Top Gun

Released in 1986, *Top Gun* is an American action drama directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Its screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., drawing on Ehud Yonay’s 1983 *California* magazine article about the U.S. Navy’s fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise plays Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a gifted but impulsive F-14 Tomcat pilot. Anthony Edwards plays his radar intercept officer and friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw; Val Kilmer plays rival student Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

The opening encounter with unidentified fighters establishes Maverick’s talent and disregard for orders. After another pilot, Cougar, resigns from flight duty, Maverick and Goose are sent to TOPGUN at Naval Air Station Miramar near San Diego. There they train under Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf, played by Tom Skerritt, and Lieutenant Commander Rick “Jester” Heatherly, played by Michael Ironside. Maverick also begins a relationship with civilian instructor Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood, played by Kelly McGillis. Her initial skepticism about his account of an enemy aircraft changes when she learns that his unusual maneuver was real. Maverick’s competition with the disciplined Iceman runs throughout the course.

During a training flight, Maverick and Goose’s F-14 enters a flat spin after passing through another jet’s wake. They eject, but Goose fatally strikes the aircraft’s canopy. Cleared of wrongdoing, Maverick nevertheless struggles with guilt and considers leaving the Navy. Viper tells him about his father, Duke Mitchell, a naval aviator whose death had long troubled Maverick. Iceman wins the training trophy, while Maverick completes the course. When graduates are called into combat against hostile MiG-28s, Maverick initially pulls away after another pilot ejects. Remembering Goose, he regains his composure, returns to protect Iceman, and helps secure victory. He requests an assignment teaching at TOPGUN.

The movie’s aerial sequences used U.S. Navy aircraft and personnel, with Grumman F-14 Tomcats prominently featured. Its fictional MiG-28s were portrayed by Northrop F-5E Tiger II jets painted black. Aerial cameraman and stunt pilot Art Scholl died during production while filming a spin; the finished movie is dedicated to him. Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone” became closely associated with the flying scenes, while Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away,” written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. *Top Gun* was the highest-grossing film at the U.S. box office in 1986. Cruise returned as Maverick in the 2022 sequel.