they don't call me 'Bozo' for nothing."
The pilot that gets "flipped off" by Maverick and Goose is Admiral Robert Willard, the lead flight choreographer for the film. He was Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet (2007-2009) before transferring to United States Pacific Command.
Rick Rossovich stated, in the DVD commentary, that he was kicked off of the ship, used for filming, because he smarted off to an officer. Rossovich had gone to sleep in the bunk to which he was assigned, but didn't like being so close to the nuclear reactors that powered the ship, so he moved. When he smarted off to the officer who wanted his bunk back, Rossovich was told to report to the Captain, who ordered him thrown off the ship for disrespect.
For the opening of the film, director Tony Scott wanted to shoot aircraft taking off and landing on the aircraft carrier, back-lit by the sun. The carrier captain had changed course of the ship, and when Scott asked if the ship could continue on the previous course and speed, he was told that turning the ship cost $25,000. Scott then wrote the captain a quick $25,000 check so the ship could be turned and he could keep shooting for another five minutes. According to Scott, the check bounced.
Following the movie, some of the F-5s used as the "MiG-28s" maintained their black paint schemes and served as "aggressor" aircraft simulating enemy planes in the real-life Top Gun program.
When Maverick receives his orders to the carrier following the graduation ceremony, there is a pilot standing behind him, with a mustache and wearing sunglasses. The pilot is "Heater" C.J. Heatley, a real-life former F-14 air show demonstration pilot and TOP GUN instructor.
Meg Ryan and Anthony Edwards became an item after filming concluded.
The film was inspired by an article in the May 1983 issue of "California" magazine about the U.S. Navy's Top Gun School.
Tom Cruise had never ridden a motorcycle until this film. He went to House of Motorcycles in El Cajon, California, to learn. They taught him in the parking lot of their shop.
Michael Ironside stated, in the DVD commentary, that he was so convincing as an officer, that when he heard someone running towards him below decks, he got on to the sailor who was running. The sailor saluted and slowed down until he got out of Ironside's line of sight and started running again. The sailor never knew that Ironside was an actor on the film.
The elevator scene (in which Maverick and Charlie meet after his workout) was filmed post-production. Kelly McGillis's hair had already been colored for another movie role, which is why she is wearing a hat. Tom Cruise's hair is longer in the shot as well.
Ally Sheedy turned down the role of Charlie Blackwood because she didn't think that anyone would want to see a movie about fighter pilots. She later regretted this decision.
In the last scene, in which Maverick is sitting at the counter, and you see someone go to the jukebox and put in a quarter for "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," when he and Charlie walk up to each other, Kelly McGillis is actually standing in a trench that was dug by the Hollywood technicians because they wanted the two to look like they were the same height.
Numerous critics complained that the movie largely amounted to a Navy recruitment film. The U.S. Navy stated that the film's popularity resulted in a 500 percent increase in the number of recruits wanting to enter into their aviation program. Paramount offered to include a Navy Recruitment ad on the initial home video release in exchange for debits owed to the U.S. Navy for their cooperation. However, the ad agency who produced ads for the U.S. Military informed the Pentagon that the movie itself was enough of a propaganda tool, and that an official recruiting ad would be redundant.
During the filming of some sequences from civilian aircraft, longtime Hollywood stunt pilot Art Scholl was killed. A biplane he was flying crashed off the Pacific Coast. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Kenny Loggins was not the first choice to record the song "Danger Zone" for the film. TOTO and REO Speedwagon were two of the groups considered prior to Loggins.
In order to stay in character, Tom Cruise would sit far away from the rest of the cast in between takes.
Matthew Modine turned down the Tom Cruise role because he objected to the film's Cold War politics. Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Matthew Broderick, Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox, Scott Baio and Tom Hanks all turned down the role of Maverick. Janet Graham, Charlie Sheen, Jim Carrey, Rob Lowe, Kevin Bacon, Eric Stoltz, and Robert Downey Jr. were considered for the role of Maverick. Sheen (who was deemed too young for the role) would later go on to spoof the role in the comedy Hot Shots! (1991).
Bryan Adams was asked to allow his song "Only the Strong Survive" on the soundtrack, but he refused because he felt that the film glorified war.
