Top Gun
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tony Scott
Produced by	Don Simpson Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by	Jim Cash Jack Epps Jr.
Based on	“Top Guns” by Ehud Yonay
Starring	Tom Cruise Kelly McGillis Val Kilmer Anthony Edwards Tom Skerritt
Music by	Harold Faltermeyer
Cinematography	Jeffrey L. Kimball
Edited by	Chris Lebenzon Billy Weber
Production company	Simpson/Bruckheimer
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May 12, 1986 (New York City) May 16, 1986 (United States)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$15 million (equivalent to $34.3 million today)
Box office	US$356.8 million($815.5 million today)

Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, in association with Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled “Top Guns” published in California magazine three years earlier. The film stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerritt. Cruise plays Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He and his Radar Intercept Officer, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards) are given the chance to train at the US Navy’s Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.

Top Gun was released on May 16, 1986. Upon its release, the film received generally mixed reviews from film critics but many particularly praised the action sequences, the effects, the aerial stunts, and the acting performances with Cruise and McGillis receiving the most praise. Four weeks after release, the number of theaters showing it increased by 45 percent. Despite its initial mixed critical reaction, the film was a huge commercial hit grossing US$356 million against a production budget of only US$15 million. The film maintained its popularity over the years and earned an IMAX 3D re-release in 2013. Additionally, the film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Take My Breath Away” performed by Berlin.

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. A sequel, titled Top Gun: Maverick is scheduled for release on June 26, 2020.

The primary inspiration for the film was the article “Top Guns” by Ehud Yonay, from the May 1983 issue of California magazine, which featured aerial photography by then-Lieutenant Commander Charles “Heater” Heatley. The article detailed the life of fighter pilots at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, self-nicknamed as “Fightertown USA”. Numerous screenwriters allegedly turned down the project. Bruckheimer and Simpson went on to hire Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr., to write the first draft. The research methods, by Epps, included an attendance at several declassified Topgun classes at Miramar and gaining experience by being flown in an F-14. The first draft failed to impress Bruckheimer and Simpson, and is considered to be very different from the final product in numerous ways.

Actor Matthew Modine turned down the role of LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (that went to Tom Cruise) because he felt the film’s pro-military stance went against his politics.

The producers wanted the assistance of the US Navy in production of the film. The Navy was influential in relation to script approval, which resulted in changes being made. The opening dogfight was moved to international waters as opposed to Cuba, the language was toned down, and a scene that involved a crash on the deck of an aircraft carrier was also scrapped. Maverick’s love interest was also changed from a female enlisted member of the Navy to a civilian contractor with the Navy, due to the US military’s prohibition of fraternization between officers and enlisted personnel. The “Charlie” character also replaced an aerobics instructor from an early draft as a love interest for Maverick after producers were introduced to Christine “Legs” Fox, a civilian mathematician employed by the Center for Naval Analyses as a specialist in Maritime Air Superiority (MAS), developing tactics for aircraft carrier defense.

Julianne Phillips was in consideration for the role of Charlie, and had been scheduled to perform a screen test opposite Tom Cruise.

Former Top Gun instructor pilot and Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham claimed to have been the inspiration for Pete Mitchell, although the film’s producers have denied that the character was based on any specific Naval Aviator.

F-14A Tomcats of Fighter Squadrons VF-51 “Screaming Eagles” and VF-111 “Sundowners”, and F-5E/F Tiger IIs of the Navy Fighter Weapons School

The Navy made several aircraft from F-14 fighter squadron VF-51 “Screaming Eagles” (which Tom Skerritt mentions in the scene at his home) available for the film. Paramount paid as much as US$7,800 per hour (equivalent to $18,200 today) for fuel and other operating costs whenever aircraft were flown outside their normal duties. Shots of the aircraft carrier sequences were filmed aboard the USS Enterprise, showing aircraft from F-14 squadrons VF-114 “Aardvarks” and VF-213 “Black Lions”. The majority of the carrier flight deck shots were of normal aircraft operations and the film crew had to take what they could get, save for the occasional flyby which the film crew would request. During filming, director Tony Scott wanted to shoot aircraft landing and taking off, back-lit by the sun. During one particular filming sequence, the ship’s commanding officer changed the ship’s course, thus changing the light. When Scott asked if they could continue on their previous course and speed, he was informed by the commander that it cost US$25,000 (equivalent to $58,000 today) to turn the ship, and to continue on course. Scott wrote the carrier’s captain a US$25,000 check so that the ship could be turned and he could continue shooting for another five minutes.

