About the movie

Maverick (Tom Cruise) is a reckless F-14 pilot who flies by instinct and breaks all of the rules. While attending the Navy's elite air combat training academy, affectionately known as "Top Gun," Maverick romances the civilian astrophysics instructor (Kelly McGillis) and competes with crackerjack pilot Ice (Val Kilmer) for top honors. He is the quintessential rebel, upsetting senior officers with his antics and risk-taking while simultaneously amazing them with his skill. In the end, Maverick overcomes a tragic loss and his need to stand out in the crowd and proves that he can shine as part of a team. Anthony Edwards stars as Maverick's best friend and co-pilot, Goose, and Meg Ryan first garnered attention as Goose's wife, Carole. Superb state-of-the-art aerial photography makes TOP GUN, directed by Tony Scott, one of the most exciting and entertaining films of its genre. This top grossing movie of 1986 is allegedly based on a Navy fighter pilot program at the Miramar Naval Base in San Diego, California, and was filmed on location at the base.

Reviews 

Jingoism, beefcake, military hardware, and a Giorgio Moroder rock score reign supreme over taste and logic in this Tony Scott film  about a maverick trainee pilot (Tom Cruise) who can't follow the rules at a Navy aviation training facility. The dogfight sequences  between American and Libyan jets at the end are absolutely mechanical, though audiences loved it at the time. The love story between  Cruise's character and that of Kelly McGillis is like flipping through pages of advertising in a glossy magazine. This designer action movie  from

1986 would be all the more appalling were it not for the canny casting of good actors in dumb parts. Standouts include Anthony  Edwards--who makes a nice impression as Cruise's average-Joe pal--and the relatively unknown Meg Ryan in a small but memorable  appearance. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, optional French soundtrack, optional Spanish  subtitles, and closed captioning. --Tom Keogh. 

C. Jeff Dyrek, Webmaster.