The ship that Viper served on with Maverick's father, the U.S.S. Oriskany, was the first United States warship slated to become an artificial reef, under authority granted by the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 108-136). It was sunk with controlled charges 24 miles (39 km) south of Pensacola on May 17, 2006. It is now popularly known as the "Great Carrier Reef", a reference to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
In the beginning it is revealed that Maverick was put "in hack" twice. This is Naval slang for being confined to quarters, usually during a port call and thus and not being allowed to leave the ship.
The motorcycle ridden by Tom Cruise in the movie is a Kawasaki Ninja 900/GPz900R, then the fastest production motorcycle in the world.
According to Anthony Edwards, "A lot of the humor was discovered at the moment. The script was skeletal."
Judas Priest were asked to contribute the song "Reckless" to the soundtrack, but declined because they thought the movie would flop. Two years later, they contributed a cover of Johnny Be Good (1988) to the movie of the same name, which turned out to be a flop.
Tom Cruise is three inches shorter than Kelly McGillis, which bothered Paramount greatly. To even up their heights, Cruise wore special cowboy boots that gave him a little height boost, while McGillis didn't wear any shoes at all during their scenes.
The piano scene and the final bar/jukebox scene were shot in a San Diego restaurant called Kansas City BBQ, at the corner of Kettner Boulevard and West Harbor Drive. The restaurant housed many props and memorabilia from the film. However, on June 26, 2008, Kansas City BBQ suffered a grease fire that destroyed much of the interior of the establishment. The restaurant has since been repaired to its original state, but much of the Top Gun memorabilia on display was damaged, and some destroyed. The two most prominent pieces that remain are the piano (relocated to another corner of the bar) and one of the original Maverick flight helmets used during filming, which sits in a locked display case behind the bar. The helmet shows some slight damage, as the heat from the fire caused the plastic visor to bubble and warp.
The line "I feel the need...the need for speed" ranked at number 94 of AFI's list of 100 Years 100 Movie Quotes.
Tom Cruise said that Maverick was the first character he ever played who was "larger than life." It was also the first time he'd been involved from the early stages, helping with the script.
From the very beginning, the filmmakers wanted Tom Cruise for Maverick. He kept turning it down until Jerry Bruckheimer arranged for a ride along with the Blue Angels.
In preparation for his role, Tom Cruise was allowed to take three rides in the F-14 Tomcat. He vomited during the first trip, but was okay during the other two.
A test audience, who saw the movie before it was released, were annoyed that there was no love scene. The producers obliged, and five months after the production had wrapped, they summoned Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis to Chicago to film the infamous elevator scene and the sex scene. During their time away from the set, McGillis had lost approximately sixteen pounds, and Cruise was actually filming The Color of Money (1986), so his hair was much longer in those two scenes. McGillis' hair was also much darker, hence why she hid it underneath a cap in the elevator scene.
Cougar was supposed to have crashed while trying to land back on the carrier, and his death was supposed to be why Maverick "slid into Cougar's spot", but this was summarily cut by the Navy. As this was intended to be a recruitment tool for the Navy, they didn't want negative attention drawn on a particularly hazardous aspect of serving on a carrier, or flying fighters.
During a break in the filming of the hangar scene a group of Navy officers being used as extras approached Tony Scott and complained about the unrealistic collection of patches on the flight suits of the actors. He replied, paraphrasing, "We're not making this movie for Navy fighter pilots, we're making it for Kansas wheat farmers who don't know the difference."
In early drafts of the film, the character (Tim Robbins) whose call sign is Merlin actually had the last name of Merlin, and his call sign was Wizard.
The address that Charlie (Kelly McGillis) gives Maverick (Tom Cruise), when inviting him to dinner, 100 Laurel Beach, is (like most films) a false address. There is a 100 W. Laurel Avenue in downtown San Diego, but it is several miles from the beach. The actual location used for shooting was 100 S. Pacific Street in Oceanside, which is in North San Diego County. The area has since been redeveloped for commercial and tourist uses, but the house was preserved as a landmark. It is locally referred to simply as "The Top Gun House", and until 2008, was still a rentable property. In 2019, the house was moved to another location in order to undergo renovations.
An original draft of the script specified that the final showdown involved North Korean aircraft. The final script made the nationalities of the enemy planes unknown and simply specified they were MiGs over the Indian Ocean.
