TOP GUN (1986) Revisited: Tom Cruise Movie Review

i want you to hit me as hard as you can in 1983 tom cruise became a legitimate star upon the release of the slick stylish sex comedy risky business but it would take another much bigger film to make him the phenomenon that we know and love to this day and that movie would be 1986's tony scott classic top gun produced by hitmakers don simpson and jerry brookharmer it married the mtv aesthetic of their previous hit flash dance with high flying action and with tom cruise they had an actor that was on the verge of super stardom that would be unrivaled with many believing that he's perhaps the greatest movie star of all time but how did it all happen that's what we're going to tell you all about in top gun revisited [Music] flashback to the year 1983 now this was a very important year for most of the principals involved with top gun don simmons and jerry brookheimer had a major hit at paramount with flashdance with it being the first movie to fully embrace the then trendy music video style that was driving kids in the u.s crazy they just couldn't get enough of it on mtv so it only figured that it would carry over to film flashdance had probably a thin storyline with it being about a beautiful welder who moonlights as a dancer but it had oodles of style and a red-hot soundtrack in addition to a gorgeous leading lady in jennifer beals now with this they had the three elements that they would use over and over and over again simpson and brookheimer these three elements were the music the style and the sex appeal of the lead it was a formula that would serve them very well in top gun meanwhile director tony scott also had a movie out 1983 the hunger starring catherine dinev susan sarandon and david bowie it was a giant flop but simpson and brookheimer must have seen it and noted the stylishness because whatever faults it may have it is one cool looking movie and it would adapt perfectly to their winning formula at the same time the two future leads of top gun each had their breakout roles with cruz being propelled to movie star status with risky business while kelly mcgillis got noticed in the successful sleeper hit ruben rubin the next few years would be pivotal ones for all involved simpson and bruckheimer tried the flash dance aesthetic in two films one 1984's thief of hearts was a flop but the other beverly hills cop was a box office mega hit in the meantime kelly mcgillis also had a hit when she starred opposite harrison ford in 1985's witness although tom cruise's career hadn't yet made it to the next level he had two movies come out after risky business one was 1983's all the right moves which was a decent sized hit but 1985's legend directed by tony scott's brother ridley was a giant flop he needed a hit fast oh but he would get one thank you for watching our show if you like what you see please subscribe to our joe blow originals channel tell your friends who like this sort of content and turn on the bell to receive notifications for all of our latest videos we're an independent company and we appreciate all of your support the genesis of top gun has its roots in an article in california magazine which profiled the hotshot pilots training at a naval base in miramar dubbed fighter town usa simpson and brookheimer saw the potential of the premise and commissioned the screenplay by jack epps and jim cash tony scott was hired to direct not necessarily on the basis of the hunger but rather because of this commercial that he did for saab as you can see from that commercial all the elements are there when it came time to cast the lead it was really a no-brainer for all involved lieutenant pete maverick mitchell is a perfect movie star part he's a rebel but one with a strict code of honor and a heroic streak for simpson and brookheimer the role was always meant for tom cruise even if other actors such as matthew modine have said that they were offered the part it was the first film of his career that cruz would help build from the ground up and set the tone for the rest of his career so many of the tom cruise trademarks show up here for the first time including his signature close-cropped haircut and his patented mix of boyishness and rebelliousness that would make audiences fall in love with him worldwide oh and this is also the first movie where tom cruise rides a motorcycle for children of the 80s you know tom cruise was the cool older brother that he just always wanted he was the guy that showed up on his motorcycle with a lady on the back and seemed too cool for school we all wanted to beat tom cruise what someone like james dean was to the 50s or even the fawns to the 70s top guns maverick was to the 80s and beyond even though it's a role he avoided making a sequel to for decades it's the part that's still most closely identified with cruz because maverick is exactly the kind of guy we all think tom cruise is they're kinda hard to separate and top gun cruises surrounded by a terrific cast of up-and-comers and veterans kelly mcgillis is actually a few years older than tom cruise and the fact that she's more mature on screen than him actually works in the movie's favor as maverick really is supposed to come off as boyish and her gradual seduction by him gives the movie an edge even if the two apparently didn't get along all that well on set mcgillis brainy civilian instructor was closely patterned after a woman named christine fox and we see photos of her i mean that's kelly mcgillis to a t she's got the hair she's got the blouses she really does look just like her and like mcgill's character she worked as a civilian instructor at miramar the cast would be filled out by who's who of rising young actors which included anthony edwards who had just come off of a few teen hits revenge of the nerds and gotcha in this he would play maverick's best friend and rio goose whose tragic fate made many men weep for the next 30 plus years also look out for early roles from meg ryan as goose's wife tim robbins michael ironside and that old 80s standby james tolkien whose bald head was a staple of pretty much every major 80s movie but the major roles here would be filled out by tom skerritt and val kilmer scarrett would play maverick pseudo father figure a top gun viper who has his back when he's almost grounded permanently but arguably the other most important role in the film outside of maverick would be iceman you see ice needed to feel like a leading man in his own right and he needed an actor on par with crews at least in terms of star power we had to believe that