May 18, 1986. TOP GUN launched its first weekend in US theaters and catapulted to iconic status.
The winning strategy? Tom Cruise, locker room hunks, high-octane action, a kick-ass soundtrack, plus the Mach-2-with-your-hair-on-fire undisputed top dog muscle machine of US naval aviation.
The movie cost $15,000,000 to make. It made $31,000,000 in sales in the first two weekends alone. Total revenue: $345,000,000, a gross margin of 2,300%.
Sales of Kawasaki Ninjas, bomber jackets and Ray-Ban Aviators went ballistic, too.
Tom Cruise and the F-14 Tomcat were escorted by completely unknown actors. Meg Ryan (later Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail). Anthony Edwards (ER). Kelly McGillis (Witness). Val Kilmer (Heat, Doors, Batman Forever). Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption, Bull Durham).
Tim Robbins?!
It’s hard to remember 25 years later, but there were other actors in TOP GUN. It was a cast of stars, but we didn’t know it back then.
Has it really been 25 years?! Twenty-five years ago, my son and now co-pilot Carlo was just learning to walk.
I imagine that those who criticize this movie also look upon the Three Stooges with disgust for not exploring the depth of Moe’s antagonistic relationship with Curly. The fact is that only about 10% of films have the depth of a Citizen Kane or Godfather. Among the other 90%, Top Gun is the best of the best.
— Brandon Toy, Amazon.com
There were so many half-naked male beefcake scenes that Quentin Tarantino deemed TOP GUN the ultimate gay movie (there’s a YouTube video…).
Tom Cruise was 23 and dyslexic. He went on to became a real pilot, learned to fly in 1994, six years after TOP GUN.
Today he owns an aerobatic Pitts Special S2B, a P-51 Mustang and a Gulfstream jet. Commercial license, multi-engine and instrument ratings.
Headin’ into twilight
Spreadin’ out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin’ off the deck
And shovin’ into overdrive
Highway to the Danger Zone
I’ll take you right into the Danger Zone— Kenny Loggins
Tom Cruise (and his computer-designed face) was the star, but the F-14 Tomcat was best supporting actor. “Tomcat” because it ruled the neighborhood, had cat’s eyes and many lives, and, even if it lost an ear or tail, always got home.
Grumman “Ironworks,” famed builder of Navy fighter aircraft from World War II onwards, designed the F-14 with sweeping switchblade wings that could re-shape the airplane into an arrowhead at 2.5 times the speed of sound, 1,400+ miles per hour!
Its radar detected ‘bandits’ out to 100+ miles, tracking up to 24 targets while scanning for more. No known technology beats that even today.
Match that with the baddest missile ever. No air-to-air weapon competes with the Tomcat’s AIM-54 Phoenix missile – 100-mile range, Mach 5, launch and leave, its own radar to track the target. At $500,000 a pop, not for shooting Cessnas.
The flying scenes are the heart of the movie. No Hollywood computer graphics here — noted Hollywood aerial choreographer Clay Lacy filmed real dogfights among Topgun instructors from his Learjet.
Maverick’s rolling scissors against Viper or Iceman’s F-14 in a fur ball with five swirling F-5s impress me even more now that I am a real pilot.
Last May 18, TOP GUN’s 25th Anniversary, I discovered a book in Singapore, Topgun Days. A 25-year old photo shows author Dave “Bio” Baranek and actor Anthony “Goose” Edwards. Like identical twins.
In 1985 the author (right, above) was an instructor at Topgun (the Fighter Weapons School’s correct nickname is a single word). He flew F-5s in the movie. Anecdotes about the film ripple through the later chapters.
The Navy allowed filming at Topgun, and aboard aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and the USS Ranger were used in the film (the USS Carl Vinson, Bin Laden’s hearse, contributed F-14s).
In post-production, author Baranek reviewed the dogfight scenes and spontaneously added lines for increased authenticity.