While many terms used in the movie either match or are closely based on real terms used by naval aviators and the pilots in general, the term "going ballistic" is a real phrase that was incorrectly used to describe a pilot successfully reaching maximum speed, when it actually meant that the pilot was going too slow to maintain control of his aircraft, i.e., the aircraft is ballistic like a ball thrown in the air and will be influenced by gravity rather than the control surfaces as there is too little airflow over them. The phrase is used in Air Combat Maneuvers where the aircraft is put into a vertical or nearly-vertical climb and slows below an acceptable control speed. The pilot is then just along for the ride as gravity takes over and the airplane begins to descend and accelerate back to flying speed. The call is given over the radio to warn other pilots that the aircraft cannot maneuver to avoid a collision.
Tom Cruise's flight suit was later put on display at Planet Hollywood.
The call-sign 'Ghost Rider' that Maverick uses for his plane was the name of a real F-14 squadron (VF-142), and a model of a Tomcat from that squadron can be seen behind Sundown in the shot where Maverick tells Slider he stinks.
Anthony Edwards had no idea he was going to sing and pretend to play piano in one scene. Tony Scott was listening to Jerry Lee Lewis that morning and added it in last minute.
Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis didn't get along during or after filming. However, they did briefly reunite in 2010, for the premiere of Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time (2010).
This film is credited with starting the home video industry. Originally, VHS tapes were priced at $100 upon their first release, and were sold mainly to video stores. This film was priced to own immediately upon release, made possible by Pepsi Cola buying ad space at the beginning of the tape. Since then, pricing VHS tapes to own right away became a common practice.
Charlie Blackwood is based on a woman named Christine Fox who is tall, blonde, leggy, and has a penchant for clacking high heels. At the time the movie was being produced, the filmmakers wanted the character of Charlie to either be a groupie or a gymnast, but when the producers met Fox-whose call sign was "Legs"- they changed the role. The fictional Charlie is an astrophysicist, but Fox is a mathematician who worked at the Center for Naval Analyses, which was located across the street from TOP GUN. "They always know when I'm coming," Fox told People in 1985, "because I'm one of the few people around here whose heels click." From December 2013 to February 2014, Fox served as the acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, making her the Defense Department's highest-ever-ranking female officer.
Just before the film started production, one of the producers announced that they wanted to use the Bruce Springsteen song "Born in the U.S.A.", but attempts to secure the song were unsuccessful.
The original soundtrack release initially only included original songs written expressly for the movie. In 2000, the soundtrack was re-released to include "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", "Great Balls of Fire" and "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", existing songs which were prominently featured in the movie.
James Tolkan's character is referred to as "Stinger" in the credits, but is never addressed by anything other than "Sir" throughout the film.
Giorgio Moroder wrote most of the music for the songs on the soundtrack. Tom Whitlock, who wrote the majority of the lyrics to these songs, was the mechanic who worked on Moroder's sports car.
In several locker scenes, one of the lockers is labeled as belonging to "TEX". This is the call sign for one of the Top Gun instructors and MiG pilots that worked on the film, Lieutenant "Tex" William Spence.
In the last fight scene, where Iceman is hit and has to shutdown an engine, the footage of the engine being shutdown is actually footage of the F-14's machine gun firing.
In 1986, jet fuel was pretty cheap - about 1 dollar per gallon. However, Paramount still paid 10,000 dollars an hour every time they went up to film an F-14.
Tom Cruise first met Tony Scott while working for his brother, Ridley Scott, on Legend (1985). Cruise reunited with Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Don Simpson on Days of Thunder (1990), which Cruise co-wrote with Robert Towne.
Brooke Shields and Debra Winger were considered for the role of Charlie Blackwood, but producers wanted an unknown for the part: Kelly McGillis.
Terri Nunn of Berlin states in an interview that she and her band were in Taiwan when they received a call letting her know that the song "Take My Breath Away" was being nominated for an Oscar and asking her to fly out to Los Angeles to perform the song at the Academy Awards. She told them that she would only do it if she could sing the entire song. She was told that that wouldn't be the case as the song was going to be sung in a medley with the other nominated songs. Nunn turned it down. Nunn says she deeply regrets her decision, especially upon finding out that "Take My Breath Away" won the Oscar for "Best Song."