Filming and clapperboardof Top Gun on July 5, 1985.Most of the sequences of the aircraft maneuvering over land were shot at Naval Air Station Fallon, in Nevada, using ground-mounted cameras. Air-to-air shots were filmed using a Learjet. Grumman, manufacturer of the F-14, was commissioned by Paramount Pictures to create camera pods to be placed upon the aircraft that could be pointed toward either the front or rear of the aircraft providing outside shots at high altitude.

In July 1985, Kansas City Barbeque served as a filming location for two scenes. The first scene features Goose and Maverick singing “Great Balls of Fire” while seated at the piano. The final scene, where “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” can be heard on the restaurant’s jukebox, was also filmed at the restaurant. Both scenes were filmed consecutively. After release of the movie, the restaurant went on to collect a significant amount of memorabilia from the motion picture until a kitchen fire on June 26, 2008, destroyed much of the restaurant. Some memorabilia and props, including the original piano used in the film, survived the fire, and the restaurant re-opened in November 2008.

Renowned aerobatic pilot Art Scholl was hired to do in-flight camera work for the film. The original script called for a flat spin, which Scholl was to perform and capture on a camera on the aircraft. The aircraft was observed to spin through its recovery altitude, at which time Scholl radioed “I have a problem… I have a real problem”. He was unable to recover from the spin and crashed his Pitts Specialbi-plane into the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast near Carlsbad on September 16, 1985. Neither Scholl’s body nor his aircraft were recovered, leaving the official cause of the accident unknown. Top Gun was dedicated to Scholl’s memory.

The Top Gun soundtrack is one of the most popular soundtracks to date, reaching 9× Platinum certification and #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart for five nonconsecutive weeks in the summer and fall of 1986.^[19] Harold Faltermeyer, who previously worked with both Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson on Beverly Hills Cop, was sent the script of Top Gun by Bruckheimer before filming began. Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock worked on numerous songs including the Oscar-winning “Take My Breath Away“. Kenny Loggins performed two songs on the soundtrack, “Playing with the Boys“, and “Danger Zone“. Berlin recorded the song “Take My Breath Away”, which would later win numerous awards, sending the band to international acclaim. After the release of Loggins’s single “Danger Zone”, sales of the album exploded, selling 7 million in the United States alone. On the re-release of the soundtrack in 2000, two songs that had been omitted from the original album (and had been released many years before the film was made), “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by The Righteous Brothers, were added. The soundtrack also includes “Top Gun Anthem” and “Memories” by Steve Stevens/Faltermeyer and Faltermeyer.

Other artists were considered for the soundtrack project but did not participate. Bryan Adams was considered as a potential candidate but refused to participate because he felt the film glorified war. The band Toto was originally meant to record “Danger Zone”, and had also written and recorded a song “Only You” for the soundtrack. However, there was a dispute between Toto’s lawyers and the producers of the film, paving the way for Loggins to record “Danger Zone” and “Only You” being omitted from the film entirely.

The film’s premiere was held in New York City on May 12, 1986 with another held in San Diego on May 15.

In addition to its box office success, Top Gun went on to break further records in the then still-developing home video market. Backed by a massive US$8 million marketing campaign including a Top Gun-themed Diet Pepsi commercial, the advance demand was such that the film became the best-selling videocassette in the industry’s history on pre-orders alone. It was also one of the first video cassette releases in the US$20 price range. Top Gun‘s home video success was again reflected by strong DVD sales, which were furthered by a special-edition release in 2004.

Subsequently, the film was released in Blu-ray 3D on February 19, 2013.

The film quickly became a success and was the highest-grossing film of 1986. It would be six months before its theater count dropped below that of its opening week. It was number one on its first weekend with a gross of US$8,193,052, and went on to a total domestic gross of US$176,781,728. Internationally it took in an estimated US$177,030,000 for a worldwide box office total of US$353,811,728. The film sold an estimated 47,650,100 tickets in North America in its initial theatrical run.

The film grossed an additional US$3,018,873 in its IMAX re-release in 2013 bringing its domestic gross to US$179,800,601 and its worldwide gross to US$356,830,601.

Upon the film’s original release, critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 55% based on reviews from 55 critics, with an average rating of 5.85/10. The website’s critical consensus states: “Though it features some of the most memorable and electrifying aerial footage shot with an expert eye for action, Top Gun offers too little for non-adolescent viewers to chew on when its characters aren’t in the air.” On Metacritic, the film has a weighted averagescore of 50 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying that “Movies like Top Gun are hard to review because the good parts are so good and the bad parts are so relentless. The dogfights are absolutely the best since Clint Eastwood‘s electrifying aerial scenes in Firefox. But look out for the scenes where the people talk to one another.”

The film was nominated for and won many awards, most prominently for its sound and effects. The film won the following awards: