i want you to hit me as hard as you can sorry goose but it's time to buzz the tower
in 1986 top gun redefined the hollywood blockbuster prompted a massive increase
in u.s navy enlistment helped turn jerry bruckheimer into a mega producer and launched
actor tom cruise into the a-list stratosphere considering the movie's pop culture impact and
lasting legacy it's hard to believe top gun had major difficulties getting off the ground
and find out what the [ __ ] happened to this movie
top gun started life as a california magazine article about a san diego school for elite navy
fighter pilots when producer jerry bruckheimer saw the piece and its thrilling images he described it
as star wars on earth and he set about acquiring the rights to make a movie based on the article
right away bruckheimer and producing partner don simpson hit some turbulence aviation movies
had gone out of style and the 1984 air force tv series call to glory had just crashed and burned
the general perception in hollywood at the time was that audiences just weren't very interested
in watching planes and their pilots undeterred the duo pitched the concept to jeffrey katzenberg
at paramount pictures and he was hesitantly receptive to the idea katzenberg recruited
screenwriting team jack epps jr and jim cash who had been toiling on dick tracy during its time
in development hell and gave them the challenge of turning the relatively brief top gun article
into a feature-length film about hotshot military pilots but epson cash immediately realized that a
movie just wouldn't even be possible unless they had access to actual f-14 tomcat jets
and that would require the cooperation of the u.s navy before a single page of script
was written simpson and bruckheimer headed to the pentagon to meet with high-ranking members
of the navy and pitch the broad strokes of their fictionalized version of top gun though the idea
was initially met with skepticism secretary of the navy john layman thought that a well-made movie
about fighter pilots could be a victory for the military and provisionally agreed to collaborate
thanks for watching joe blow videos if you enjoy our shows please like and subscribe and click the
bell to be notified when new videos go live now back to the show retired ace pilot pete
viper pettigrew was assigned as the movie's technical advisor and would act as liaison between
the studio and the navy at this point epson cash had no idea what the movie's story would even be
pettigrew's involvement was critical his record and reputation opened doors and convinced
otherwise reluctant pilots and instructors to share their stories jack apps joined pettigrew
at the real top gun fighter school in miramar california and performed numerous interviews with
various personnel gaining insight into not just military careers and tactics but also personal
lives and losses bits and pieces of these stories were effectively frankenstein together into a
script for top gun but it was climbing into the backseat of a combat jet that was the creative
epiphany for epps who was a private pilot himself but had never been in a supersonic fighter plane
the exhilarating but exhausting experience of pulling g's and blasting through the sky at a
thousand miles an hour made the writer realize these pilots were really athletes competing at
the highest level he and cash decided to frame top gun like a sports movie complete with locker room
rivalries and a championship prize after weeks of writing and consulting with pettigrew epson
cash turned in their first draft of top gun don simpson flipped out for it calling it one of the
best screenplays he'd ever read but pettigrew had some bad news the navy was never going to approve
it and major changes would be necessary the navy wasn't the only obstacle on the runway paramount
executives including then-president michael eisner weren't exactly fans of the script even after
several rewrites and simpsons supposedly getting on his knees and begging eisner to make the movie
the project ultimately stalled but as top gun sat in storage eisner departed paramount to become
chairman of disney and took jeffrey katzenberg with him incoming paramount head ned tannen
needed new material for the studio and soon after hearing the pitch for top gun he gave the
producers approval to make the movie with a budget of 14 million dollars for the lead role of cocky
pilot pete maverick mitchell the writers had only ever thought of tom cruise after seeing the actor
in all the right moves bruckheimer and simpson also anticipated cruz was the next big star
and by that point they could not envision anyone else in the part the only problem was the actor
was not particularly interested cruz had just finished shooting ridley scott's ambitious fantasy
legend he had recently ended a relationship with risky business co-star rebecca de mourney and
he was busy traveling the country and wasn't keen on committing to any major new projects
but bruckheimer knew that cruz was an adrenaline junkie even back then he felt the need for speed