John Travolta was considered for the role of Maverick, but his agent's asking price for him was too high, especially in light of his recent box-office flops.
To capitalize on the film's popularity, the Navy set up booths outside theaters in order to recruit moviegoers to join the Navy-and it worked. When recruiters talked to applicants, about ninety percent said they had seen the movie. The Navy also wove in "Danger Zone"-sounding music and Top Gun-esque shots for its 1987 "Join the Navy" commercial.
During the filming of Top Gun, most of the actors playing the F-14 Fighter Pilots including Val Kilmer, Rick Rossovich, Barry Tubb, & Whip Hubley stayed at the Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego on the west side of Mission Bay. Tom Cruise & Anthony Edwards stayed up in La Jolla as to reflect their respective character's separation on film from the other pilots.
Louis Gossett Jr. was considered for the role of Viper. Gossett, however, did play the older, mentor-type role in another 80s fighter jet film, Iron Eagle (1986).
One of the first films to be selected for the Cinema 52 project, in which a subject watches a film 52 times over the course of a year. Revelations of note about Top Gun resulting from this experiment include: Tom Cruise blinks 469 times, the word "the" is spoken 223 times, and the average time between Air Boss Johnson coffee spills is 27 minutes and 23 seconds.
Kelly McGillis fell for Barry Tubb (Wolfman), literally. "She fell down in the middle of the street, and she had my heart." The two later dated from 1986 to 1987.
Charlie's Porsche 356 Speedster is a replica. Instead of a Porsche logo on the front, it appears to have an Intermeccanica logo. Intermeccanica is an Italian company that makes replica cars.
The aircraft used for the fictional MiG-28s are Northrop F-5E (single seat) and F (two seat) Tiger IIs, which were used by TOP GUN as aggressor aircraft.
Two video games based very loosely on the movie were released on the Nintendo NES. While the first game really had no storyline, the second actually served as a "sequel" storyline, regarding Maverick going up against a new group of villains.
During the pilot briefing before the final air battle, Stinger mentions that the MiGs carry the Exocet anti-ship missile. This is a real missile; however, it is of French manufacture and has never been used by the Soviet Union, nor any of the countries that made up the Soviet Bloc.
Director Tony Scott and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson were so impressed with the song "Take My Breath Away" that they've decided to film more romantic scenes between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis to feature the song.
The scene in which Maverick follows Charlie into the bathroom, was filmed at the Headquarters Building at Recruit Training Command, San Diego. [The Naval Training Center installation was later demolished in the late 1990s to make way for more Navy housing. Before the headquarters building could be inspected for demolition, the bathroom counter that "Maverick" leans on and "stress tests" was stolen.]
Top Gun (1986) was the highest grossing film of 1986. It took in 177 million dollars in the U.S. alone, and 356 million dollars worldwide. Australian hit Crocodile Dundee (1986) was the second biggest film of the year, with Platoon (1986) coming in third.
Don Simpson was known for being a very hands-on producer but was noticeably absent during the making of Top Gun. This was mainly due to the fact that he was in rehab, being treated for his major dependency on prescription drugs. His use of illegal narcotics also led to him becoming increasingly paranoid, to the extent that he rarely left his home.
When the film was first released on VHS, it included a fighter pilot-themed Diet Pepsi commercial prior to the film. When the pilot opens his bottle of Diet Pepsi, but is unable to release it from its cup holder, the pilot flies inverted (much like Maverick does at the beginning of the film) in order to pour the soda into his cup.
During the final furball, Stinger orders, "Ready Willard and Simkin on cats 3 and 4" - a reference to dogfight Choreographer "Rat" Robert Willard and Casting Director Margery Simkin.
Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood's character metamorphosed out of a character called 'Kirsten Lindstrom' and was originally a classic bimbo. 'Dawn Steel', then head of Paramount Pictures, allegedly refused to authorise the project until she was made a more real, intelligent woman.
Counting mentioned and not otherwise mentioned in the movie but only by their callsigns, real names of the pilots/RIOs are:
-Maverick (Tom Cruise): Lieutenant Pete Mitchell.
-Goose (Anthony Edwards): Lieutenant (JG) Nick Bradshaw.
