FYI, Danger Zone and Take My Breath Away aren't just big '80s songs that they used in Top Gun: they were both written specifically for the Top Gun soundtrack. Not only did this movie make them both chart-topping hits (one made it to #1 on the charts, the other to #2), they wouldn't even exist without this movie.
Also, if you want to see a fantastic movie with Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford, watch 'Witness'. It came out a year before 'Top Gun' and it's a great film, start to finish.
Top Gun: Maverick is a worthy sequel. Saw it last night. It’s one of the rare films that doesn’t necessitate knowledge of the original to be enjoyable. Indeed, it might be better than the original. So much of what a summer blockbuster should be. I can’t wait till you guys react to that one.
Same. A worthy sequel and a great movie in and of itself. They threw in just enough member berries, didn't overdo it and let this one build its own story.
@@mangerinegirl I was pleasantly surprised how they took the blueprint of the original and just upped up the action, the stakes, and even managed to pay homage to the stars of the original, fallen and in the twilight of their lives. I can’t recommend this film more to fans both old and new.
@@henryvandeventer2457 Agreed. For once they made a sequel that doesn’t rely on nostalgia baiting to sustain its interest. I daresay it’s a great film even if you never watch the first movie.
Not just the Navy, but military-wide. I served in the Marine Corps from '93 to '99, and there was always some homoerotic shenanigans going on. It's even alluded to in movies like "Jarhead" and in HBO's "Generation Kill." I've said many times in the past that Marines are the gayest straight men on the planet.
Fun fact: all of the actors who played pilots were taken up in actual Tomcats so that they would know how it felt. Anthony Edwards (Goose) was the only one who didn't throw up.
another fun fact, University of Nebraska at Lincoln president Ted Carter was an actual student at top gun when this was filmed and was ordered to show tom cruise around the first day, His call sign was slap shot because while at the navel academy he played hockey.
As for what happens to Goose, that is an actual, freak-thing that can happen. If the plane is in a flat spin, there's little to no forward momentum, so there's almost no slipstream over the plane to clear away the canopy during ejection. It was, of course, dramatized. In real life they would "simply" manually jettison the canopy, give it a second or two to clear, then eject. I believe that's actually in the F-14s emergency checklists. The whole "I can't reach the ejection handle" is also Hollywood BS, as that particular ejection seat system actually has both an upper and lower handle. The "main character", the F-14, is no longer in use by the Navy, it was replaced in 2006 by more F-18s. Iran still has some, but due to sanctions (meaning no parts and no technical support), it's anyone's guess if any are still flying. They cannibalized a lot of them to keep some in the air, but those things are over 30 years old at this point, so likely none remain flying. Fuel efficiency was, for what it was at the time, pretty good, due to the variable wings. Depending of course, on how and where it's flown. Hot air makes it worse, afterburners make it MUCH worse. At low level, with full afterburner, a jet like that can guzzle up all it's gas well inside 10 minutes. They're usually flown with additional, external drop-tanks and of course, are frequently air-refueled.
Actually, on a flat spin, G-forces are stronger on the pilot seat, as he’s further away from the center of gravity. The RIO has to be the one calling ejection. You might want to listen to the “Fighter Pilot Podcast” or the “F-14 Tomcast”, where actual US Navy pilots (some were Top Gun movie advisors) discuss this and other movie details. In one case, a pilot killed himself as G-forces on a flat spin prevented him from reaching the ejection handles, while flying with no RIO.
No replacement yet to F-18s , when F-22 tail is too long , hits the deck on aircraft carrier and F-35 is a fire hazard , USA still rent F-35s to UK Aircraft carrier . So that was $2,5 trillion wasted and maybe this new plane , they have started planning will replace F-18s , after using $4 trillion , the other side of the coin . We were following Navy pilots , then there are Army pilots , only thing USA had during WW 2 . US air force came after WW 2 , September 1947 . Finland Air force was founded 6 March 1918 , RAF was founded 1 April 1918 , take that brits and smoke it 🙂
@@pete_lind a great movie, that many seemed to have missed, which deals with military waste and inefficiency, is "The Pentagon Wars". It deals hilariously with how the military developed the Bradley Tank... err, Personnel Carrier... um, well, let's just call it the Bradley. Lol.
Nah. This issue was actually fixed before this movie was even released. There's a cross bar across the top that would physically prevent someone from slamming their head on anything. Easy fix that should've been done from the start.
@@LaserWombat Forbes Feb 2021 ... The U.S. Air Force Just Admitted The F-35 Stealth Fighter Has Failed ... its was going to replace F16s and A-10s ... With a sticker price of around $100 million per plane, including the engine, the F-35 is expensive. While stealthy and brimming with high-tech sensors, it’s also maintenance-intensive, buggy and unreliable. “The F-35 is not a low-cost, lightweight fighter,” said Dan Ward, a former Air Force program manager.
This is my dad's favorite movie and the first Tom Cruise I saw on VHS growing up! It made $360 million dollars ($798 million dollars today) against a $15 million dollar budget. It took home the Oscar for Best Original Song. Next Friday I'll be watching TOP GUN: Maverick with my dad.
You can adjust the US 174 million Top Gun made at the time to today because is all Dollar. But you can't make the same thing to global box office because of currencies for every country is different from 80s to nowadays. So this movie didn't reach $798 million. It could be less or more but is impossible to know.
Saw the sequel yesterday. It was stellar. Even my wife agreed. The original Top Gun made $8.5 million its opening weekend. The sequel has made over $100 million its opening weekend. Definitely worth a return to the theatre to experience in Dolby or IMAX.
Same here with my dad this weekend. The Critical Drinker had nothing but good to say about it, and he is very picky with movie writing, characters, and all that, so I'm sold.
@@tcmn1982 Isn't the global earning also given in US dollars at the time? Sure inflation is different, but if it's the equivalent at the time it should be just as valid for comparison.
When you have an incident while flying, they generally want to get you back up as soon as possible. You'll get debriefed and evaluated and if you seem fit, they throw you right back into the cockpit for a short flight. It keeps you from second guessing yourself and killing your confidence. I had an engine failure on a solo flight when I was still in training. I was on a long final approach so I was able to make it back to the runway dead stick. It was scary... but they had me back in a plane with an instructor within an hour or two for a quick 30 minute flight. It was the best thing they could have done. I may not have flown again after that if they didn't push me to go up right away.
While I was in Army Flight School, there were 2 aircraft flying instruments which had transmission failures, and both aircraft fell out of the sky. We all got to hear the pilots final words during the minutes it took them to die. The cadre made sure we all got back up and flying right away as well.
@@arkain1 Army only flies helos, so you can't really eject unless you want the seat to jettison you out into the rotors. Really damn sad story up above though
@@arkain1 From a Chopper? Ejecting from a chopper would be death. And sadly, we don't carry chutes in choppers. Usually we can just autorotate down from almost anything, but a transmission cease means the blades stop spinning.
The US Navy has retired the F-14 Tomcat, and the A-4 Skyhawk. The plane they call the MiG-28 was really a Northrup F-5, a small American jet that the US sold to countries all over the world, but which the US used only for training pilots, and for teaching aerial combat skills, (dissimilar air combat training).
Also, of those three aircraft (F-14, A-4, and T-38/F-5), the T-38 is the only aircraft that the Navy still uses, in Aggressor squadrons for training. The F-14 and A-4 have both been retired and are sitting in boneyards in Arizona.
@@andrewcharles459 They still do. Got a family member that occasionally back seated in them. Astronauts use them because being in a cockpit is good training. They also use them to get back and forth between JSC to KSC.
Technically you could do that inversion trick in the beginning of the film but at that distance the Tomcat's dual tail fins would be on either side of the MiG's. (Not really a MiG, btw.) So in reality, when the MiG banked the tail fins would have touched and sent both aircraft into a spin.
"I can't wait for everyone to tell me about everything I get wrong about the military." First sentence in "It's an Airforce movie right?" *Every Navyperson freaks out* XD XD XD
Since you asked, the Navy charged Tony Scott/Top Gun financiers $1.8 million dollars for the use of its' planes, ships, etc. used during the filming of Top Gun. And yes, the U.S. military do allow access to military equipment/installations/etc., but only if they feel the movie will bring positive attention. Also, apparently Tony Scott wasn't able to get a shot of one of the 2 aircraft carriers featured in the movie finished with the natural lighting he wanted due to a course change...so he asked the Navy powers that be how much it would cost him to rent said carrier for 1 minute. $25,000 was the answer, and he supposedly wrote a check for that amount immediately and gave it to the carrier fleet Admiral, and directed him to turn the floating mammoth back around in order to get the shot he wanted.
I think that number may inflation adjusted. I thought the number in mid-80s dollars was below $1 million. The Navy was still gving a heavy discount as I recall, the studio was charged maybe only 60% of the actual operating costs of those flights. The F-14 was an expensive plane to operate.
From what I remembered about the making of this movie they had pilots performing maneuvers within camera range and they shot several stock shots from 2-3 different aircraft that were recycled, flipped and shown from different angles to keep costs low. In the new Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise forced them to actually train him to fl;y so they could get some breathtaking shots of him actually reacting to Inertia... he insisted on it in his contract along with his normal request to be filmed on a Motorcycle that accompanies nearly all movies he is in.
@@Jay-ate-a-bug Cruise is not flying any of the planes in either movie. He is riding in real planes, so the g-forces are real, but he is not piloting anything.
