Top Gun (1986)

Secret Confessions of a Movie Buff: I loved Top Gun when it came out in 1986, mostly due to having a mad crush on Kelly McGillis. 30 years later and it's still a guilty pleasure of mine.

Tom Cruise, in the role that made him a superstar, is Navy hotshot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. He's one of the best pilots in the Navy, but he's reckless and has no respect for authority. Despite this, when the best on his carrier tosses in his wings, Maverick and RIO Goose (Anthony Edwards) get sent to the elite Naval Flight Academy, nicknamed Top Gun. There Maverick runs afoul of rival Iceman (Val Kilmer) and instructor Jester (Michael Ironside), romances civilian instructor Charlie (McGillis), and learns the truth about his father from chief instructor Viper (Tom Skerritt).

Let's be objectively honest here. Top Gun is a ridiculous piece of Reagan-era Cold War patriotic claptrap. It's really nothing more than pure pop eye candy. For that matter, it's eye candy for whatever your taste is: aerial dogfights, topless men playing volleyball, Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan, rocking 80s soundtracks, even bad karaoke. It's the very definition of mindless summer blockbuster.

Which is exactly why it works.

Nobody, even in 1986, ever argued this was a good movie. It's not. But it is a fun movie, making it a good summer movie. It's the type of movie that lets you turn your brain off and just soak it all in. Okay, so the dialogue is hilariously awful. Every other line seems to have a homoerotic subtext to it, too, which is doubly hilarious since the movie bends over backwards to prove how macho it is.

Of course, besides the ridiculous dialogue, this is a movie that never met a cliche it didn't like. Sure, the specter of Maverick's dad hangs over things since the old man died in disgrace but was really a hero. Sure, the moment Goose's wife (Ryan) shows up, we know he's doomed and not fifteen minutes later, Goose is gone. Of course Maverick is going to doubt himself after Goose's death and almost drop out only to redeem himself when the Godless Commies attack at the end. Naturally, big rival Iceman and Maverick are going to become good friends at the end. Hell, even McGillis is a cliche: she shows up 20 minutes or so into the movie, walks out an hour later, and comes back right at the end just so the love story can have a Boy meets Girl/Boy loses Girl/Boy gets Girl in the end trajectory!

But ultimately it's the dogfights that make the movie. 30 years later and they're still mad impressive. This was before the age of CGI, so those are real planes (and some models) in the air doing the crazy acrobatics we see. These acrobatics did ultimately cost the life of stuntman of Art Scholl, leading the film to be dedicated to him. Ironically, the reason a sequel wasn't made back then was due to every bit of footage shot for the dogfights ending up on screen. When Paramount learned that, they didn't want to invest in the money to shoot more for the sequel, even though this was the biggest movie of the year.

Top Gun was so successful that for much of  the rest of the 80s, Tom Cruise would keep remaking it, trading out professions and leading ladies. Days of Thunder (racing/Nicole Kidman), Cocktail (bartender/Elisabeth Shue) and both beat for beat redos of Top Gun. Finally, Cruise decided to start actually acting and has since developed the best career out of the rest of the cast. Meg Ryan for a time became America's sweetheart. McGillis went on to do movie after movie where she took off her clothes but only had one more real good movie left in her, 1988's The Accused, which realistically was more Jodie Foster's comeback than anything. Kilmer had a decent career until he became too difficult in the mid-90s. Tom Skerritt and Anthony Edwards went on to have small screen success with Picket Fences and ER, respectively.

It's worth mentioning that Top Gun was converted to 3D and re-issued to theaters and Blu Ray as such in 2013. Director Tony Scott personally supervised the 3D conversion before committing suicide. In that sense, Top Gun was his first big film and, with the reissue, also his last.

Is Top Gun dated? Absolutely. Everything about it screams 1986: the attitude, the fashions, the soundtrack. Despite that, it's still a movie that's pure entertainment. If you're looking for an intelligent, thoughtful movie, forget it. If you're looking for a good time for a couple of hours, though, this is it.