-Iceman (Val Kilmer): Lieutenant Tom Kazansky.
-Hollywood (Whip Hubley): Lieutenant Rick Neven.
-Wolfman (Barry Tubb): Lieutenant (JG) Leonard Wolfe.
-Slider (Rick Rossovich): Lieutenant (JG) Ron Kerner.
-Sundown (Clarence Gilyard Jr.): Lieutenant (JG) Marcus Williams.
-Chipper (Adrian Pasdar): Lieutenant Charles Piper.
-Cougar (John Stockwell): Lieutenant Bill Cortell.
-Merlin (Tim Robbins): Lieutenant (JG) Sam Wills.
-Stinger (James Tolkan): Commander Tom Jardian.
-Charlie (Kelly McGillis): Charlotte Blackwood.
-Jester (Michael Ironside): Lieutenant Commander Rick Heatherly.
-Viper (Tom Skerritt): Commander Mike Metcalf.
-Maverick (Tom Cruise): Lieutenant Pete Mitchell.
-Goose (Anthony Edwards): Lieutenant (JG) Nick Bradshaw.
-Iceman (Val Kilmer): Lieutenant Tom Kazansky.
-Hollywood (Whip Hubley): Lieutenant Rick Neven.
-Wolfman (Barry Tubb): Lieutenant (JG) Leonard Wolfe.
-Slider (Rick Rossovich): Lieutenant (JG) Ron Kerner.
-Sundown (Clarence Gilyard Jr.): Lieutenant (JG) Marcus Williams.
-Chipper (Adrian Pasdar): Lieutenant Charles Piper.
-Cougar (John Stockwell): Lieutenant Bill Cortell.
-Merlin (Tim Robbins): Lieutenant (JG) Sam Wills.
-Stinger (James Tolkan): Commander Tom Jardian.
-Charlie (Kelly McGillis): Charlotte Blackwood.
-Jester (Michael Ironside): Lieutenant Commander Rick Heatherly.
-Viper (Tom Skerritt): Commander Mike Metcalf.
Tatum O'Neal, Jodie Foster, Daryl Hannah, Diane Lane, Sarah Jessica Parker and Linda Hamilton all turned down the role of Charlie. Carrie Fisher was also considered for the role.
During a 2014 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003), Jimmy asked Tom Cruise about the first time he had travelled the world to promote a movie. Cruise said that it was during the foreign press junket tour for Top Gun, which he said took four months to complete, as he'd spend weeks in every city they visited in Italy, France, and Japan. Cruise told Kimmel that he was the one who came up with the idea of premiering films in other countries, though he said that "It took me a few years to get it going." Kimmel quipped, "So all these other actors must want to kill you."
While Navy squadrons do stencil crew names onto aircraft, the airplanes are not assigned for missions on this basis. They are simply rotated in a pool, and at any given time some number of planes are out of rotation for maintenance purposes. Each airwing flew two squadrons of F-14s numbered in the 100s and 200s. Other aircraft types had planes in higher ranges. The lowest numbered airplane in each squadron is nicknamed "nuts", and these are all stenciled with the airwing commander's name. Each squadron has its own commanding officer, and his crew's names would be on the plane numbered -01. The executive officer is on aircraft -02, followed by senior officers in descending order. There are more crews than airplanes, so junior officers are only on airplanes if they are crewed with a senior aircraft commander. In the case of the F-14, radar intercept officers ("backseaters") are in the line of command all the way up to squadron CO, so it is possible to find an F-14 with a senior RIO in the rear seat and a more junior pilot in the front.
The U.S.S. Oriskeny launched John McCain on his fateful flight to The Hanoi Hilton, during the Vietnam War.
Both John Carpenter and David Cronenberg turned down the chance to direct.
The exchange "call the ball", "[X] has the ball" is a part of real life carrier landings. The "ball" in question is a marker on the (Improved) Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System, a set of lights on the carrier's deck. The marker - called "meatball" - shows the pilot how well they are lined up for the landing, whether they are lined up correctly or too high/low, too far left/right. The first part of the exchange - "call the ball" - is the Landing Signal Officer in effect asking the pilot "Do you see the marker on the (I)FLOLS?". The response "[x] has the ball" means "Yes, I do see the marker". This means the landing can proceed. Otherwise the LSO is very likely to call off the landing and the pilot will have to go around and try again.