“Two A-4’s, left 10 o’clock level, continue left turn.”
“Watch the mountains!”
“C’mon, do some of that pilot shit!”
The screenwriters eagerly recorded and loved it all! Real pilot talk.
It was also author Baranek who suggested voice-over lines to help Director Tony Scott portray the passage of time in Topgun’s 5-week training course.
“Gentlemen, this is Hop nineteen, multiple aircraft, multiple bogies. Your training is half over.”
Topgun instructors “Viper” Pettigrew and “Heater” Heatley had cameo roles. Renowned aerobatic pilot Art Scholl crashed while filming a flat spin for the movie. The movie was dedicated to his memory.
Twenty-five years ago.
Today, Miramar is no longer a Naval Air Station. Topgun, the US Navy Fighter Weapons School, closed in 2003.
Grumman is extinct. And the F-14 Tomcat, the most famous jet fighter in the world, retired in 2006. Not a single one flies today.
Turning and returning to some secret place to hide
Watching in slow motion as you turn to me and say
Take my breath away.— Berlin
Academy Award, Best Original Song
Anthony “Goose” Edwards has lost nearly all his hair, and Val “Iceman” Kilmer looks heavier than an F-14. Tom “Viper” Skerritt is now 78.
But Tom Cruise proves an aviation secret – real pilots never grow old.
Maverick, you big stud. Take me to bed or lose me forever!”
— Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood
Posted from Bangkok, May 25, 2011
Other neat TOP GUN websites – click on the links!
Cool behind-the-scenes site. Charlie stood in a trench in the last scene, to make her shorter than Maverick (Tom Cruise is 5’7”).
Charlie’s house is scheduled to be demolished. The volleyball courts are long gone. The San Diego restaurant where Goose played the piano became famous, collected Goose’s helmet and the “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” jukebox, then lost everything in a fire. Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! TOP GUN filming locations!
BUT the same restaurant recovered from the fire, helps celebrate the 25th anniversary of TOP GUN.
Since 1985, one of the real pilots in the movie rose to four-star Admiral rank, commanding all US forces in the Pacific. Another commanded the Enterprise, the aircraft carrier used in the movie. More TOP GUN trivia here.
A biker in Germany recreates a Kawasaki Ninja exactly according to the movie, lots of pictures of the 1985 filming, including an immaculate 1/12 scale model made by a friend.
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How can one forget this movie?
It was the best of the best in its time…. inspired my son and still inspires him to fly.
We have a CD copy of this and we still do watch it even now that my TOP is Gone.
Thanks for the memories!
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Hey Tim,
Funny how both our sons were inspired to fly by TOP GUN. Carlo was born on the year TOP GUN came out (so now everyone knows his age, haha!). The year he was born, I was browsing a Betamax (remember those?) shop, and saw a video playing with … Holy Cow, that’s an F-14 Tomcat! On an aircraft carrier catapult! I just had to have it! Before that we only saw Navy jets on Final Countdown, not a bad movie but a bit cartoony. TOP GUN had the F-14 as one of the stars!
When the video came out for sale in March 1987 (remember the TOP GUN themed Diet Pepsi commercial?), we were one of the first buyers. Carlo wore out that videocassette, literally. He watched the movie every single morning. He was still learning to walk, and he already knew how to fast-forward past the “boring” love scenes 🙂 Airplanes, jets, fighter pilots! That’s all he cared about. At toddler age!
TOP GUN broke many records in the home video market, which was a very young, new market then. The demand was so strong that the movie became the top-selling videocassette just on pre-orders alone! In those days, a videocassette was an astounding 2,000 Pesos, about $100. Sold out everywhere.
Thanks for your comment, Tim!
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That movie was an inspiration for me as a modeler. I wanted to build the first F14 I saw on the scale model shelf!
I wish our PAF was as strong…okay half as strong. As my professor said, “Sorry boys. It’s full of Air with no Force!”.
