Plot
Devil-may-care navy pilot Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent to Miramar Naval Air Station for advanced training. Here he vies with Tom Kasansky (Val Kilmer) for the coveted "Top Gun" award. When not so occupied, Mitchell carries on a romance with civilian consultant Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). Shaken up by the death of a friend, Mitchell loses the Top Gun honor to Kasansky. Worried that he may have lost his nerve, Mitchell is given a chance to redeem himself during a tense international crisis involving a crippled US vessel and a flock of predatory enemy planes. The story wasn't new in 1986, but Top Gun scored with audiences on the strength of its visuals, especially the vertigo-inducing aerial sequences. The film made more money than any other film in 1986 and even spawned a 1989 takeoff, Hot Shots. An Academy Award went to the Giogio Moroder-Tom Whitlock song "Take My Breath Away." ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
The quintessential 1980s blockbuster, Top Gun (1986) may be a slick exercise in macho flyboy ethics, but the kinetic aerial sequences and Tom Cruise's cocky superstar presence make it a perennial crowd-pleaser. Featuring a pre-E.R. Anthony Edwards as the best pal and a bristling Val Kilmer as the nemesis, the story of how Cruise's unsubtly monikered Maverick learns what it takes to truly be a Navy "top gun," with the assistance of Kelly McGillis' fishnet stocking-clad instructor, hits all of the predictable notes. Former television commercial director Tony Scott gave the proceedings a stylish sheen, however, which reached its apex in the flight scenes involving actual Navy hardware zooming, diving, and spinning through energetic MTV-ready dogfights against hostile Soviets. Another hit for flashy action producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun became the top-grossing film of 1986, rocketing Cruise and his grin into the action pantheon and earning several Oscar nominations, including Best Editing. The erotic subtext of Top Gun's male posturing and bonding was memorably deconstructed by Quentin Tarantino in the minor indie film Sleep With Me (1994). ~ Lucia Bozzola, RoviCast
- Tom Cruise - Lt. Pete Mitchell
- Kelly McGillis - Charlotte Blackwood
- Val Kilmer - Tom Kasanzky
- Anthony Edwards - Lt. Nick Bradshaw
- Tom Skerritt - Cmdr. Mike Metcalf
Credit
Warren Skaaren - Associate Producer, Margery Simkin - Casting, John Horton - Consultant/advisor, Bobbie Read - Costume Designer, James Tyson - Costume Designer, Tony Scott - Director, Chris Lebenzon - Editor, Billy Weber - Editor, Harold Faltermeyer - Composer (Music Score), Giorgio Moroder - Composer (Music Score), John F. de Cuir, Jr. - Production Designer, Jeffrey Kimball - Cinematographer, William Badalato - Producer, Jerry Bruckheimer - Producer, Don Simpson - Producer, Robert R. Benton - Set Designer, Gary Gutierrez - Special Effects, Rick Kline - Sound/Sound Designer, Donald O. Mitchell - Sound/Sound Designer, Jim Cash - Screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr. - Screenwriter, George Watters II - Sound Effects Editor, June Samson - Script Supervisor| Top Gun (1955 Film), Top Girl (1996 Film) | |
| Top Gun: The William Tell Story (Film), Top Guns & Toxic Whales (1991 Film) |
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