Maverick is a hot pilot. When he encounters a pair of MiGs over the Persian Gulf, his wingman is clearly outflown and freaks. On almost no fuel, Maverick is able to talk him back down to the Carrier. When his wingman turns in his wings, Maverick is moved up in the standings and sent to the Top Gun Naval Flying School. There he fights the attitudes of the other pilots and an old story of his father's death in combat that killed others due to his father's error. Maverick struggles to be the best pilot, stepping on the toes of his other students and in a different way to Charlie, a civilian instructor to whom he is strongly attracted.
Cast: Kelly McGillis, Tim Robbins, Tom Cruise
Crew: Tony Scott (Director), Jeffrey L Kimball (Director of Photography), Harold Faltermeyer (Music Director)
Rating: PG (Singapore)
Release Dates: 16 May 1986 (India)
Tagline: From the Producers of Beverly Hills Cop and Flashdance
Did you know? Tom Cruise actually had to wear lifts in his scenes with Kelly McGillis. Cruise is 5'7" while McGillis is 5'10" Read More
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as Charlie
as Merlin
as Maverick
as Chipper
as Goose
as Wolfman
as Air Boss Johnson
as Bartender
as Stinger
as Cougar
as Mrs. Metcalf
as Carole
as Jester
as Slider
as Viper
as Iceman
as Hollywood
Production
Producer
Production Company
Executive Producer
Associate Producer
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Writers
Screenplay Writer
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Music
Music Director
Sound
Sound Editor
Foley Editor
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Sound Mixer
Casting
Casting Director
Editorial
Editor
Special Effects
Special Effects Coordinator
Stunts
Stunt Coordinator
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
6-Track 70mm, Dolby
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.39:1 (Scope)
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
From the Producers of Beverly Hills Cop and Flashdance
...It's a solo mission ... Yeah! ...And I'm going with him...
Up there with the best of the best.
I feel the need, the need for speed.
...It's a solo mission ... Yeah! ...And I'm going with him...
Up there with the best of the best.
I feel the need, the need for speed.
Movie Connection(s):
Followed by: Top Gun: Maverick (English)
Referenced in: Himmatwala (Hindi)
Referenced in: Platform (Hindi)
Referenced in: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (Hindi)
Referenced in: Himmatwala (Hindi)
Referenced in: Platform (Hindi)
Referenced in: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (Hindi)
Filming Locations:
Oakland, California
San Diego, California
102 Pacific Street, Oceanside, California
Fallon Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nevada
Kansas City Barbeque - 610 W. Market Street, San Diego, California
USS Enterprise, San Diego, California
Fallon, Nevada
Naval Training Center, San Diego, California
Red Fox Room, San Diego, California
USS Ranger, San Diego, California
Windsock Bar & Grill, Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California
Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego, California
Mission Beach Plunge, San Diego, California
San Diego, California
102 Pacific Street, Oceanside, California
Fallon Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nevada
Kansas City Barbeque - 610 W. Market Street, San Diego, California
USS Enterprise, San Diego, California
Fallon, Nevada
Naval Training Center, San Diego, California
Red Fox Room, San Diego, California
USS Ranger, San Diego, California
Windsock Bar & Grill, Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California
Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego, California
Mission Beach Plunge, San Diego, California
Goofs:
Audio/Video Mismatch
During both the training missions and dogfight scenes, the sound effects for the targeting system and the radar/missile warning are nearly identical. In reality, those two sounds would be completely different so as to give the pilot no doubt as to what's going on (as evidenced when Maverick appears confused when he hears a "lock on" tone when Jester "kills" him while Maverick's chasing Viper).
Audio/Video Mismatch
When the command deck officer informs Stinger that the catapults are broken and that they can't launch aircraft, the officer's lip movements don't match what he says.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Goose is playing "Great Balls of Fire" in the bar, the movement of his hands does not match the music.
Character Error
When Maverick and Charlie are having dinner, Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" comes on and Maverick remembers his "folks loved it", then states his father "disappeared in an F-4 November 5th, 1965," yet this song was not written until November 1967.
Character Error
The term "bogey" is misused throughout the movie. A bogey is an unidentified aircraft. Once identified, it is referred to as a "friendly" (for friendly aircraft), "bandit" (for non-friendly aircraft) or "hostile" (for non-friendly aircraft that may be fired at). In USN terminology, a non-friendly surface radar contact is a "skunk".
Character Error
In the briefing before the first hop, Jester (whose character's last name is Heatherly) is seen wearing one of Maverick's "Pete Mitchell" nametags.
Continuity
On hop 31, the planes clearly take off early in the morning, but once they're off the ground, it's high noon.
Continuity
During the climactic dogfight scene, Stinger is told "Both catapults are broken, we can't launch any aircraft yet, sir." However, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and all subsequently built Nimitz-class carriers have FOUR catapults, so even if two were broken, aircraft could still have been launched.