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Hey Noel,
I used to build scale models one after the other. Then I kinda “outgrew” it, stopped for maybe 5 or 6 years. The usual suspects — high school, girlfriend, etc. Then in freshman year at UP, the urge hit me again. This time I knew more about ‘real’ scale modeling, including finishing and display techniques. I played hooky from class, took the Love Bus (you’re probably too young to remember?) and went to Makati on a vague mission to buy a good model. Had no idea where to go, wandered around and then found … LIL’s!! They were still in Maranaw, where Landmark is now.
It was a 1/72 Monogram F-14. 1974. Then I went on to get a Hasegawa model in the same scale, about 4 years later. Then I got a Tamiya 1/48 monster, beautiful detail.
All at LIL’s, at various locations they had before they settled down at Park Square.
Now I have 3 die-cast 1/72 F-14s 🙂 Two in Bangkok and one in Manila.
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Thanks Tonet, a great read as always. It’s a bit hard to believe that it has been 25 years! I watched that movie all throughout high school and college. The flying scenes were awesome to watch over and over, and the best thing is, they were real F-14s, A-4s and F-5s filmed turning and burning all over the sky! No CGI back in those days.
So the Navy Fighter Weapons School closed down? I thought it was transferred to NAS Fallon in Nevada when NAS Miramar was closed.
And yes, the real star of course was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The badass of all Grumman Ironworks products. They still fly today though, in the Iranian Imperial Air Force. Ironic? 🙂
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Paolo, it was fun writing it, too 🙂 Yes, no computer graphics then! There were camera tricks and scale model shots, as in Star Wars, which came out 9 years earlier, believe it or not. TOP GUN was entirely live action, though, including all shipboard and aerial scenes.
The US Navy Fighter Weapons School had trained all F-4 and all F-14 squadrons by 2003. Remember, Topgun was established in 1969 to correct the atrocious kill ratio the US Navy was experiencing in air-to-air combat in Vietnam. A study was done (look up the “Ault Commission”) that determined that the Navy’s combat pilots had lost the fine art of Air Combat Maneuvering or ACM — dog fighting. They thought ACM skills were rendered obsolete by missiles, which would kill bandits BVR — beyond visual range. Guess what.
Also, most ACM then was conducted by squadrons among themselves — F-4s fighting F-4s. The concept of DACT — Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics — emphasized instead the tactics to be used against dissimilar aircraft with different performance. How do you kill an enemy that is faster but turns slower?
Once the religion had spread throughout the Navy by the late 1980s, and the Cold War ended the Fleet Defense interceptor mission, the mission of Topgun changed. Now the Navy had to prepare for low-intensity conflicts like the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Consider Afghanistan. Here is an adversary with no air force, no navy, no army. There is no such thing as a Taliban armed forces. (And yet the US can’t defeat them after 10 years.)
The mission became one of precision strike — mud-moving. So Topgun became a department of the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (see the NSAWC shield in the “School’s Out” patch on the blog post?). The NSAWC emphasizes strike missions, and is centered at NAS Fallon, Nevada, with detachments training the East Coast squadrons in NAS Oceana.
Naval Air Station Miramar was not closed, but was converted into Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. You can still see it on Google Earth. As well as all the other movie locations for TOP GUN. 😀
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How interesting to read about the movie from a pilot’s perspective! 🙂
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Pilots are gods and never grow old.
(Actually they never grow up, haha!) I hope you enjoyed the article 🙂
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Correction, sir. F-14’s still fly today. With the Iranian Air Force 😉
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You may be right, but I remember reading somewhere that the last two Iranian F-14s were grounded last year for lack of spare parts.