To answer your question, Maverick would have been thrown out of the military faster than you can say Scientology. Breaks too many lawful orders and is a menace. lol. That flyby 10 minutes into the movie would have been enough to give him the boot.
Very true,, some of those stunts Maverick pulled could've landed him in prison actually, they were pretty serious and would be regarded as a blatantly reckless use of dangerous equipment
"No, really? Can they actually do that?" Yes, they did. That scene (and a lot of the movie) was based on a real incident during the Gulf of Sidra conflict, during which a Tomcat crew closed to within a few yards of a Libyan MiG and snapped pictures and gave them the finger, a day or two before a couple Libyan Sukhoi fighters fired on Tomcats and were splashed for their efforts. Edit: As a former naval aircrewman, I can tell you that a pilot that acts like that consistently is going nowhere. Teamwork, cooperation, and following the rules, especially where safety is involved, are paramount. There is no tolerance for "cowboys", no matter how skilled a pilot they might be. You play for the team or you're off the team.
his character should have been in more scenes. I mean he's only at the start and we see him again at the end. he's not on anymore scenes. if im not mistaken. he's not on the briefing rooms or even at the bar scene with the other pilots.
This movie is a perfect picture of what eighties were. There's basically everything in this movie. Friendship, Love, drama, conflict, action... The soundtrack is one of the most memorable in the history of cinema and the story is simple but at the the same time is a perfect narration. I'm very sorry for those who lost the greatness of that decade because eighties were the last best years we had since so far...
Ah yes, rampant consumerism, a massive amount of jobs moved overseas, constant threat of nuclear war, deregulation of polluting factories, aids, the war on drugs (aka non white people). Truly the 80s were a Golden Age. To be fair, the music was good. Except for all the saxophone in nearly every movie score. Ugh.
wowowowo guys i'm talking about cinema...not politic situation, not social, not drugs or something like...i thought it was clear that my sentence was referred to the decade that gave us masterpieces like Back to the future, Top Gun, Goonies, Navigator, The empire strikes back and so on.... By the way i'm italian so for us the situation in eighties was really different than the US one. For us AIDS, drugs, Racism, cold war...were not a big deal like other countries.
I'm only 8 seconds in and Simone managed to hilariously annoy me by a) busting out Kid Rock lyrics, and b) not finishing said lyrics 🤣 I love this channel so much
Um, those were Sugar Hill Gang lyrics that Kid Rock borrowed. They're not Kid Rock lyrics originally. Check out Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang... lots of fun.
Now that you've seen Top Gun you REALLY have to watch HOT SHOTS with Charlie Sheen. Then after you've watched Rambo First Blood 2 watch Hot Shots Part Duex.
Simone - Your intros are the best. I love how you try to hold it together, start to giggle and then just stop and smile with a long pause and wait for George to come in with a rescue attempt.
The movie was primarily shot in San Diego, California. The real Top Gun academy was located at NAS Miramar (now MCAS Miramar), a suburb of San Diego. It was moved to NAS Fallon in Nevada when the Marines took over the Miramar base. Other outdoor scenes were shot downtown and in Coronado. The bar where they sang "Great Balls of Fire" is a real hole in the wall diner downtown called Kansas City Barbeque and is still there.
@@kevinshook2762 As far as I know the sleazy bar sign is still there. Last time I was there they had all kinds of Top Gun memorabilia decorating the walls.
The other bar in the movie, the You've Lost That Loving Feelin' one, used two different locations. The interior was in what was at the time a nightclub inside the Lafayette Hotel. It was later a private event space, and was converted into some sort of jazz supper club/ music venue this year. The exterior was the Island Club on NAS North Island. I've worked on weddings at both locations. The pool next to the Island Club was used for the Top Gun graduation scene, but I've heard that it was removed recently. The bar in Top Gun: Maverick was built on the beach across the street from the Island Club, but was removed after filming.
PS: Leagle Eagle posted a reaction with an ex marine, now lawyer, to explain what would happen to Maverick in real life, also explained about his call sign.
I second the recommendation for Witness with Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford. For Meg Ryan, Joe Versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks is a must-do, and I like the Presidio with her, Sean Connery, and Mark Harmon.
When you've seen enough 80s movies you'll know that seeing someone from the military with a loving wife and child, or even if he only talks about them, is the biggest kiss of death for a character.
1:44 - The U.S. Navy agreed to cooperate with Tony Scott & Jerry Bruckeheimer because at the time (circa mid 1980's), U.S. military recruiting numbers were down and they wanted to get more people to enlist. So of course, this movie's charisma and high energy did just that. 8:30 - No, the U.S. Navy retired the F-14 Tomcat in 2006. The F-18E/F has replaced it but the new F-35C is set to eventually replace the aging F-18.
Was there not something about the Navy was pissed as they fired off 2 missiles for them to use in the movie and when they saw it they were pissed because they felt they had fired more but it was the special effects guys
lol and the new Top Gun was apparently given access to two aircraft carriers and multiple Navy bases. Believe they are also hoping on another recruitment rush like with the first movie.
The primary aircraft in the movie, the F-14 was retired by the Navy in 2006 and those squadrons converted to flying F-18E's. Yes, when he ejected Goose hit the canopy. There was a real incident where this happened and they modified the ejection sequence to prevent it.
The accident that killed Goose was a combination of several things. 1) Maverick, who was flying very close to Iceman flew right through the jet wash of Iceman's plane when he decided to disengage. This caused the starboard (right side) engine of Maverick's plane to stall and flameout. Unfortunately if you have a flameout in an F-14, the thrust from the other engine (which is spaced far apart on the F-14) is going to cause you to yaw (or turn) in the opposite direction. If the yaw is severe enough, it could cause a disruption of airflow into that other engine, causing you to lose both engines. They didn't portray it exactly correct here, but that's the general idea they were going for. 2) Maverick now has no engine power and he's in a flat spin, which means its impossible for him to recover the aircraft. But a flat spin causes g forces such that the further away you are from the center of gravity, the stronger the effect. In this case, Maverick was pinned forward and unable to initiate ejection. Goose being the rear seater experienced slightly less g's because he's closer to the center of gravity, so he had to be the one to initiate ejection. That's not so much part of the problem, just something to note. 3) The ejection system of the F-14 is such that explosive bolts blow the canopy (top door) away and then the ejection system initiates about a second or so after the canopy is gone. But the typical ejection occurs when the aircraft has some forward velocity, meaning that the canopy has time to clear the aircraft before the pilots eject. The problem here is that they were in a flat spin, which means they have very little forward motion to clear the canopy (which is now directly above them). Goose impacted the canopy directly after ejection at a speed great enough to break his neck and fracture his skull. This scenario is highly unlikely and to my knowledge has never actually happened before (at least not all of those things at the same time). However, based on the design of the F-14 (construction of the engines, ejection system, flight characteristics) this type of accident was totally possible.
Yes, the US Navy cooperated extensively with this production, and the end result was basically a recruiting ad for Naval Aviation. The combat sequences against the "MiGs" were _very_ loosely based on an actual series of engagements against Libyan aircraft in the 1980s, known as the Gulf of Sidra Incidents. The United States no longer uses the F-14 Tomcat in front line service; it was retired in 2006, having been replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet. F-14s remain in use by Iran, who purchased a batch before the Iranian Revolution and have managed to keep a few operational to this day. Veteran pilot Art Scholl was killed while filming footage for the flat spin which killed Goose in the movie; he went into the spin but was unable to recover before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
@@mokane86 I think I recall hearing that some of the footage looking out of the canopy was from his flying, but I honestly don't know. The exterior shots of the F-14 spinning were done using a model.
@@Harv72b Incidentally - if you're a Mythbusters fan - Jaime Hyneman bought the M5 Industries special effects shop in the mid 90s. He didn't create it out of whole cloth. And though he and his crew did indeed do a lot of work in special effects, the previous owner of the shop was producing effects in the 80s. And - it was THAT previous owner that did the model special effects for the damaged planes in Top Gun. Hyneman kept those models in their displays on the walls (he liked them) and if you watch enough of the Mythbusters series and pay close attention when they are in the M5 shop making stuff - you will occasionally spot those models on the walls - depending on the camera angle etc. So if you've seen those models before and wondered about them - yes - it's true. They are indeed from Top Gun.
There's a saying in the aviation community, "The difference between a fighter pilot and god is that god doesn't think he's a fighter pilot". Incidentally, there are no Navy pilots, they refer to them as Naval Aviators.
I'm surprised you guys didn't mention that the commanding officer of the carrier at the start and end of the movie was the principal from the Back To The Future movies! Especially since Simone pointedly discussed him in each of those reactions...
"Don't ask don't tell" wasn't until the 90s. I had a friend who was stationed onboard the Enterprise when they filmed this and my Command Master Chief in Hospital Corps school used to play the Top Gun soundtrack every morning at 6 over the intercom. Even on the weekends. And finally the F-14 was retired in the mid 2000s. Except I think the Iranian's still fly them.
Not sure they fly as I think I read they are out of spare parts so they cannot fly but could be wrong on that they might be cannibalising one for another
The Iranian F-14s have been grounded since..ever. The deal for them was done shortly before the Shah fell, and the Ayatollahs took over. So the Iranians never had any ways of maintenance...
