Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled “Top Guns,” written by Ehud Yonay and published in California magazine three years earlier. It stars Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant (junior grade) Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), are given the chance to train at the United States Navy’s Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt also appear in supporting roles.
Scott insisted on using real F-14 Tomcat fighter jets and filming on location, primarily on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier and at the Naval Air Station Miramar (the real TOPGUN school). The production paid the Navy a substantial amount—reports suggest up to $7,600 to $10,000 per hour—for the use of the planes, ships, and personnel.
In one famous anecdote, Scott was filming a spectacular take-off/landing sequence on the carrier when the ship changed course, ruining the lighting. When he asked the captain to return, he was told it would cost $25,000 to change course and continue filming for five minutes. Scott reportedly wrote a personal check on the spot to get the shot.
Tom Cruise and other actors were flown in real F-14s to capture their reactions, though much of the initial footage was unusable due to the actors getting sick from the intense G-forces. Anthony Edwards (Goose) was rumored to be the only actor who didn’t throw up. The real Navy pilot who flew the jet for the famous scene where Maverick flips off the enemy pilot was future NASA astronaut Scott Altman.
Cruise initially turned down the role of Maverick. Jerry Bruckheimer and Simpson arranged for him to take a ride with the Blue Angels (the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron), and the experience convinced him to join the film. Val Kilmer, who played Iceman, was reportedly forced into the role due to a contractual obligation with the studio and was not initially enthusiastic about the project. Kilmer and Cruise’s on-screen rivalry was partially fueled by Kilmer’s use of method acting. He purposefully kept his distance from Cruise to make their animosity feel more authentic.
The U.S. Navy heavily influenced the script. They insisted on changes like moving the opening dogfight from Cuba to international waters, toning down the pilots’ language, and changing the cause of Goose’s death from a mid-air collision (which the Navy didn’t approve) to a more realistic (though still tragic) accident from ejecting.
The film is dedicated to stunt pilot Art Scholl. During filming of a flat spin maneuver for the film, he lost control of his Pitts S-2 camera plane and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. His body and the plane were never recovered.
When Top Gun was released on May 16, 1986, although its visual effects and soundtrack were universally acclaimed, the film initially received mixed reviews from film critics. Despite this, four weeks after its release, the number of theaters showing it increased by 45 percent, and it overcame initial critical resistance to become a huge commercial hit, grossing $357.4 million dollars globally against a production budget of $15 million. Top Gun was the highest-grossing domestic film of 1986, as well as the highest-grossing film of 1986 worldwide.
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