You know, I’ve actually been to Tehran. The people were a lot like Filipinos — hospitable, affable, great sense of humor. And a lot like Italians — very family oriented, lots of traditions centered around gallantry and courtesy. (There was a Pinoy singer doing Freddie Aguilar’s ‘Anak’ at the restaurant were were in!) Most people, including me, tend to forget that Iran was the largest US ally in the Middle East until 1979. The US sold the Shah Reza Pahlavi eighty (!) F-14 Tomcats, which at the time was the most modern, sophisticated US combat aircraft in the world. Kinda reminds you of the precarious relationship with Pakistan, Mubarak, etc. I believe the Iranian Tomcats even had Phoenix missiles. Both you and Rick B. have pointed out the Iranian F-14s, and I’ll delegate Carlo to research it, haha 🙂
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Before the US techs left Iran, the F14’s avionics were all sabotaged…the performance of the F14 was still there but what made it the preimire fighter of the day did not work for the Iranian pilots…
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Still wondering how the Iranians are keeping their F-14s airworthy. They must have started remanufacturing parts from reverse engineering, years ago.
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What the US considered airworthy and what the Iranians considered airworthy was/is considerable…towards the end the Iranians couldn’t even have the wings all the way in the back, which meant the Iranian F14 couldn’t even go supersonic…
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Wow. Combat ineffective?
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Nice one Supremo!!
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Thanks, it was fun writing it! 😀
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I’ve wanted to see Iran since I’ve finished the book “Whirlwind” by James Clavell. It was about a helicopter charter company stuck in country during the fall of the Shah.
I hope the Iranians are still keeping those birds flying. I don’t like thinking of ’em truly gone just yet 😦 Hope a warbird organization chooses to get one.
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You can actually get a tourist visa. They really are very nice people. Iran is far less fundamentalist that other big US ally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In Iran, women can drive, only need to wear a head dress (Hermes, LV, etc, doesn’t need to be black), can wear jeans, can sit in front seats of cars, … . And 70% of all university students are women. All impossible things in the Kingdom. Iran has been demonized beyond all reason. You would be surprised at how many Iranians (particularly the tens of thousands educated in the US before 1979) are dual citizens of Iran and the US.
Iran isn’t even an Arab country (they RESENT that comparison). They are Persian. In fact they went to war for 8 years against an Arab country. Yes, they are Muslim, but so is Indonesia, Malaysia, … .
W. wanted to NUKE these people.
Anyway, yeah, they have the only F-14s left. Irony, as our other Paolo points out.
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Anthony Edwards is the real top gone 🙂
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Kelly McGillis is almost there, too 😀
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Hi Tonet,
I actually got into it when I was in grade 4. There were selling paper planes then that you cut, glue together with Rugby and form. Geesh…Rugby!.
Then I got a 1/72 Panther Tank (Matchbox) from a classmate during our class Christmas Party. After that, everything is history. I now have 3 Carriers (3 feet long), a 1/200 scale Yamato (almost 5 feet long) and a heck of a collection of 1/32 scale models. I think I have more “toys” than my son!
Like you, I got off it for a while due to the opposite sex. Then got back. Now, I am still hooked. It still keeps my sanity intact. Believe me. 🙂
Noel
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Well, some people get lobotomies. Others are healed by hobbies. I don’t have the eyesight for this anymore, sadly. Once in a while, I see a great kit, and I almost — almost — pick it up… .
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Whoa! Top Gun!
I was only three or four years old when I first watched this, but the elders booted me out of the room when the intimate scene between Maverick and Charlie came in…and asked me to come back after that…hahahaha!
I still have a copy of that movie here….and is really amazed of the way they filmed it – no computer generated images, and that was 25 years ago.
This is the film that made me fascinated with airplanes.
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Kirk, welcome to Flying in Crosswinds! Here’s a bit of movie trivia for you, about that scene. It was shot in post-production. After the movie was reviewed by test audiences, the viewers complained about the lack of a love scene (hey, it was the 80’s). So they shot another scene with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. By that time they were already working on their next movies, and McGillis had dyed her hair a much darker shade, and Cruise was sporting much longer hair, required for his next movie. So they shot the love scene in the dark., to hide the changes.
They also did the elevator scene the same way, so push the relationship further along and make the later love scene more credible. That’s why Charlie is wearing a hat in the elevator. To hide her much darker hair.
Glad it brought back memories for you, haha!
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I was only 10 years old (4th Grade) when Top Gun became a smash hit back in ’86. When I first saw the jet, it was like love-at-first-sight. I told myself, “If given the chance to fly any plane, I’ll pick the F-14 anytime over anything out there.” And back in ’86, this plane was “it” — and I’m sure the Eagle and Phantom drivers here will have a problem with that.
Tonet was right, I’m a Tomcat nut. Back in ’89, I had peritonitis (something way nastier than appendicitis) and had to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency surgery. The doctor said if I’ll be lucky, I’d be out of the hospital in two weeks or so.
Long story short, I was discharged from the hospital 10 days after surgery. How? I found out one of the local TV stations was gonna air Top Gun for their Saturday Night Movie Special and there’s no way I’m gonna miss the movie.
I was discharged Saturday morning. Hehe!
Talk about mind over matter. I have the scar of the 14 stitches I’ve got to prove it.
Check Six!
– Shadowfox
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The F14 Tomcat is really a great plane and the movie made it alive to my own eyes. I love the faded version of the Lo-viz Tommy and they look equally great with their Hi-Viz brothers.
My fellow IPMS Member, Don Olson, who used to be a mechanic of that bird told a funny story. He went to San Diego to watch a Topgun airshow there. When he saw the bird approaching the grandstand, he noticed the bird break the sound barrier. Knowing what it would do to the people in the grandstand, he stood and walked up to the back of the grandstand. When the birds flew by, all the shakes, ice cream, hotdogs, softdrinks, water, napkins and what-have-you where on the crowds’ clothes, face, hair and everywhere. The announcer voiced his apology in behalf of the pilot. But the crowd seem to love it. Hehehe.
My fellow modelers at IPMS Manila went nuts on the new model releases of this bird. The Trumpeter brand at 1/32 scale is HUGE! My fellow members started buying after-market detail parts for their models and the details they are placing on them is insane. One of them wants to model Ice’s bird and the other want’s do Mavrick’s tommy. The 1/32 scale model is around 1.5 feet long! The cockpit is wide enough to fit a watch!
This Top Gun movie truly sunk our love for the F14 for ages. And even if age is getting into all of us, it still draws back our boyhood memories.
Noel
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That’s a big model. Nearly half a meter long! I had a 1/48 F-14 Tomcat, Tamiya, I think, and all I could really finish was the cockpit. That became a masterpiece. That was, oh, about 20 years ago. The rest of the airplane is still in pieces… .
That’s a cool story about the supersonic Tomcat! 🙂
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Here are pics of the F18 Top Gun Aggressor Scale Model they now use for practice. I built it at 1/48 scale.
http://ipmsmanila.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=air&action=display&thread=1409
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Well Tonet. If that Tommy will stay in pieces for another 20, better give it to me as a early Santa present and I will put it to life. 🙂
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Thanks to TOPGUN I got interested with F-14 and the electric guitar thanks to top gun anthem.:)
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When are you going to have a chance to visit here? We need to have another one of those jamming sessions in Osh’s piano. And your brother needs to fly 🙂
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[…] rather than Iceman and Maverick lighting adult a skies during Mach 2, banishment missiles and homoerotic comments in all directions, poky, odd-looking drones round […]
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[…] modern morale patch, in all its sarcasm and glory, can be largely credited to US Navy pilots. ( Tom Cruise in Top GUN also did his part) These warriors, in 1981, shot down two Libyan Su-22 Planes that had engaged […]
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[…] modern morale patch, in all its sarcasm and glory, can be largely credited to US Navy pilots. ( Tom Cruise in Top GUN also did his part) These warriors, in 1981, shot down two Libyan Su-22 Planes that had engaged […]
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