Continuity
Throughout the film in various dogfight scenes, the wrong pilot can be seen in the RIO seat of the F-14. For instance, in the initial carrier scenes, Sundown can be seen briefly as Maverick's RIO. In the training Hops, both Merlin and a blue-helmeted pilot can be seen in Maverick's RIO seat.
Continuity
When Maverick is cruising on his motorcycle right after arriving at Miramar, it is high noon. In the very next shot, the sun is setting.
Crew/Equipment Visible
At many points during the briefing prior to the first hop, you can clearly see men reflected forward in the actor's glasses, presumably crew members. They can't be characters since Charlie is the only character standing in front of the men briefing them at this time.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Maverick is driving his motorcycle along the runway with the planes taking off, you can see the bed of the truck he's atop at the bottom of the screen.
Errors in Geography
The final dogfight happens over water, yet a mountain is visible in the corner of one shot.
During both the training missions and dogfight scenes, the sound effects for the targeting system and the radar/missile warning are nearly identical. In reality, those two sounds would be completely different so as to give the pilot no doubt as to what's going on (as evidenced when Maverick appears confused when he hears a "lock on" tone when Jester "kills" him while Maverick's chasing Viper).
Audio/Video Mismatch
When the command deck officer informs Stinger that the catapults are broken and that they can't launch aircraft, the officer's lip movements don't match what he says.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Goose is playing "Great Balls of Fire" in the bar, the movement of his hands does not match the music.
Character Error
When Maverick and Charlie are having dinner, Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" comes on and Maverick remembers his "folks loved it", then states his father "disappeared in an F-4 November 5th, 1965," yet this song was not written until November 1967.
Character Error
The term "bogey" is misused throughout the movie. A bogey is an unidentified aircraft. Once identified, it is referred to as a "friendly" (for friendly aircraft), "bandit" (for non-friendly aircraft) or "hostile" (for non-friendly aircraft that may be fired at). In USN terminology, a non-friendly surface radar contact is a "skunk".
Character Error
In the briefing before the first hop, Jester (whose character's last name is Heatherly) is seen wearing one of Maverick's "Pete Mitchell" nametags.
Continuity
On hop 31, the planes clearly take off early in the morning, but once they're off the ground, it's high noon.
Continuity
During the climactic dogfight scene, Stinger is told "Both catapults are broken, we can't launch any aircraft yet, sir." However, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and all subsequently built Nimitz-class carriers have FOUR catapults, so even if two were broken, aircraft could still have been launched.
Continuity
Throughout the film in various dogfight scenes, the wrong pilot can be seen in the RIO seat of the F-14. For instance, in the initial carrier scenes, Sundown can be seen briefly as Maverick's RIO. In the training Hops, both Merlin and a blue-helmeted pilot can be seen in Maverick's RIO seat.
Continuity
When Maverick is cruising on his motorcycle right after arriving at Miramar, it is high noon. In the very next shot, the sun is setting.
Crew/Equipment Visible
At many points during the briefing prior to the first hop, you can clearly see men reflected forward in the actor's glasses, presumably crew members. They can't be characters since Charlie is the only character standing in front of the men briefing them at this time.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Maverick is driving his motorcycle along the runway with the planes taking off, you can see the bed of the truck he's atop at the bottom of the screen.
Errors in Geography
The final dogfight happens over water, yet a mountain is visible in the corner of one shot.
Trivia:
The real Top Gun School gives a $5 fine to anyone in the staff that quotes the movie.
Val Kilmer did not want to be in this film, but was forced to by contractual obligations.
Director Tony Scott was officially fired three times during production.
Riding on the back of this film's success, the US Navy set up recruiting booths in the major cinemas to try and catch some of the adrenaline charged guys leaving the screenings. They had the highest applications rate for years as a result.
Tom Cruise actually had to wear lifts in his scenes with Kelly McGillis. Cruise is 5'7" while McGillis is 5'10"
When the guys, as students, were first being spoken to by Charlie in the hanger, Maverick explains that he gave "the bird" to a MiG. She asks how he saw the MiG up close, and he says he was flying inverted. Right then, Ice coughs "bullshit" and the guys laughed. The "bullshit" line was ad libbed by Val Kilmer.
Charlie's "older man" date at the officer's club is the real-life "Viper", Pete Pettigrew. He is a retired Navy pilot and TOPGUN instructor, and shot down a MiG during the Vietnam War. He served as the technical consultant on the film.
Anthony Edwards is the only actor who didn't vomit while in the fighter jets.
The Navy only authorized two actual missile shots to be filmed for the movie. You can clearly pick out these two shots, ultimately shot from several angles each in order to use both shots repeatedly during the dogfighting scenes, because the aircraft firing the missile is holding a steady altitude and heading, something that would never happen in a real close-in dogfight. All other missile shots shown in the movie were conducted using miniatures of both the planes and rockets. The company that produced and fired the model missiles did such a good job that the Dept. of the Navy conducted a preliminary investigation into whether any additional live firings of missiles, beyond the two originally authorized, were done for the filmmakers.