The Iranian Tomcats were still flying into the 2010s, and may still be flying. Iran does have an indigenous aircraft industry capable of manufacturing planes, so other than the more sophisticated components such as electronics, they can make a lot of their own parts.
@@mikearmstrong8483 Think I read there are 2 maybe still running could be wrong on that count but when the nuke deal was done back in the day someone in the media was talking on them
Having looked up a couple of defense related websites, it is believed by intelligence analysts that Iran had as many as 24 Tomcats still flying as of 2019, out of 79 originally delivered. They are capable of manufacturing most, but not all, components and have a considerable base of trained technicians. Bear in mind that they have their own aircraft industry and a sizable air force. This is a country with a nuclear program, not just a bunch of nomads wandering around on camels, despite what conservative propaganda would have us believe. The Iranian Tomcats are credited with 55 confirmed air-to-air kills during the Iran-Iraq war, though that was 35+ years ago.
@@nebelklaue But if you're going to fly an F/A-18 in a flight sim, you're better off picking one that simulates military aircraft and has a very good flight model. And then there's also the F-14 in DCS, which is by far the most challenging, thrilling, fun and rewarding aircraft I've flown in almost 15 years of flight sims.
I really enjoy this movie for the aviation stuff. I love to see the Tomcat in flight. If you look into its history, it was a very cool fighter for the time. For the fuel, depending on the length of the mission, they carry additional mounted fuel tanks that can be detached when empty. Basically all of the planes in this movie are no longer in service. The Tomcat that Maverick flies left service in the early 2000's and Russia (and countries with trade deals) fly newer MiG and Su-series jets now. At the time of this movie, Hornets, Super Hornets, Strike Eagles, etc were moving into service. The F-22 Raptor had also been selected over the Black Widow/Grey Ghost (YF-23) and became our first real stealth-capable fighter. We still use some of those today. I'm not a pilot, but most of the actual flying film doesn't happen in real combat. Most air-to-air engagements are long-distance due to the nature of precision-guided weaponry. Dogfighting is pretty rare but does happen. Everyone also flies way too close but it's cooler that way. Many weapons are guided by radar lock or infrared heat signature (like from the engines of the jet) which is why most jets are equipped with chaff and flares to deploy when a missile is traveling toward them. Most of the terminology is kinda played-up but there's some accurate stuff. Now that you've seen this movie, I highly recommend "Hot Shots", which directly parodies this film and stars Charlie Sheen in his prime.
Missiles were less reliable when the Top Gun school was created. Planes such as the F4 and F14 were designed as long range bomber interceptors. Missiles such a s the Phoenix were designed to acquire and track targets from 100+ miles away. Smaller radar guided missiles required constant lock to hit a target. Sidewinders were short range heat seekers (6 miles) and success was determined by the angle of target and getting a solid lock. Planes flying low and fast would confuse radar due to the surface reflection, and a plan's IR signature would also be lost against heat reflection. Putting guns back on planes sounded like a good solution, even though planes like the Phantom and later the Tomcat were not designed to turn and burn with the older, subsonic MiG17's. This became less an issue again after Vietnam since the US was focused again on the Soviets which were also concentrating on high speed attack and interceptor planes versus dog fighters. Funny thing is the missiles that are probably getting the most kills in the Ukraine are not the big Russian S400's with radar that sees planes hundred of miles away flying at 20,000 feet. it is the Stingers and other shoulder fired IR seekers that provide no warning of their existence until they are too close to avoid.
My dad spent 23 years as an officer in the US Navy, and as a child we lived in the Mira Mesa area of San Diego during the early 80’s. We would always frequent the Mirimar naval base. My best friend’s dad was also an officer in the Navy, and took us aboard his ship once,(the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier). I still clearly remember that whenever we would get on the interstate, it was so common to see Tomcats tearing through the sky. If you were unaware they could easily startle you with their sonic booms. In late 85, we left San Diego and my dad spent the tail end of his naval career as a recruiter at a large shopping mall in the Midwest. I remember he took me and my cousin to see Top Gun. During the scene when the commander said he had to send Maverick and Goose to Mirimar, me and my dad turned to each other and became the only two people in the crowded theater laughing. My dad told me that guys would walk out of a Top Gun showing at the mall’s cinema straight into my dad’s recruitment office to enlist. I remember him coming home from work laughing, “Everyone wants to be a pilot!” He became the top recruiter in the area because of this film. From a film appreciation standpoint, this isn’t one of my favorite movies. The plot takes too long to get going. Also I’m unsure how relevant it is nowadays: the Navy left Mirimar sometime ago in the 90’s, the advancement of drone technology, and the F-14 Tomcat is now long retired. Despite that, this film will always hold a special place in my heart because it connects so close to my childhood. Fun soundtrack and score as well.
I liked your comment. I was a Navy brat, living with my grandparents on bases. My grandfather was a captain with 27 years in. His last posting was NAS Key West. It was a great place to grow up.
There are max conserve tables out there somewhere, but you can get pretty efficient with your fuel burn. typically around 4-5,000 lbs FF at the cruise speeds, so I know that whatever groundspeed I'm at divided by 2 is how many miles I can go with roughly 5,000 lbs of fuel. According to real F-14 drivers and RIOs from the Fighter Pilot Podcast, max endurance was around 220 knots which gave you roughly 2,000 lbs/hr per engine.
Top Gun made Tom Cruise a star. The movie that got him noticed prior to it, with him as the main lead was "Risky Business" in 1983. I remember "Ray-ban" glasses became more in-style after the movie. Hope you have a chance to react to it.
Not sure if y'all noticed, but Cougar's Radar Intercept Officer, (RIO), is played by Tim Robbins. And Mav's RIO after Goose died, is Clarence Gilyard, Jr. He played Theo, the bad guys' computer hacker in the original "Die Hard" movie.
Iconic '80s altogether - cemented Cruise's stardom. Tony Scott directed the hell out of it (and yep no CGI). All practical real-life arieal stunts. By all means see the new film (and in IMAX) - went yesterday - delivers the goods. Great choice; nice t-s by the way to you both.
Since he asked: An F-14 buns through a 9,000 liter tank of kerosene in 4 hours, probably at a cost around $15,000. That's in normal flight. With full afterburner, it would go through that much quicker. The F-14 has been out of service since 2006 and been replaced with the F18, which is now getting replaced by the F-35.
you think that with all the technology they would have found any alternative for fuel. like using electric engines or something because 15k is a lot of money I know we have the budget for defense. but they should use some kind of alternative so the planes can last longer on the air.
@@mrgonzale0978 The amount of energy in 7400 kg of kerosene is still considerably greater than what you can store in 7400kg of batteries. Hydrogen for planes is being experimented with, but to my knowledge only for propeller engines. I think for jet engines, you really need hydrocarbon fuel to get them work like they do.
Not a Pilot, Historian. US Navy Doctrine since WWII has been that you always stay with a wingman in air combat. That way you can protect each other from any other enemy aircraft that might interdict into an engagement that you're currently already involved in. Leaving your wingman is essentially leaving his/her ass out to dry. It's a *huge* problem and it's honestly something *so* serious that it would have gotten Maverick's wings clipped until he learned it.
Okay, there's two movies you need to see after this one. An Officer and a Gentleman, and Flight of the Intruder. Both involve navy pilots, but not in the same way. One of them even has a channel favorite in a starring role.
Useless Trivia: At 14:20 when Mav looks momentarily nonplussed and then just immediately goes in for that epic first kiss... it was an ad-lib. He actually had more dialog, but he'd forgotten his line - which is why you see that confused look on his face - so he just kissed her instead and it was so good they just rolled with it.
08:28 The US Navy still uses the same 'Aggressor' aircraft like the F-5 (the MiG 28'), the A-4 Skyhawk, and the F-16. However, the F-14 Tomcat (the 'Star' of the film) has been retired and except for a few parked in Air Museums and acting as 'gate guards', have all been cut up and destroyed to keep any spare parts from getting into the hands of the Iranians, who still fly the Tomcat.
This movie was so iconic at the time and i'm pretty sure it started the eighties trend for flight/bomber jackets, i've still got mine. Btw if you're interested LegalEagle recently done a TopGun episode with a JAG lawyer talking about how many laws Maverick broke, i'd recommend it.
If you're looking for another movie from that era with some cool Navy Aviation type stuff, I'd suggest The Final Countdown from 1980. It has a time travel element to it but it also has some great Aerial work in it.
The reviews on the sequel I've seen so far say it's fantastic. Saw some scenes in IMAX last week before the new Dr. Strange and it's pretty great. They recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible due to the new & improved flight footage, but the script is supposed to be great, too. Wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but thinking I might have to. And now, hearing that damn opening song, I need to go back and rewatch the animated series "Archer". DANGER ZONE! You should really react to it if you haven't, although it might actually be too dirty and you might have to cut out all the funniest parts.
It was a nice surprise. The action sequences are intense, top notch. Definitely worth seeing in cinema. It has nice throwbacks to the original aswell, you'll know what I mean when you watch it. 👍
I saw this when it first came out...the opening scenes still give me chills. I think it had the love story/emotions to attract a mixed audience, so it wouldn't just be a guy-fest, and it really did the trick. In reference to Goose, after this movie came out, anytime there was a fun-loving supporting character in a drama or action movie, my friends and I would call it the Goose Syndrome, because eventually something bad would happen to them. That was 36 years ago and we still say that.