One of the unused call-signs 'Tombstone' can be seen on a black fighter pilot helmet with three red arrows in promotional photos featuring Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson.
Charlie's house is actually located in Oceanside, California, and still stands today as a tourist attraction.
The squadron patch "Maverick" and "Goose" are seen wearing, which reads "VF-1" is actually that of VAW-120, the "Greyhawks" (formerly VAW-110, the "Firebirds"), which is actually an E2 Hawkeye / C2 Greyhound squadron. Both aircraft are carrier-capable twin-turboprop craft. VF-1 was an F-14 squadron based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, until its disestablishment on October 1, 1993.
An official release of Harold Faltermeyer's score for the film has never been done. Two pieces of score appear on the current soundtrack, but the complete score has yet to be released.
Tony Scott had only a few minutes to film the sex scene.
The call sign 'Sundown' is a reference to VF-111, a squadron of F-14s called The Sundowners that have the same sundown graphic on their tail fins as on Sundown's helmet. VF-111 supplied the F-14s used for Maverick and Goose, and Iceman and Hollywood's Tomcats. In some shots 'VF-111' is visible on the under-engine fins of the F-14s.
Due to their roles as movie villains, MIGs' pilots have no name or identity, never talk and their faces are covered by their helmet, giving them an evil appearance to be "the enemy".
Tony Scott was hired to direct because he filmed an ad of a car racing a jet, similar to one scene.
After the Air Boss yells at Viper about the fly-by, look closely at the tray of coffee the yeoman carries. Right after the Air Boss crashes into it and yells, "that's twice!" the yeoman briefly tips the tray towards the camera, exposing a Pepsi logo for a few frames in a very subtle product placement.
Although the title is "Top Gun", the preferred usage in the military is "Topgun" as seen on the caps several aviators wear.
Jon Voight was considered for the role of Viper.
One of the deck officers on the carrier is named Scott, a reference to director Tony Scott.
Mickey Rourke was offered a role, but turned it down.
Tom Whitlock wrote the lyrics for "Take My Breath Away" while driving home from the studio, and then spent a few hours at home polishing them.
Tony Scott calls the film the "purest form of escapism" and says it "mainlines entertainment."
Throughout the years many films tried to emulate various aspects of the movie in mostly failed attempts to copy its unprecedented success, one of the more notorious examples being Nicolas Cage's Fire Birds (1990), a movie infamously known among its critics as "Top Gun with helicopters."
Instead of the songs from the film's iconic soundtrack, the first trailer for the movie only featured one unrelated number, The Cars' song "Stranger Eyes" from their album "Heartbeat City".
Kelly McGillis was cast because the producers loved her in Witness (1985).
Harold Faltermeyer's music score was the first to be performed and recorded on the polyphonic 16 bit stereo Synclavier Digital Music System.
Along the movie is mentioned several times a prior incident that Maverick had with an Admiral's daughter named Penny Benjamin. Despite Benjamin never is on-screen in the movie, she makes finally her appearance as Maverick's new love interest in Top Gun: Maverick (2021), played by Jennifer Connelly.
Veteran stunt coordinator and helicopter pilot Monty Jordan was on set frequently during filming, and assisted pilot Art Scholl in the aerial sequences. He served as a stand-in occasionally for Michael Ironside, and was also cast unnamed as a U.S. Navy Commander in several scenes during filming.
This was Tony Scott's first experience with filming in the Super 35 format. This was chosen due to the heavy weight of anamorphic lenses, which would cause the cameras to fall off the fighter jets when they turned on their corner and to allow the cameras to fit inside the cockpits of them.
Linda Fiorentino told Charlie Rose that she turned down the role of Charlie Blackwood because it glorified war.
The song Charlie and Maverick discuss at her house is 'Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay' by Otis Redding. Eerily and appropriately, Otis Redding had died in an airplane crash.
"Take My Breath Away" was also offered to The Motels, who subsequently recorded and submitted their own Demo of the song. Lead singer Martha Davis knew the song would be a huge hit, but was ultimately satisfied that their version was passed over, as she wanted her and the band to be better remembered for the songs they wrote themselves.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
The leather jacket Maverick wears has the American flag on the back, over it it says FAR EAST CRUISE 63-4.