ice is a believable threat to maverick's prowess and the frosty relationship between cruz and kilmer off-screen adds tremendously to their chemistry you believe that the two hate each other in some ways but also have a grudging respect and their relationship really is one of the richest in the film and pays off handsomely in the sequel of course many other elements would go into making top gun a hit including the then amazing aerial footage filtered cinematography sound design and more but chief among these was the music first there's the score by harold faltermeier which begins with the iconic top gun anthem which features guitar steve stevens like his previous axel f it would have a life beyond the film and even won a grammy and got a music video it's so iconic that it's reused heavily in top gun maverick simply can't have a top gun movie without the [Music] in addition to the score there's also the soundtrack of poppets which is pumped up with tracks by composer giorgio moroder many of these would become big hits but two of them kenny loggins danger zone and berlin's take my breath away would become immortal take my breath away would win the academy award for best original song while danger zone like the topkin anthem we become so closely identified with tom cruise and maverick that the song would be reused in the sequel all these years later one thing worth noting about top gun is how middling its critical reaction was you see some critics liked it despite themselves but many despised it for its high concept and aesthetics in that period saying the words high concept was a bad thing people didn't like that but high concept as we all know now would come to dominate films in the 80s and 90s and become a trademark of producers don simpson and jerry bruckheimer in fact don simpson's biography which is quite the risque read is actually called high concept the critical divisiveness remains to this day with noted critic and film historian mark harris maintaining in what he admitted was a brash generalization that it killed movies in that it presented film as pure product or as he puts it rails of cinematic cocaine with only one goal the transient heightening of sensation basically harris calls it a rollercoaster ride but top gun is not the first movie to be guilty of that in fact you could say that most classics in some ways are roller coaster rides what is jaws if not a rollercoaster ride regardless of what critics thought top gun was an absolute smash hit with it a 15 million dollar movie that made over 357 million dollars worldwide with numbers like that in 1986 it was more than a hit you could call a movie a hit now but it's in and out of theaters in a matter of weeks but top gun just stayed around forever and ever and became such a huge part of the pop culture it made tom cruise arguably the biggest star in the world overnight it was just a landmark film in fact for years to come there would be top gun clones flooding theaters i am the greatest i am the greatest i am the greatest i am the greatest i am the greatest i am the greatest those coming up clean up oh god heck tom cruise tony scott don simpson and jerry brookharmer even tried to make one themselves days of thunder which was called by many top cars albeit of course it was set in the world of racing yet if you go back and watch top gun now you'll be struck by how character driven it is despite what critics might have said about it at the time and that it was all flash it really isn't there's lots of action in it but there's lots of emotion too and the action really kind of propels the critics did not appreciate it back then and seem not to notice it now at least most of them anyway much of the dialogue has revolved around the action or perceived homoeroticism this gives me a heart on it by the end of vietnam that ratio is back up to 12 to 1. don't tease me which i suppose has to be intentional given that volleyball scene but i think at its heart scott simpson and brooke harmer were trying to make a film that would appeal to everyone and in that they succeeded i mean outside of stuffy film critics who doesn't love top gun it is one of the most universally beloved films of all time and for good reason it is just pure entertainment from beginning to end small trivia note top gun also revolutionized home video back then cell through vhs tapes were priced for rental meaning that they were over 100 bucks a piece this is something i don't think that people nowadays really appreciate when we were young and we wanted to buy our favorite movies unless we waited at least a year it would cost about a hundred dollars to buy a vhs and even then he had to go to a wholesaler but top gun like a couple of other movies was available pretty much everywhere for a relatively reasonable price some blockbusters at the time such as star trek 2 the wrath of khan went for about forty dollars a piece but in 1987 paramount priced this at only 26 95 which was mind-blowing back then and turned this into a major stocking stuffer if you had a vhs collection in the 80s you had these titles you had top gun you had e.t the extraterrestrial which actually despite being older than top gun came out something like two years after top gun on video and then of course batman and this was the first of those movies to be sold direct to consumers that's pretty cool isn't it in the end top gun truly is an unassailable classic in 1986 critics may have scoffed at the aesthetic but now it almost seems low-key in comparison to what's out in theaters every week i mean it's a pretty tight contained movie it's about an hour and 50 minutes it's paced really well but it also has a lot of drama and some really good acting it holds up as a film of its time but also when you watch it now it holds up all these years later you couldn't really remake top gun because what's the point it's pretty perfect as it is and when you watch it you know you see something incredible legit birth of a movie icon in tom cruise who's still seemingly at the top of his game 36 years later in fact top gun maverick is kind of the perfect tom cruise star vehicle so that's one that anybody who appreciates top gun has to rush out and see in theaters because it really is the perfect follow-up top gun is a classic it was a huge hit 1986 and it would be a massive hit if it was to come out now and to me and to a lot of us here at joeblow.com it's one of our favorite movies ever [Music] you

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Id: uoKd2i9XlKQ

Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Thu May 26 2022