When I was in the Navy during the early 80's I was stationed at VT-7 Meridian Jet Training School in Mississippi. Every day I'd walk beneath a sign that said "Through these portals walk the greatest aviators in the world." Naval aviators are the most arrogant men I've ever worked with and believe me, they're not as endearing in person as they are in this film. However, that arrogance is accompanied by a personal confidence that is necessary in order to land a jet on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. That being said, they were not my favorite people to work with, but their skills and dedication to duty definitely earned my respect.
This came out when I was in high school and of course I and many others wanted to be Maverick. But now, I really just want to be Iceman. Hyper-competent, no nonsense. Dude was the goods, and the real protagonist of the story having to deal with the annoying hothead who took all the screen time.
One of the worst legacies of this film is that the "Naval Aviator" culture has come to represent all fighter pilots in Hollywood. Naval Aviators are their own special hyper aggressive dude-bro club, which has created MANY problems for the navy. Air Force "pilots" are stick up their ass levels of serious professional, and this is a tradition learned from the hyper effective Red Tails, that famous "African American" fighter group from WWII. Yet every time Hollywood sees "fighter pilot" they think Top Gun. This was part of what f*ed over the Captain Marvel movie - they got her fundamentals wrong.
No, the US Navy no longer flies the F-14 Tomcat as its primary fleet defense fighter. It was replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet/Super Hornet. The Royal Canadian Air Force has some CF-18s as its front line fighter, it's a variant of the F/A-18. The aerial shots were taken with cameras mounted in pods on the aircraft, chase planes for exterior shots, and from on the ground cameras for shots close to the ground. The US Navy gave them access, but the studio had to pay for fuel used during operations specifically for the film. It turned out to be a great recruiting film for the Naval Aviation.
Yes, Maverick is a bad pilot. Violating flight integrity by going after a random aircraft is a cardinal sin. The wingman is the defenceman for the leader.
Maverick would never have got to the stage where he is allowed to fly a multi-million dollar plane. He'd have been thrown out of the military LONG before he got a chance to fly an F-14.
to answer your question @ 3:33...In the dense air at sea level with maximum afterburner selected and at high speed, the total fuel flow can be more than 23,000 gallons per hour, or 385 gallons per minute. At this rate you would burn through your entire internal fuel load in about 6 minutes.
11:50 - It's not sepia tone, its a gradient filter. This was hugely popular in the 70's and 80's in fashion and landscape photography. It was very popular for turning skies in landscape photos orange so it looked more dramatic/sunset-rise-y. Tony Scott made a name for himself directing the David Bowie vampire movie THE HUNGER which was famous for its cinematography and lighting looking like something out of a 1980's fashion shoot. Tony Scott was famous for using fashion/commercial stills photography into filmmaking and in TOP GUN he slathered the whole thing using gradient filters (which are dark brown at the top of the filter and transparent at the bottom). In LA, which has incredibly sunsets and sunrises due to its pollution, the grad-filters were a unique innovation that helped make "magic hour" last longer on-screen.
You will need to watch the spoof to "Top Gun" which is "Hot Shots". The actor playing "Merlin" who flew with "Maverick" at the end is Tim Robbins who plays in "Shawshank Redemption". The actor who played "Goose" is Anthony Edwards who played on ER but also played in the movie "Revenge of the Nerds".
The canopy while travailing forward will be blown back way behind the aircraft. Maverick and Goose were in a flat spin making it a vertical drop. With the canopy blown it would be above the aircraft and then when the ejection seats fired it would be more ore less right above them. Plus it was in the script so Goose's goose was cooked.
Someone stated already that the F-14 is officially decommissioned for the US Navy. Current, active fighter aircraft is the F18 Super hornet and, if I'm not mistaken, the F35 Lightening II (still in production phase). There are F16s and F18s still used for training purposes.
I thought I was going to pee my pants when you pointed out that they're playing that romantic song when the guy was talking in Tom Cruise's ear and you played the bite again. Oh my goodness, flipping classic observation by you. You win the Nobel Prize for this.
To answer your question about if the Navy still uses the F-14 Tomcat and the answer is no. It was retired back in late 2006. They now used the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet ("Rhino") until recently, they now use the F-35 Lightning II which is a stealth fighter jet.
Again I offer my military expertise, during the filming of this movie only one missile was used they just mirrored it or shot at a different angle to simulate multiple missiles being fired. Also, no Migs were filmed during this movie. The Migs portrayed were T38 jets that pilots used to train in before they get selected for their fighter jet.
A note about the cool callsigns. Callsigns are like nicknames, you do not get to pick your own. They usually come from some embarassing incident, or, trait, and, they're picked by the senior members of your first squadron. The pilot who flew Tom Cruise for the in-cockpit flight scenes, for instance, had the call-sign "Bozo".
some info the person playing goose is Anthony Edwards who you would recognize later in the 90's tv show E R when he played and starred as Dr. Mark Greene on the series for quite a few years before he left it .bonus yes he had hair still in the 1980's and he also starred in the 1980's movie Revenge of the Nerds and Revenge of the Nerds 2 Nerds in Paradise as Gilbert.
FYI, Danger Zone and Take My Breath Away aren't just big '80s songs that they used in Top Gun: they were both written specifically for the Top Gun soundtrack. Not only did this movie make them both chart-topping hits (one made it to #1 on the charts, the other to #2), they wouldn't even exist without this movie.
Love this soundtrack, and both of those songs played at pretty much every junior high school dance I ever went to.
And the world of movie music would have been a poorer place.
Also, if you want to see a fantastic movie with Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford, watch 'Witness'. It came out a year before 'Top Gun' and it's a great film, start to finish.
It is so good! Harrison Ford was nominated for Best Actor!
Yes!
Filmed right down the road from me! My friend's brother played one of the Amish doing the barn raising
I support this idea. It's one of Ford's best movies, IMO.
@@sergioaccioly5219 I agree completely.
Top Gun: Maverick is a worthy sequel. Saw it last night. It’s one of the rare films that doesn’t necessitate knowledge of the original to be enjoyable. Indeed, it might be better than the original. So much of what a summer blockbuster should be.
I can’t wait till you guys react to that one.
I agree with all of this! I saw it last night too and it exceeded my expectations.
Same. A worthy sequel and a great movie in and of itself.
They threw in just enough member berries, didn't overdo it and let this one build its own story.
You can be my sequel any time
@@mangerinegirl I was pleasantly surprised how they took the blueprint of the original and just upped up the action, the stakes, and even managed to pay homage to the stars of the original, fallen and in the twilight of their lives. I can’t recommend this film more to fans both old and new.
@@henryvandeventer2457 Agreed. For once they made a sequel that doesn’t rely on nostalgia baiting to sustain its interest. I daresay it’s a great film even if you never watch the first movie.
“There’s definitely a bit of a homoerotic undertone to this movie”
It truly captures the essence of the U.S. Navy.
Hence why they should watch “Gay Top Gun.” It’s freakin funny as hell.
"They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit!"
Not just the Navy, but military-wide. I served in the Marine Corps from '93 to '99, and there was always some homoerotic shenanigans going on. It's even alluded to in movies like "Jarhead" and in HBO's "Generation Kill." I've said many times in the past that Marines are the gayest straight men on the planet.
Fun fact: all of the actors who played pilots were taken up in actual Tomcats so that they would know how it felt. Anthony Edwards (Goose) was the only one who didn't throw up.
Yup. But they ended not using any of those sequences, as film and sound quality was horrendous.
Well, you gotta have strong stomach in order to be a truck driver.
and because he didn't throw up he had to die in the movie. He was simply too good :P
another fun fact, University of Nebraska at Lincoln president Ted Carter was an actual student at top gun when this was filmed and was ordered to show tom cruise around the first day, His call sign was slap shot because while at the navel academy he played hockey.
As for what happens to Goose, that is an actual, freak-thing that can happen. If the plane is in a flat spin, there's little to no forward momentum, so there's almost no slipstream over the plane to clear away the canopy during ejection. It was, of course, dramatized. In real life they would "simply" manually jettison the canopy, give it a second or two to clear, then eject. I believe that's actually in the F-14s emergency checklists. The whole "I can't reach the ejection handle" is also Hollywood BS, as that particular ejection seat system actually has both an upper and lower handle.
The "main character", the F-14, is no longer in use by the Navy, it was replaced in 2006 by more F-18s. Iran still has some, but due to sanctions (meaning no parts and no technical support), it's anyone's guess if any are still flying. They cannibalized a lot of them to keep some in the air, but those things are over 30 years old at this point, so likely none remain flying. Fuel efficiency was, for what it was at the time, pretty good, due to the variable wings. Depending of course, on how and where it's flown. Hot air makes it worse, afterburners make it MUCH worse. At low level, with full afterburner, a jet like that can guzzle up all it's gas well inside 10 minutes. They're usually flown with additional, external drop-tanks and of course, are frequently air-refueled.
Actually, on a flat spin, G-forces are stronger on the pilot seat, as he’s further away from the center of gravity. The RIO has to be the one calling ejection. You might want to listen to the “Fighter Pilot Podcast” or the “F-14 Tomcast”, where actual US Navy pilots (some were Top Gun movie advisors) discuss this and other movie details. In one case, a pilot killed himself as G-forces on a flat spin prevented him from reaching the ejection handles, while flying with no RIO.
No replacement yet to F-18s , when F-22 tail is too long , hits the deck on aircraft carrier and F-35 is a fire hazard , USA still rent F-35s to UK Aircraft carrier .