the producer thought cruz might be convinced to star in the movie if he could just get the actor
into a fighter jet and arranged for him to fly with the blue angels in california sure enough
zipping through the skies and hitting 4g turns was exactly the kind of persuasion that crews needed
there was a catch of course cruz's agent wanted 1 million dollars for his participation which at the
time was a cool chunk of change for a young actor with a single big success to his name
the producers flinched at the price tag and called the casting director asking for alternatives but
when she honestly couldn't think of anyone better suited for the part cruz got his first
of many substantial paychecks to direct the movie simpson and bruckheimer went to tony scott brother
of ridley scott was considered an unusual choice as his only other feature the 1983 david bowie
horror thriller the hunger had not exactly been well received although the producers appreciated
its atmosphere but it was scott's stylish advertising work that had really caught their eye
particularly a saab commercial featuring a car racing a fighter jet the director initially
envisioned top gun to be something darker like apocalypse now on an aircraft carrier but he
soon saw the potential of a popcorn movie about the rock stars of the skies when it came time
for casting scott was inspired by a bruce weber photo book of male models for the look of the
characters the project unsurprisingly became a hot hollywood property for young up-and-coming actors
val kilmer was initially not interested but was convinced by scott to play iceman the meticulous
contrast to cruz's impulsive maverick revenge of the nerds co-star anthony edwards landed the role
of maverick's lovable radar officer goose other flight suits would be filled by barry tubb whip
hubley rick rosavich and tim robbins with naval authority figures played by michael ironside james
tolkien and tom skerritt for the movie's love interest charlie blackwood many actresses were
considered including linda fiorentino ali sheedy and meg ryan who would instead get the smaller
role of goose's charming wife the part of charlie went to theater actor kelly mcgillis who had made
an impression with her recent work in the harrison ford thriller witness scott felt she had the
emotional maturity to believably match wits with the charismatic but egotistical pilots of top gun
but while the casting process had been relatively painless the production itself would be a constant
dogfight between the filmmakers and the navy who were extremely protective of the real top
gun program and how it would be presented to mass audiences early drafts of the script had charlie
as an enlisted officer but the navy rejected this forbidden fraternization the character was then
changed to a civilian contractor who ended up being based on an actual civilian specialist the
filmmakers had met at miramar another point of contention was the fate of goose who was
originally going to perish in a mid-air collision one of several accidents the movie planned to
include but the navy would approve only one flight mishap and it had to be a single plane this led to
the scene of maverick going into a flat spin after traveling through another plane's jet wash and
goose fatally ejecting into the canopy all of which was based on real aerodynamics and a
true story pettigrew had shared another moment of unreality that incensed the navy was the briefing
scene from charlie's seamed stockings to wolfman's taboo cowboy hat to the meeting taking place in
a wide open hangar rather than a more practical lecture room when the actual top gun instructors
on set that day expressed their concerns to pete pettigrew he shrugged and said at this point i'm
just trying to stop them from turning it into a musical there were some other concessions like
the locker room scene pettigrew understood the film's sports analogy and the idea of a
place where conversations could happen outside of rank and uniform and also the potential appeal of
shirtless hunks to certain audience demographics similarly there was initial resistance to the
movie's fictional top gun trophy which represented a physical goal for the competition at the fighter
weapons school as screenwriter jack epps put it never let the truth get in the way of a good movie
as for buzzing the tower this was absolutely prohibited under any circumstances but one
lucky navy pilot got the opportunity to live out the fantasies of his top gun peers with a low
altitude flyby just for the movie before filming even started bruckheimer had sent the script to
axel f composer harold faltermeier asking him for an anthem which he put together without seeing a
frame of footage scott would play faltermire's theme song on the set to establish tone and pump
up the cast to prepare for the shoot the actors went through a four day pilot survival training
course at miramar the production itself was broken into three stages starting with all
