Well, I just saw the DVD re-release of Top Gun, a film which was arguably the formative experience of my youth. I remember that Dad took me & Tom to see it in the theatre, maybe for my birthday—I don’t believe that John was there, as he was probably too young in ’86 (not even three), and Stephen wouldn’t be born until that August—and although I don’t really remember that experience, I know that it was a defining one. We boys in the schoolyard would discuss every single aspect of the movie. As an example, there were endless debates over whether or not Maverick cast Goose’s dog tags into the sea at the end or not: while it’s pretty obvious from the film that he does so, many of us adhered to the belief that he wouldn’t discard such relics so casually. These and other matter absorbed our every waking hour. I vaguely remember that Katie—the girl across the street—had a signed photo of Tom Cruise, or had met him, or the signed photo led us to believe that she had met him; regardless, she was well and truly cool for a very long period thereafter. The fact that her father was in naval aviation only confirmed the fact.
As boys, I know that we went through at least one Beta (it still plays, last I checked!) and two, maybe three, VHS cassettes of Top Gun, as all four of us boys absolutely loved the film. It offered everything: sports (the volleyball scene); love (Kelly McGillis); death (Goose); violence (the fighting finale); chaos (Maverick’s general misbehaviour); defeat and eventual triumph. It had large doses of humour and tragedy; it had snappy uniforms & attractive women (alongside the aforementioned McGillis there was a 24-year-old Meg Ryan); it had a pumped-up 80s soundtrack. What more could a boy want?
Seeing the movie as an adult, I still enjoy it. Yes, there are those who say that it’s homosexual and cheesy, but I don’t really think so. Even the infamous Tarantino monologue is really a cop-out. If McGillis represents heterosexuality and Iceman homosexuality, then we straights win: Maverick chooses her at the end. But besides the supposed camp undertones, it’s just a fun movie. Sure, it’s not great, in a film-for-the-ages sense, but it’s enjoyable—and isn’t that what we’re looking for in entertainment?
I will admit that the script is…lacking. Quite honestly, a great deal of the lines sound like something from Saved by the Bell—i.e. an adolescent’s idea of adult speech. But it’s all in fun, and that’s what matters. Heck, Shakespeare made a classic play out of two teenagers who couldn’t keep their passions in check! It really gets back to the same things I loved as a boy: the music; the characters; the melodrama; the fighting; the girls.
I firmly believe that Top Gun is responsible for more military careers than any film before or since. It was filmed at the height of the Cold War, when America finally realised that it was fighting the good fight, but before we had actually won it. And many of us who saw it as boys would go on to sign up. My own brothers Tom & Stephen were almost certainly influenced by Bruckheimer & Simpson’s masterpiece, although I wonder how often they’ll actually admit it.
Now, the movie did get just about all of the facts wrong. I understand that pilots don’t actually have planes with their names on them, and their callsigns are very rarely used, and never in social situations, and that a plethora of miscellany about the film is screamingly wrong. But it’s just a film and if one isn’t a naval aviator then one doesn’t notice most of the nonsense. And, to this fellow, a lot of the look still appears accurate: the buildings and fixtures are what I remember naval installations looking like when I was but a lad.
Oh, and Top Gun in DTS Digital Surround is truly fun. You simply must try it…