So that was $2,5 trillion wasted and maybe this new plane , they have started planning will replace F-18s , after using $4 trillion , the other side of the coin .
We were following Navy pilots , then there are Army pilots , only thing USA had during WW 2 . US air force came after WW 2 , September 1947 .
Finland Air force was founded 6 March 1918 , RAF was founded 1 April 1918 , take that brits and smoke it 🙂
@@pete_lind a great movie, that many seemed to have missed, which deals with military waste and inefficiency, is "The Pentagon Wars". It deals hilariously with how the military developed the Bradley Tank... err, Personnel Carrier... um, well, let's just call it the Bradley. Lol.
Nah. This issue was actually fixed before this movie was even released. There's a cross bar across the top that would physically prevent someone from slamming their head on anything. Easy fix that should've been done from the start.
@@LaserWombat Forbes Feb 2021 ... The U.S. Air Force Just Admitted The F-35 Stealth Fighter Has Failed ... its was going to replace F16s and A-10s ... With a sticker price of around $100 million per plane, including the engine, the F-35 is expensive. While stealthy and brimming with high-tech sensors, it’s also maintenance-intensive, buggy and unreliable. “The F-35 is not a low-cost, lightweight fighter,” said Dan Ward, a former Air Force program manager.
This is my dad's favorite movie and the first Tom Cruise I saw on VHS growing up!
It made $360 million dollars ($798 million dollars today) against a $15 million dollar budget.
It took home the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Next Friday I'll be watching TOP GUN: Maverick with my dad.
You can adjust the US 174 million Top Gun made at the time to today because is all Dollar. But you can't make the same thing to global box office because of currencies for every country is different from 80s to nowadays. So this movie didn't reach $798 million. It could be less or more but is impossible to know.
Saw the sequel yesterday. It was stellar. Even my wife agreed. The original Top Gun made $8.5 million its opening weekend. The sequel has made over $100 million its opening weekend. Definitely worth a return to the theatre to experience in Dolby or IMAX.
You enjoy the sequel. I know I did. Just watch it on the biggest screen you can get access to.
Same here with my dad this weekend. The Critical Drinker had nothing but good to say about it, and he is very picky with movie writing, characters, and all that, so I'm sold.
@@tcmn1982 Isn't the global earning also given in US dollars at the time? Sure inflation is different, but if it's the equivalent at the time it should be just as valid for comparison.
The natural segway from Top Gun should be Hot Shots. 🙂
Nope, "Gay Top Gun" on RUclips, then Hot Shots.
Yes absolutely.
I agree completely
tooper harley
The chiwawa
When you have an incident while flying, they generally want to get you back up as soon as possible. You'll get debriefed and evaluated and if you seem fit, they throw you right back into the cockpit for a short flight. It keeps you from second guessing yourself and killing your confidence. I had an engine failure on a solo flight when I was still in training. I was on a long final approach so I was able to make it back to the runway dead stick. It was scary... but they had me back in a plane with an instructor within an hour or two for a quick 30 minute flight. It was the best thing they could have done. I may not have flown again after that if they didn't push me to go up right away.
While I was in Army Flight School, there were 2 aircraft flying instruments which had transmission failures, and both aircraft fell out of the sky. We all got to hear the pilots final words during the minutes it took them to die. The cadre made sure we all got back up and flying right away as well.
@@ArtofFreeSpeech Wait what? they couldn't eject in all those minutes?
@@arkain1 Army only flies helos, so you can't really eject unless you want the seat to jettison you out into the rotors. Really damn sad story up above though
@@arkain1 From a Chopper? Ejecting from a chopper would be death. And sadly, we don't carry chutes in choppers. Usually we can just autorotate down from almost anything, but a transmission cease means the blades stop spinning.
@@ArtofFreeSpeech Sad indeed 😔
Val Kilmer nailed the role beautifully, but you will find his best performance in the movie Tombstone.
Also "Real Genius," or at least one of his most entertaining.
"I'll be your huckleberry"
Really? Not Top Secret? :)
@@daxriley8195 I have never seen Top Secret, but I have seen Tombstone.
Ehmm... The Doors ?!
The US Navy has retired the F-14 Tomcat, and the A-4 Skyhawk. The plane they call the MiG-28 was really a Northrup F-5, a small American jet that the US sold to countries all over the world, but which the US used only for training pilots, and for teaching aerial combat skills, (dissimilar air combat training).
Also, of those three aircraft (F-14, A-4, and T-38/F-5), the T-38 is the only aircraft that the Navy still uses, in Aggressor squadrons for training. The F-14 and A-4 have both been retired and are sitting in boneyards in Arizona.
@@andrewcharles459 Boeing has a couple T-38 they use for test flight chase planes, they accompanied the 777x.
@@andrewcharles459 They still do. Got a family member that occasionally back seated in them. Astronauts use them because being in a cockpit is good training. They also use them to get back and forth between JSC to KSC.
Technically you could do that inversion trick in the beginning of the film but at that distance the Tomcat's dual tail fins would be on either side of the MiG's. (Not really a MiG, btw.) So in reality, when the MiG banked the tail fins would have touched and sent both aircraft into a spin.
"I can't wait for everyone to tell me about everything I get wrong about the military."
First sentence in "It's an Airforce movie right?"
*Every Navyperson freaks out* XD XD XD
Since you asked, the Navy charged Tony Scott/Top Gun financiers $1.8 million dollars for the use of its' planes, ships, etc. used during the filming of Top Gun. And yes, the U.S. military do allow access to military equipment/installations/etc., but only if they feel the movie will bring positive attention. Also, apparently Tony Scott wasn't able to get a shot of one of the 2 aircraft carriers featured in the movie finished with the natural lighting he wanted due to a course change...so he asked the Navy powers that be how much it would cost him to rent said carrier for 1 minute. $25,000 was the answer, and he supposedly wrote a check for that amount immediately and gave it to the carrier fleet Admiral, and directed him to turn the floating mammoth back around in order to get the shot he wanted.
Also this movie made for a MAJOR boost in enlistment, so they got their moneys worth
I think that number may inflation adjusted. I thought the number in mid-80s dollars was below $1 million. The Navy was still gving a heavy discount as I recall, the studio was charged maybe only 60% of the actual operating costs of those flights. The F-14 was an expensive plane to operate.
From what I remembered about the making of this movie they had pilots performing maneuvers within camera range and they shot several stock shots from 2-3 different aircraft that were recycled, flipped and shown from different angles to keep costs low.
In the new Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise forced them to actually train him to fl;y so they could get some breathtaking shots of him actually reacting to Inertia... he insisted on it in his contract along with his normal request to be filmed on a Motorcycle that accompanies nearly all movies he is in.
@@Jay-ate-a-bug Cruise is not flying any of the planes in either movie. He is riding in real planes, so the g-forces are real, but he is not piloting anything.
@@hellomark1 I heard something like a 500% boost in recruitment after this hit the theaters
To answer your question, Maverick would have been thrown out of the military faster than you can say Scientology. Breaks too many lawful orders and is a menace. lol. That flyby 10 minutes into the movie would have been enough to give him the boot.
Not to mention Maverick's past because that flyby wasn't the first time.
first 10 min the second he disobeyed that first order to land he'd have been done in RL
Very true,, some of those stunts Maverick pulled could've landed him in prison actually, they were pretty serious and would be regarded as a blatantly reckless use of dangerous equipment
The actor that played Viper, the head instructor at Top Gun, was Tom Skerrit(sp) who also played Captain Dallas in Alien.
"No, really? Can they actually do that?"
Yes, they did. That scene (and a lot of the movie) was based on a real incident during the Gulf of Sidra conflict, during which a Tomcat crew closed to within a few yards of a Libyan MiG and snapped pictures and gave them the finger, a day or two before a couple Libyan Sukhoi fighters fired on Tomcats and were splashed for their efforts.
Edit: As a former naval aircrewman, I can tell you that a pilot that acts like that consistently is going nowhere. Teamwork, cooperation, and following the rules, especially where safety is involved, are paramount. There is no tolerance for "cowboys", no matter how skilled a pilot they might be. You play for the team or you're off the team.
Surprised no one mentions that Tim Robbins was "Merlin" in this movie.
You’re gonna do what?!
his character should have been in more scenes. I mean he's only at the start and we see him again at the end. he's not on anymore scenes. if im not mistaken. he's not on the briefing rooms or even at the bar scene with the other pilots.
It tells you in the credits
@@mrgonzale0978 he was no one then, his break didn't come for another 5 years or so
@@mrgonzale0978 He couldn't have been in the bar scene, because he didn't leave the carrier.
This movie is a perfect picture of what eighties were. There's basically everything in this movie. Friendship, Love, drama, conflict, action... The soundtrack is one of the most memorable in the history of cinema and the story is simple but at the the same time is a perfect narration. I'm very sorry for those who lost the greatness of that decade because eighties were the last best years we had since so far...
The 80s were crappier than people remember. Same goes for this movie. Extremely overrated.
Ah yes, rampant consumerism, a massive amount of jobs moved overseas, constant threat of nuclear war, deregulation of polluting factories, aids, the war on drugs (aka non white people). Truly the 80s were a Golden Age. To be fair, the music was good. Except for all the saxophone in nearly every movie score. Ugh.