Michael Ironside stated in the DVD commentary that he was so convincing as an officer that when he heard someone running towards him below decks, he got on to the sailor who was running. The sailor saluted and slowed down until he got out of Ironside's line of sight and started running again. The sailor never knew that Ironside was an actor on the film.
After the "Car chase" when Charlie tells Maverick that she didn't want anyone to find out she was falling for him, Maverick originally had a line to say. Tom Cruise forgot the line and "ad libbed" by kissing Kelly McGillis instead. Tony Scott liked it so much, he left the scene like that.
The F-14 pilot that "flipped the bird" at the MiG pilot was Scott Altman of VF-51, who eventually became a NASA astronaut flying as pilot on two missions and as commander on two more missions.
When Maverick receives his orders to the carrier following the graduation ceremony, there is a pilot standing behind him, with a mustache and wearing sunglasses. The pilot is "Heater" C.J. Heatley, a real-life former F-14 air show demonstration pilot and TOPGUN instructor
Rick Rossovich stated in the DVD commentary that he was kicked off of the ship used for filming because he smarted off to an officer. Rossovich had gone to sleep in the bunk (more commonly called a rack) he was assigned to, but didn't like being so close to the nuclear reactors that powered the ship, so he moved. When he smarted off to the officer who wanted his bunk back, Rossovich was told to report to the captain who ordered him thrown off the ship for disrespect.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell's first name was Evan in early scripts of the film. It was later changed to Pete as an homage to Pete Pettigrew, who worked on the film (Pettigrew appears in the bar scene early in the film as Charlie's older male date.)
Paramount Pictures commissioned Grumman, the makers of the F-14, to develop and install special camera mounts on the plane. This allowed the filmmakers to use real aerial point-of-view footage of the Tomcat in flight.
Val Kilmer did not want to be in this film, but was forced to by contractual obligations.
Director Tony Scott was officially fired three times during production.
Riding on the back of this film's success, the US Navy set up recruiting booths in the major cinemas to try and catch some of the adrenaline charged guys leaving the screenings. They had the highest applications rate for years as a result.
Tom Cruise actually had to wear lifts in his scenes with Kelly McGillis. Cruise is 5'7" while McGillis is 5'10"
When the guys, as students, were first being spoken to by Charlie in the hanger, Maverick explains that he gave "the bird" to a MiG. She asks how he saw the MiG up close, and he says he was flying inverted. Right then, Ice coughs "bullshit" and the guys laughed. The "bullshit" line was ad libbed by Val Kilmer.
Charlie's "older man" date at the officer's club is the real-life "Viper", Pete Pettigrew. He is a retired Navy pilot and TOPGUN instructor, and shot down a MiG during the Vietnam War. He served as the technical consultant on the film.
Anthony Edwards is the only actor who didn't vomit while in the fighter jets.
The Navy only authorized two actual missile shots to be filmed for the movie. You can clearly pick out these two shots, ultimately shot from several angles each in order to use both shots repeatedly during the dogfighting scenes, because the aircraft firing the missile is holding a steady altitude and heading, something that would never happen in a real close-in dogfight. All other missile shots shown in the movie were conducted using miniatures of both the planes and rockets. The company that produced and fired the model missiles did such a good job that the Dept. of the Navy conducted a preliminary investigation into whether any additional live firings of missiles, beyond the two originally authorized, were done for the filmmakers.
Michael Ironside stated in the DVD commentary that he was so convincing as an officer that when he heard someone running towards him below decks, he got on to the sailor who was running. The sailor saluted and slowed down until he got out of Ironside's line of sight and started running again. The sailor never knew that Ironside was an actor on the film.
After the "Car chase" when Charlie tells Maverick that she didn't want anyone to find out she was falling for him, Maverick originally had a line to say. Tom Cruise forgot the line and "ad libbed" by kissing Kelly McGillis instead. Tony Scott liked it so much, he left the scene like that.
The F-14 pilot that "flipped the bird" at the MiG pilot was Scott Altman of VF-51, who eventually became a NASA astronaut flying as pilot on two missions and as commander on two more missions.
When Maverick receives his orders to the carrier following the graduation ceremony, there is a pilot standing behind him, with a mustache and wearing sunglasses. The pilot is "Heater" C.J. Heatley, a real-life former F-14 air show demonstration pilot and TOPGUN instructor
Rick Rossovich stated in the DVD commentary that he was kicked off of the ship used for filming because he smarted off to an officer. Rossovich had gone to sleep in the bunk (more commonly called a rack) he was assigned to, but didn't like being so close to the nuclear reactors that powered the ship, so he moved. When he smarted off to the officer who wanted his bunk back, Rossovich was told to report to the captain who ordered him thrown off the ship for disrespect.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell's first name was Evan in early scripts of the film. It was later changed to Pete as an homage to Pete Pettigrew, who worked on the film (Pettigrew appears in the bar scene early in the film as Charlie's older male date.)
Paramount Pictures commissioned Grumman, the makers of the F-14, to develop and install special camera mounts on the plane. This allowed the filmmakers to use real aerial point-of-view footage of the Tomcat in flight.