The film cast includes one Oscar winner: Tim Robbins and one Oscar nominee: Tom Cruise.
This is the eighth acting credit of both Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan. They were the same age during the filming and both made their debut in 1981.
Kenny Loggins's upbeat song Danger Zone is played three times in the film, which is more than any other song. There is even a thrilling scene in which Maverick races a Tomcat taking off on his motorbike with the song playing.
During the opening dogfight, music from Thief of Hearts (1984), also composed by Harold Faltermeyer, can be heard over-scoring action. The sequence had originally been temp-tracked to this music, so it was used when Faltermeyer had left the project and the score incomplete.
First film role for Adrian Pasdar (who portrays Chipper).
Many of the actors of the film's cast appeared on Oliver Stone's films: Tom Cruise starred in Born on the Fourth of July (1989); Meg Ryan and Val Kilmer were in The Doors (1991) - Kilmer was also in Alexander (2004) and John Stockwell appeared in Nixon (1995).
When the film was first released on VHS, it included a fighter pilot-themed Diet Pepsi commercial prior to the film.
The song "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" that Maverick and Charlie are listening to after the dinner at Charlie's house was written by Otis Redding and Steve Cropper. Cropper, a member of Booker T's backup band, was portrayed as a member of the band in 'The Blues Brothers" and is an inductee into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) (also known as Panther Squadron) was filmed aboard the U.S.S. Oriskany (CV-34) aircraft carrier in 1954 written by U.S. Navy Commander Harry A. Burns. It was inspired by a Saturday Evening Post article, "The Forgotten Heroes of Korea" by James A. Michener.
In the elevator scene as Maverick enters, there is a framed photograph of a ship on the wall behind him. The ship is the USS Los Angeles (CA-135).
In the film Viper tells Maverick Jester called no joy during an exercise. However you never hear it in the film. EDIT: But you don't have to hear Jester calling "no joy" he did so by descending below the hard deck. That is him calling "No joy".
The movie and novel, The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), written by James A. Michener were based on actual missions flown against the railroad bridges at Majon-ni and Samdong-ni, North Korea, when he was a news correspondent aboard the aircraft carriers U.S.S. Essex and U.S.S. Oriskany.
The final combat scenes were inspired by 2 real life incidents, the capture of the US Navy spyship USS Pueblo by North Korea in 1968 and the 1980s Gulf of Sidra engagements where F14 Tomcats downed 4 Libyan MIGs in air to air combat.
The trick of hitting the air brakes and letting the MIG fly by was used by Robert L. Scott in God is My Co-Pilot.
Warren Skaaren and Chip Proser did uncredited rewrites on the screenplay.
Goose plays Great Balls of Fire, by Jerry Lee Lewis, on the piano. His wife is played by Meg Ryan, who was married to Dennis Quaid. Quaid played Lewis in the film Great Balls of Fire.
During the final dogfight scene, Stinger orders, "Ready Willard and Simkin on cats 3 and 4" - an obvious reference to this film's dogfight choreographer "Rat" Robert Willard and its casting director Margery Simkin.
Rick Rossovich (Slider) co-starred in the 1st season of ER. A show Anthony Edwards (Goose) was well known for.
Contrary to common belief Maverick (Tom Cruise) does not actually qualify as Top Gun from Mirimar, it is the Iceman (Val Kilmer) who is top of the class.
Tom Cruise starred with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988). Kelly McGillis went on to star as Mrs. Robinson in the Broadway version of The Graduate (1967), which starred Hoffman as well.
In a film that has the word "Gun" in its title, none of the aircraft in the film are ever shot down by guns.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2001 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies.
The movie was loosely parodied in a Australian Oil and Ulay TV advert in 1989 which a air force pilot runs into his former Top Gun instructor. The female top gun instructor in the advert was played by Virginia Hey. Viriginia Hey had a guest role in Mission: Impossible: The Killer (1988). Tom Cruise later starred in the Mission: Impossible film franchise as Ethan Hunt.
When Maverick tells Charlie his name, she teasingly asks if his parents were being mean to him. Nine years after the release of this film, Sun Microsystems founder Scott McNealy named his son Maverick Scott McNealy, a professional golfer.