@@n0madtv yeah, now some electronic parts break, with barely any chance of fixing it yourself
wowowowo guys i'm talking about cinema...not politic situation, not social, not drugs or something like...i thought it was clear that my sentence was referred to the decade that gave us masterpieces like Back to the future, Top Gun, Goonies, Navigator, The empire strikes back and so on.... By the way i'm italian so for us the situation in eighties was really different than the US one. For us AIDS, drugs, Racism, cold war...were not a big deal like other countries.
I'm only 8 seconds in and Simone managed to hilariously annoy me by a) busting out Kid Rock lyrics, and b) not finishing said lyrics 🤣 I love this channel so much
Um, those were Sugar Hill Gang lyrics that Kid Rock borrowed. They're not Kid Rock lyrics originally. Check out Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang... lots of fun.
Kid Rock is a skid mark in music's oldest novelty boxer shorts
I'm willing to bet Simone doesn't even know them from Kid Rock
She's goofy and has an infectious smile. This channel is great.
@@TroutFlyFisher Simone is great. Great laugh and great big eyes. She reminds me of anime.
Now that you've seen Top Gun you REALLY have to watch HOT SHOTS with Charlie Sheen. Then after you've watched Rambo First Blood 2 watch Hot Shots Part Duex.
👆 this
Simone - Your intros are the best. I love how you try to hold it together, start to giggle and then just stop and smile with a long pause and wait for George to come in with a rescue attempt.
This was one of the better intro's..
😅😅😅😅
The movie was primarily shot in San Diego, California. The real Top Gun academy was located at NAS Miramar (now MCAS Miramar), a suburb of San Diego. It was moved to NAS Fallon in Nevada when the Marines took over the Miramar base. Other outdoor scenes were shot downtown and in Coronado. The bar where they sang "Great Balls of Fire" is a real hole in the wall diner downtown called Kansas City Barbeque and is still there.
Do they still proudly the giant sign out front declaring "THE DIVE BAR FROM TOP GUN"?
@@kevinshook2762 YUP
@@kevinshook2762 As far as I know the sleazy bar sign is still there. Last time I was there they had all kinds of Top Gun memorabilia decorating the walls.
@@DonMachado Thanks, I used to pass by it when I lived there in the 00’s but never went inside.
The other bar in the movie, the You've Lost That Loving Feelin' one, used two different locations. The interior was in what was at the time a nightclub inside the Lafayette Hotel. It was later a private event space, and was converted into some sort of jazz supper club/ music venue this year. The exterior was the Island Club on NAS North Island.
I've worked on weddings at both locations.
The pool next to the Island Club was used for the Top Gun graduation scene, but I've heard that it was removed recently. The bar in Top Gun: Maverick was built on the beach across the street from the Island Club, but was removed after filming.
PS: Leagle Eagle posted a reaction with an ex marine, now lawyer, to explain what would happen to Maverick in real life, also explained about his call sign.
yep - love Legal Eagle and was going to point this out.
I second the recommendation for Witness with Kelly McGillis and Harrison Ford. For Meg Ryan, Joe Versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks is a must-do, and I like the Presidio with her, Sean Connery, and Mark Harmon.
Yes!!!!
Joe Vs The Volcano for more Tom Habks & Meg Ryan, classic 90s film power couple.
I love Joe vs the Volcano. Such an underrated gem!
Courage Under Fire, Meg Ryan, Denzel Washington, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Matt Damon. One hell of a movie.
At the release time of the movie, the Top Gun school was at Miramar (not Myanmar) California. It is now in Fallon, Nevada.
“I’ve never hated anyone so much, also I love you” spoken by every happily married couple in the world
When you've seen enough 80s movies you'll know that seeing someone from the military with a loving wife and child, or even if he only talks about them, is the biggest kiss of death for a character.
Or someone who is almost at the end of their enlistment term. Doomed.
Is this the most 80’s movie ever?? Possibly. It’s up there for sure. Nicknames, sweaty dudes, aggressive higher rank bosses - it’s got it all
Real Genius might be more 80s IMO
I would consider this one of the most 80s movies ever but it definitely has the most 80s scene ever: The volleyball game.
Before I even start the reaction, we all obviously are waiting to see Simone and George react to the volleyball scene.
1:44 - The U.S. Navy agreed to cooperate with Tony Scott & Jerry Bruckeheimer because at the time (circa mid 1980's), U.S. military recruiting numbers were down and they wanted to get more people to enlist. So of course, this movie's charisma and high energy did just that.
8:30 - No, the U.S. Navy retired the F-14 Tomcat in 2006. The F-18E/F has replaced it but the new F-35C is set to eventually replace the aging F-18.
Was there not something about the Navy was pissed as they fired off 2 missiles for them to use in the movie and when they saw it they were pissed because they felt they had fired more but it was the special effects guys
lol and the new Top Gun was apparently given access to two aircraft carriers and multiple Navy bases. Believe they are also hoping on another recruitment rush like with the first movie.
The primary aircraft in the movie, the F-14 was retired by the Navy in 2006 and those squadrons converted to flying F-18E's.
Yes, when he ejected Goose hit the canopy. There was a real incident where this happened and they modified the ejection sequence to prevent it.
The "sepia tone" is Tony Scott's trademark. He does it in all his films.
The accident that killed Goose was a combination of several things. 1) Maverick, who was flying very close to Iceman flew right through the jet wash of Iceman's plane when he decided to disengage. This caused the starboard (right side) engine of Maverick's plane to stall and flameout. Unfortunately if you have a flameout in an F-14, the thrust from the other engine (which is spaced far apart on the F-14) is going to cause you to yaw (or turn) in the opposite direction. If the yaw is severe enough, it could cause a disruption of airflow into that other engine, causing you to lose both engines. They didn't portray it exactly correct here, but that's the general idea they were going for. 2) Maverick now has no engine power and he's in a flat spin, which means its impossible for him to recover the aircraft. But a flat spin causes g forces such that the further away you are from the center of gravity, the stronger the effect. In this case, Maverick was pinned forward and unable to initiate ejection. Goose being the rear seater experienced slightly less g's because he's closer to the center of gravity, so he had to be the one to initiate ejection. That's not so much part of the problem, just something to note. 3) The ejection system of the F-14 is such that explosive bolts blow the canopy (top door) away and then the ejection system initiates about a second or so after the canopy is gone. But the typical ejection occurs when the aircraft has some forward velocity, meaning that the canopy has time to clear the aircraft before the pilots eject. The problem here is that they were in a flat spin, which means they have very little forward motion to clear the canopy (which is now directly above them). Goose impacted the canopy directly after ejection at a speed great enough to break his neck and fracture his skull. This scenario is highly unlikely and to my knowledge has never actually happened before (at least not all of those things at the same time). However, based on the design of the F-14 (construction of the engines, ejection system, flight characteristics) this type of accident was totally possible.
Yes, the US Navy cooperated extensively with this production, and the end result was basically a recruiting ad for Naval Aviation.
The combat sequences against the "MiGs" were _very_ loosely based on an actual series of engagements against Libyan aircraft in the 1980s, known as the Gulf of Sidra Incidents.
The United States no longer uses the F-14 Tomcat in front line service; it was retired in 2006, having been replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet. F-14s remain in use by Iran, who purchased a batch before the Iranian Revolution and have managed to keep a few operational to this day.
Veteran pilot Art Scholl was killed while filming footage for the flat spin which killed Goose in the movie; he went into the spin but was unable to recover before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
was the footage we see of the flat spin filmed from that event?
@@mokane86 I think I recall hearing that some of the footage looking out of the canopy was from his flying, but I honestly don't know. The exterior shots of the F-14 spinning were done using a model.
@@Harv72b Incidentally - if you're a Mythbusters fan - Jaime Hyneman bought the M5 Industries special effects shop in the mid 90s. He didn't create it out of whole cloth. And though he and his crew did indeed do a lot of work in special effects, the previous owner of the shop was producing effects in the 80s.
And - it was THAT previous owner that did the model special effects for the damaged planes in Top Gun. Hyneman kept those models in their displays on the walls (he liked them) and if you watch enough of the Mythbusters series and pay close attention when they are in the M5 shop making stuff - you will occasionally spot those models on the walls - depending on the camera angle etc.
So if you've seen those models before and wondered about them - yes - it's true. They are indeed from Top Gun.
There's a saying in the aviation community, "The difference between a fighter pilot and god is that god doesn't think he's a fighter pilot".
Incidentally, there are no Navy pilots, they refer to them as Naval Aviators.
There are Navy pilots. They're the ones who steer the ships, and possibly the boats. But yes, the guys in planes are 'aviators'.
@@warlock415 lol that was good. And you're 100 % right.
I'm surprised you guys didn't mention that the commanding officer of the carrier at the start and end of the movie was the principal from the Back To The Future movies! Especially since Simone pointedly discussed him in each of those reactions...
hah hah, he treats Maverick and Iceman like he treated McFly.
It might have been edited out.
Close- he wasn't to Carrier CO, he was the CAG: Commander Air Group.
Ok, now you are ready to watch Hot Shots!
"Don't ask don't tell" wasn't until the 90s. I had a friend who was stationed onboard the Enterprise when they filmed this and my Command Master Chief in Hospital Corps school used to play the Top Gun soundtrack every morning at 6 over the intercom. Even on the weekends. And finally the F-14 was retired in the mid 2000s. Except I think the Iranian's still fly them.
Not sure they fly as I think I read they are out of spare parts so they cannot fly but could be wrong on that they might be cannibalising one for another
The Iranian F-14s have been grounded since..ever. The deal for them was done shortly before the Shah fell, and the Ayatollahs took over. So the Iranians never had any ways of maintenance...
The Iranian Tomcats were still flying into the 2010s, and may still be flying. Iran does have an indigenous aircraft industry capable of manufacturing planes, so other than the more sophisticated components such as electronics, they can make a lot of their own parts.
@@mikearmstrong8483 Think I read there are 2 maybe still running could be wrong on that count but when the nuke deal was done back in the day someone in the media was talking on them
Having looked up a couple of defense related websites, it is believed by intelligence analysts that Iran had as many as 24 Tomcats still flying as of 2019, out of 79 originally delivered.
They are capable of manufacturing most, but not all, components and have a considerable base of trained technicians. Bear in mind that they have their own aircraft industry and a sizable air force. This is a country with a nuclear program, not just a bunch of nomads wandering around on camels, despite what conservative propaganda would have us believe.
The Iranian Tomcats are credited with 55 confirmed air-to-air kills during the Iran-Iraq war, though that was 35+ years ago.
You might not have picked up on this, but Merlin is played by Tim Robbins.
it was a very typical 80's film, you'd probably enjoy 'Days Of Thunder' too, really similar tones, with Tom playing a similar character.
Nice! Really looking forward to the new film! And the Flight Sim DLC along with it!.
Also, PLEASE watch "Hot Shots" soon.
The flight sim is DCS: Digital Combat Simulator
@@MrSinnerBOFH there is a microsoft flight sim DLC for Top Gun. i'm sure he means this with DLC
@@nebelklaue But if you're going to fly an F/A-18 in a flight sim, you're better off picking one that simulates military aircraft and has a very good flight model. And then there's also the F-14 in DCS, which is by far the most challenging, thrilling, fun and rewarding aircraft I've flown in almost 15 years of flight sims.
@@joost1120 100% DCS is challenging and rewarding. Those F-14 are a pain to fly, always fighting with you lol
I really enjoy this movie for the aviation stuff. I love to see the Tomcat in flight. If you look into its history, it was a very cool fighter for the time. For the fuel, depending on the length of the mission, they carry additional mounted fuel tanks that can be detached when empty. Basically all of the planes in this movie are no longer in service. The Tomcat that Maverick flies left service in the early 2000's and Russia (and countries with trade deals) fly newer MiG and Su-series jets now. At the time of this movie, Hornets, Super Hornets, Strike Eagles, etc were moving into service. The F-22 Raptor had also been selected over the Black Widow/Grey Ghost (YF-23) and became our first real stealth-capable fighter. We still use some of those today. I'm not a pilot, but most of the actual flying film doesn't happen in real combat. Most air-to-air engagements are long-distance due to the nature of precision-guided weaponry. Dogfighting is pretty rare but does happen. Everyone also flies way too close but it's cooler that way. Many weapons are guided by radar lock or infrared heat signature (like from the engines of the jet) which is why most jets are equipped with chaff and flares to deploy when a missile is traveling toward them. Most of the terminology is kinda played-up but there's some accurate stuff. Now that you've seen this movie, I highly recommend "Hot Shots", which directly parodies this film and stars Charlie Sheen in his prime.
Missiles were less reliable when the Top Gun school was created. Planes such as the F4 and F14 were designed as long range bomber interceptors. Missiles such a s the Phoenix were designed to acquire and track targets from 100+ miles away. Smaller radar guided missiles required constant lock to hit a target. Sidewinders were short range heat seekers (6 miles) and success was determined by the angle of target and getting a solid lock. Planes flying low and fast would confuse radar due to the surface reflection, and a plan's IR signature would also be lost against heat reflection. Putting guns back on planes sounded like a good solution, even though planes like the Phantom and later the Tomcat were not designed to turn and burn with the older, subsonic MiG17's. This became less an issue again after Vietnam since the US was focused again on the Soviets which were also concentrating on high speed attack and interceptor planes versus dog fighters.
Funny thing is the missiles that are probably getting the most kills in the Ukraine are not the big Russian S400's with radar that sees planes hundred of miles away flying at 20,000 feet. it is the Stingers and other shoulder fired IR seekers that provide no warning of their existence until they are too close to avoid.
I work for the costumer, Jared Chandler, on Top Gun Maverick. You are going to LOVE IT!!! We had a blast working on the film!
My dad spent 23 years as an officer in the US Navy, and as a child we lived in the Mira Mesa area of San Diego during the early 80’s. We would always frequent the Mirimar naval base. My best friend’s dad was also an officer in the Navy, and took us aboard his ship once,(the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier). I still clearly remember that whenever we would get on the interstate, it was so common to see Tomcats tearing through the sky. If you were unaware they could easily startle you with their sonic booms.
In late 85, we left San Diego and my dad spent the tail end of his naval career as a recruiter at a large shopping mall in the Midwest. I remember he took me and my cousin to see Top Gun. During the scene when the commander said he had to send Maverick and Goose to Mirimar, me and my dad turned to each other and became the only two people in the crowded theater laughing. My dad told me that guys would walk out of a Top Gun showing at the mall’s cinema straight into my dad’s recruitment office to enlist. I remember him coming home from work laughing, “Everyone wants to be a pilot!” He became the top recruiter in the area because of this film.
From a film appreciation standpoint, this isn’t one of my favorite movies. The plot takes too long to get going. Also I’m unsure how relevant it is nowadays: the Navy left Mirimar sometime ago in the 90’s, the advancement of drone technology, and the F-14 Tomcat is now long retired. Despite that, this film will always hold a special place in my heart because it connects so close to my childhood. Fun soundtrack and score as well.
I liked your comment. I was a Navy brat, living with my grandparents on bases. My grandfather was a captain with 27 years in. His last posting was NAS Key West. It was a great place to grow up.
Yup, Topgun moved to Fallon, and now the Marines own Miramar.
There are max conserve tables out there somewhere, but you can get pretty efficient with your fuel burn.
typically around 4-5,000 lbs FF at the cruise speeds, so I know that whatever groundspeed I'm at divided by 2 is how many miles I can go with roughly 5,000 lbs of fuel.
According to real F-14 drivers and RIOs from the Fighter Pilot Podcast, max endurance was around 220 knots which gave you roughly 2,000 lbs/hr per engine.
22:38 Next line spoken should have been........"NOW EAT LEAD SLACKERS!"
hahahahahaha at that intro. True military aficionados. Enjoyed the reaction guys.
Top Gun made Tom Cruise a star. The movie that got him noticed prior to it, with him as the main lead was "Risky Business" in 1983. I remember "Ray-ban" glasses became more in-style after the movie. Hope you have a chance to react to it.
Not sure if y'all noticed, but Cougar's Radar Intercept Officer, (RIO), is played by Tim Robbins. And Mav's RIO after Goose died, is Clarence Gilyard, Jr. He played Theo, the bad guys' computer hacker in the original "Die Hard" movie.
Iconic '80s altogether - cemented Cruise's stardom. Tony Scott directed the hell out of it (and yep no CGI). All practical real-life arieal stunts. By all means see the new film (and in IMAX) - went yesterday - delivers the goods. Great choice; nice t-s by the way to you both.
Except, of course, the inverted scene in the beginning.
After like 30 years I still remember Goose's joke that ''You're a lot brighter than you look.'' it's on 9:41 and how you cut that scene ./crying
Since he asked: An F-14 buns through a 9,000 liter tank of kerosene in 4 hours, probably at a cost around $15,000.
That's in normal flight. With full afterburner, it would go through that much quicker.
The F-14 has been out of service since 2006 and been replaced with the F18, which is now getting replaced by the F-35.
you think that with all the technology they would have found any alternative for fuel. like using electric engines or something because 15k is a lot of money I know we have the budget for defense. but they should use some kind of alternative so the planes can last longer on the air.
@@mrgonzale0978 The amount of energy in 7400 kg of kerosene is still considerably greater than what you can store in 7400kg of batteries.
Hydrogen for planes is being experimented with, but to my knowledge only for propeller engines. I think for jet engines, you really need hydrocarbon fuel to get them work like they do.
@@Yora21 oh. cool.
Not a Pilot, Historian. US Navy Doctrine since WWII has been that you always stay with a wingman in air combat. That way you can protect each other from any other enemy aircraft that might interdict into an engagement that you're currently already involved in. Leaving your wingman is essentially leaving his/her ass out to dry. It's a *huge* problem and it's honestly something *so* serious that it would have gotten Maverick's wings clipped until he learned it.
Okay, there's two movies you need to see after this one. An Officer and a Gentleman, and Flight of the Intruder. Both involve navy pilots, but not in the same way. One of them even has a channel favorite in a starring role.
I miss Tony Scott so much. He took his own life the very first day of my senior year in college.
Kilmer had a good run, he’s easily the best part of movies like The Doors and Tombstone
Fun fact: The volleyball who played Wilson in Castaway was the same volleyball who played the volleyball in Top Gun.
I hear he performed all his own stunts.
Probably one of the best movie openings ever.
Useless Trivia: At 14:20 when Mav looks momentarily nonplussed and then just immediately goes in for that epic first kiss... it was an ad-lib. He actually had more dialog, but he'd forgotten his line - which is why you see that confused look on his face - so he just kissed her instead and it was so good they just rolled with it.