In Spain, Ghost Rider call-sign was translated literally as "Jinete Fantasma", instead the real "Motorista Fantasma" as the Marvel Comics character published in 1972 seen in Ghost Rider (2007), since that the character was totally unknown in Spain at those times.
First feature film role for Clarence Gilyard Jr. (who portrays Sundown), all of his previous filmed roles were in TV series and TV movies.
Spoilers
A script for "Top Gun 2" was completed shortly after the release of the film, but it broke down in pre-production because, 1) the military's technology had become updated and they didn't want camera crew anywhere near their new aircraft, and, 2) Tom Cruise did not want a sequel and finally agreed to star in one for a very high amount that was deemed "unaffordable." The script followed the further adventures of Maverick as an instructor at the Top Gun academy, the twist being a cocky female reminiscent of himself joining the team.
The Pentagon demanded script approval to ensure that the Navy was portrayed in a positive light. They demanded the cause of Goose's death be changed from a midair collision to an ejection mishap because the Navy was concerned that it looked like too many pilots were crashing.
Goose's real name is Nick Bradshaw. His name is briefly seen on a flight patch on top of his dresser when Maverick goes to retrieve Goose's belongings after he dies. It can also be seen numerous times written on the side of the F-14 he and Maverick fly. It is most noticeable when Goose hits the canopy after ejecting.
The film was originally going to have a scene near the end where Maverick visited Goose's grave. A filmed version of this scene was never released, however still screen shots from what such a scene would have looked like are available on the special edition DVD.
Goose was originally to have died in a flaming crash aboard an aircraft carrier, but the Navy objected, and the scene was changed to the training accident that has been featured since the film's release.
Early in the movie, Viper explains that Top Gun was established because the kill ratio went from 12 :1 in Korea to 4:1 in Vietnam. He says the reason was that the US pilots became too reliant on missiles and had lost their dogfighting (gun) skills, which is a reference to the title- it is not Top Missile. Top Gun was to fix that by teaching dogfighting skills. In the climax of the movie, 3 US jets take on 6 MIGs. The US loses 1. Maverick and Ice splash 4 MIGs. That's a 4:1 ratio. All the MIGs were shot down by missiles. In fact, none of the US pilots ever fires the 20mm cannon (gun) on their F-14 aircraft. In the final battle, Iceman is hit by cannon fire from one of the MIGs. It could be argued that despite graduating Top Gun, the US pilots were inferior at dogfights as compared to the foreign pilots.
In the ending scene on the ship, when Commander Stinger asks Maverick, "Where would you like to go?" You can clearly see that right next to his locker it says "Goose". Most likely in memoriam of him.
Maverick's father is named Duke Mitchell, a military pilot died in November 5, 1965 during Vietnam War. According Top Gun's web page, the name 'Duke' is a reference for Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, a former Topgun's instructor and the only U.S. Navy pilot ace in the Vietnam War, who along his military carrier won the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, and the Air Medal. He also was Congressman from California from 1991 to 2005.
There was online debates on various websites and on YouTube on who was responsible for Goose's death in the movie. In the film, Maverick is cleared of the incident and that he is not at fault for the plane entering the spin. Some speculated that Maverick was directly responsible for Goose's death and that it was his fault because in the chase of Jester, Maverick continued the leftward turn to follow Jester and he swept through Iceman's jet wash as Iceman moved up and to the right and Maverick followed too closely behind Iceman and refused to back off and Maverick didn't take a less dangerous position because he wanted to get a better shot of Jester. Others speculated that it was Iceman's fault because Maverick told Iceman to break high right and he went left causing Maverick to get caught in his jet stream and he took too long and just had to keep trying to get a lock on the enemy fighter.
Goose saying "You kill me" when he laughs about Iceman's joke about the plaques for the alternates is on display in the ladies room is a foreshadowing of Goose's death. When Goose is killed in the jet wash, Maverick flew into Iceman's jet wash when Iceman rolled out for the chase of Jester's aircraft causing both engines to go out and Maverick going into a flat spin.
Merlin (Tim Robbins) is seen as co-pilot two times in the movie: at the beginning as Cougar's assistant, and the end as Maverick's assistant.