08:28 The US Navy still uses the same 'Aggressor' aircraft like the F-5 (the MiG 28'), the A-4 Skyhawk, and the F-16. However, the F-14 Tomcat (the 'Star' of the film) has been retired and except for a few parked in Air Museums and acting as 'gate guards', have all been cut up and destroyed to keep any spare parts from getting into the hands of the Iranians, who still fly the Tomcat.
the most devastating line in movie history:
'Goose is dead'
yeah...im never going to be ok
This movie was so iconic at the time and i'm pretty sure it started the eighties trend for flight/bomber jackets, i've still got mine. Btw if you're interested LegalEagle recently done a TopGun episode with a JAG lawyer talking about how many laws Maverick broke, i'd recommend it.
LITTLE KNOWN FILM FACT: The actor who played the volleyball in this film was also cast as 'Wilson' in the Tom Hanks film "Castaway".
Watched the new one yesterday in IMAX, and it was freaking amazing! But the classic is still great to watch.
I have to admit, I also love silhouettes, especially trees against a sunset.
If you're looking for another movie from that era with some cool Navy Aviation type stuff, I'd suggest The Final Countdown from 1980. It has a time travel element to it but it also has some great Aerial work in it.
I served for 20 years; callsign Viking. We do have air conditioning, even back then.
Yeah this is Iconic 80's. Looking back there are definitely some cringe/cliche moments lol. But the main plot of the movie is still awesome.
Top Gun was one of my mothers favorite movies of all time. she adored this movie.
Fun fact:
This movie did save Ray-Ban sunglasses. Tom Cruise wearing them during the volleyball scene saved the brand.
Additionally, Cruise's Ray-Ban Wayfarers in "Risky Business" added to their popularity.
Thanks George!! I spat my drink out through laughing when you described the energy of this film.
The reviews on the sequel I've seen so far say it's fantastic. Saw some scenes in IMAX last week before the new Dr. Strange and it's pretty great. They recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible due to the new & improved flight footage, but the script is supposed to be great, too. Wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but thinking I might have to. And now, hearing that damn opening song, I need to go back and rewatch the animated series "Archer". DANGER ZONE! You should really react to it if you haven't, although it might actually be too dirty and you might have to cut out all the funniest parts.
It was a nice surprise. The action sequences are intense, top notch. Definitely worth seeing in cinema. It has nice throwbacks to the original aswell, you'll know what I mean when you watch it. 👍
Danger Zone !!!
Lana !!!!!
The reviews can be whatever they want. it still doesn't change that the studio sold out over Taiwan and so should be boycotted.
yea I am the same do I want to go see another sequal that would ruin something from my childhood I love but all the reviews love it
@@dernwine the Taiwan flag on his jacket is IN the movie
"He's a pilot... uh fighter pilot... fighter jet pilot" lmao. Great reaction guys! cannot wait to see the Maverick one!
I saw this when it first came out...the opening scenes still give me chills. I think it had the love story/emotions to attract a mixed audience, so it wouldn't just be a guy-fest, and it really did the trick. In reference to Goose, after this movie came out, anytime there was a fun-loving supporting character in a drama or action movie, my friends and I would call it the Goose Syndrome, because eventually something bad would happen to them. That was 36 years ago and we still say that.
When I was in the Navy during the early 80's I was stationed at VT-7 Meridian Jet Training School in Mississippi. Every day I'd walk beneath a sign that said "Through these portals walk the greatest aviators in the world." Naval aviators are the most arrogant men I've ever worked with and believe me, they're not as endearing in person as they are in this film. However, that arrogance is accompanied by a personal confidence that is necessary in order to land a jet on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. That being said, they were not my favorite people to work with, but their skills and dedication to duty definitely earned my respect.
This came out when I was in high school and of course I and many others wanted to be Maverick. But now, I really just want to be Iceman. Hyper-competent, no nonsense. Dude was the goods, and the real protagonist of the story having to deal with the annoying hothead who took all the screen time.
Fun fact, the actor who played Merlin is Tim Robbins, aka Andy Dufresne from the Shawshank Redemption.
One of the worst legacies of this film is that the "Naval Aviator" culture has come to represent all fighter pilots in Hollywood. Naval Aviators are their own special hyper aggressive dude-bro club, which has created MANY problems for the navy. Air Force "pilots" are stick up their ass levels of serious professional, and this is a tradition learned from the hyper effective Red Tails, that famous "African American" fighter group from WWII. Yet every time Hollywood sees "fighter pilot" they think Top Gun. This was part of what f*ed over the Captain Marvel movie - they got her fundamentals wrong.
You are out of your mind.
That was by far the least of Captain Marvel's problems.
No, the US Navy no longer flies the F-14 Tomcat as its primary fleet defense fighter.
It was replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet/Super Hornet. The Royal Canadian Air Force has some CF-18s as its front line fighter, it's a variant of the F/A-18.
The aerial shots were taken with cameras mounted in pods on the aircraft, chase planes for exterior shots, and from on the ground cameras for shots close to the ground.
The US Navy gave them access, but the studio had to pay for fuel used during operations specifically for the film. It turned out to be a great recruiting film for the Naval Aviation.
Yes, Maverick is a bad pilot. Violating flight integrity by going after a random aircraft is a cardinal sin. The wingman is the defenceman for the leader.
Maverick would never have got to the stage where he is allowed to fly a multi-million dollar plane. He'd have been thrown out of the military LONG before he got a chance to fly an F-14.
Im not sure if I said it before, but this view for the cameras you got is awsome for these types of videos. I love it.
Quentin Tarantino in "Sleep with Me" has a great monologue on why Top Gun is the greatest gay love story put on film. It's pretty compelling.
Yes, the film gives off great penis fencing energy.
Hi guys. Former Navy pilot of 15 years here. Butt was indeed more popular in the 80s than it is today.
to answer your question @ 3:33...In the dense air at sea level with maximum afterburner selected and at high speed, the total fuel flow can be more than 23,000 gallons per hour, or 385 gallons per minute. At this rate you would burn through your entire internal fuel load in about 6 minutes.
11:50 - It's not sepia tone, its a gradient filter. This was hugely popular in the 70's and 80's in fashion and landscape photography. It was very popular for turning skies in landscape photos orange so it looked more dramatic/sunset-rise-y.
Tony Scott made a name for himself directing the David Bowie vampire movie THE HUNGER which was famous for its cinematography and lighting looking like something out of a 1980's fashion shoot. Tony Scott was famous for using fashion/commercial stills photography into filmmaking and in TOP GUN he slathered the whole thing using gradient filters (which are dark brown at the top of the filter and transparent at the bottom).
In LA, which has incredibly sunsets and sunrises due to its pollution, the grad-filters were a unique innovation that helped make "magic hour" last longer on-screen.
You will need to watch the spoof to "Top Gun" which is "Hot Shots".
The actor playing "Merlin" who flew with "Maverick" at the end is Tim Robbins who plays in "Shawshank Redemption".
The actor who played "Goose" is Anthony Edwards who played on ER but also played in the movie "Revenge of the Nerds".
The canopy while travailing forward will be blown back way behind the aircraft. Maverick and Goose were in a flat spin making it a vertical drop. With the canopy blown it would be above the aircraft and then when the ejection seats fired it would be more ore less right above them. Plus it was in the script so Goose's goose was cooked.
The best indicator this movie has major differences than the actual Topgun program is that's there's no actual trophy. You're a team up there.
Someone stated already that the F-14 is officially decommissioned for the US Navy. Current, active fighter aircraft is the F18 Super hornet and, if I'm not mistaken, the F35 Lightening II (still in production phase).
There are F16s and F18s still used for training purposes.
I thought I was going to pee my pants when you pointed out that they're playing that romantic song when the guy was talking in Tom Cruise's ear and you played the bite again. Oh my goodness, flipping classic observation by you. You win the Nobel Prize for this.
This movie was one of my first experiences in a THX-equipped theater... The roar and vibration of the jets blew me away!
Too young for Sensurroud? 😀
The song ... "Take My Breath Away" won an academy award for Best Song
Now watch the sequel - TOP GUN: MAVERICK!
To answer your question about if the Navy still uses the F-14 Tomcat and the answer is no. It was retired back in late 2006. They now used the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet ("Rhino") until recently, they now use the F-35 Lightning II which is a stealth fighter jet.
The tomcat can stay in the air for around 1600 miles but usually mid air refuels around a 1000.
Again I offer my military expertise, during the filming of this movie only one missile was used they just mirrored it or shot at a different angle to simulate multiple missiles being fired. Also, no Migs were filmed during this movie. The Migs portrayed were T38 jets that pilots used to train in before they get selected for their fighter jet.
He is a naval aviator. The plane takes of from a ship. So not air force.
A note about the cool callsigns. Callsigns are like nicknames, you do not get to pick your own. They usually come from some embarassing incident, or, trait, and, they're picked by the senior members of your first squadron. The pilot who flew Tom Cruise for the in-cockpit flight scenes, for instance, had the call-sign "Bozo".
some info the person playing goose is Anthony Edwards who you would recognize later in the 90's tv show E R when he played and starred as Dr. Mark Greene on the series for quite a few years before he left it .bonus yes he had hair still in the 1980's and he also starred in the 1980's movie Revenge of the Nerds and Revenge of the Nerds 2 Nerds in Paradise as Gilbert.