the dramatic scenes on the ground filmed in and around san diego cruz who was feeling the pressure
of headlining a major studio movie took a method approach and stayed separate from the other actors
particularly his on-screen rival val kilmer who often partied with his fellow film pilots
during this early phase tony scott was constantly under threat of dismissal by the studio for his
vision from mcgillis wardrobe and glamorous makeup to the excessive time spent filming the now iconic
volleyball scene which the director once jokingly called soft porn scott later commented that he
basically got fired from the movie several times but just kept filming anyway mcgillis herself was
also nearly on the chopping block when studio executives saw dailies and weren't convinced
of her chemistry with cruz editor billy weber quickly assembled the dinner scene to help the
producers assure the studio of her appeal rather than recast and reshoot all her completed footage
from there the production headed to the aircraft carrier uss enterprise which presented other
difficulties in addition to being an incredibly noisy environment for the director to communicate
with his cast and crew the carrier was engaged in actual operations at the time and the production
was essentially just along for the ride to capture whatever footage they could at one point scott was
shooting a critical scene at magic hour when the captain began turning the ship losing the
director's perfect natural lighting scott asked how much it would cost to change course and wrote
a personal check for 25 000 to get the captain to turn around for a few minutes so scott could
get his shot val kilmer also took some convincing over a line of dialogue that he felt was too hokey
to stay in front of actual navy personnel on the deck of the carrier but scott eventually talked
him into it you can be my wingman any time then the navy wasn't entirely tolerant of the hollywood
flyboys rick rosavich was actually escorted off the vessel before filming was complete after
making wisecracks to officers the final stage of production was capturing the intense aerial scenes
various scale models were used for the crashes and explosions but the biggest production challenge
was shooting high velocity flying footage in ways that had never been done before scott scrawled
hand-drawn storyboards and worked with top navy aerial coordinators to develop the flying scenes
which were shot in nevada using real navy pilots and continually evolved based on the limitations
of actual physics often to scott's frustration air footage was filmed with a camera-equipped learjet
and an f-14 mounted with external cameras while lower altitude scenes were shot using a camera rig
placed on a mountaintop as the jets blasted by at supersonic speed once the planned scenes were shot
scott asked the pilots to perform any other maneuvers they thought might be visually
impressive this impromptu session led to the pitch pulse an instantaneous 6g pull-up that wowed scott
so much it became maverick's signature move one thing that did not go to plan was capturing
airborne footage of the actual actors in the rear of the cockpit showing their faces and delivering
dialogue kilmer had declined to go up in a jet but of the actors that did take to the skies everyone
except anthony edwards ejected their lunch barry tubb joked that he vomited so much his own
toenails came up needless to say all the in-air footage of the actors was unusable scott ended
up filming all the cockpit scenes in a simulator gimbal on a sound stage using real aerial footage
playing on a screen behind the actors as potentially dangerous as the real-life jet
maneuvers might have been it was capturing that projection footage that led to a tragic accident
professional aerobatic pilot art shoal was filming background plates for the flat spin sequence
when he experienced mechanical failure and was lost in a crash the film was dedicated to him
once principal photography wrapped in autumn 1985 scott and editors chris leben zahn and
billy weber started stitching together the movie the screening of their first cut was a disaster
the flying sequences were incomprehensible and the movie did not work without them
harold faltermeyer was so confounded he tried to get out of working on the film
tony scott was yet again in danger of getting fired but simpson and bruckheimer remained
optimistic they sat down with scott and the editors and reassembled the movie frame by frame
scott's storyboard sketches and vision for the flying scenes had proven useless relative to
the footage he had captured and the sequences were effectively built from scratch in the editing room
using input from real top gun pilots shooting new aerial footage was unthinkable and in the days
before convincing cgi the only option was to scour the existing film for any suitable moments editor
billy webber said that out of several hundred thousand feet of flight and cockpit footage
every usable frame was in the final movie luckily the actors mouths were usually covered by oxygen
masks since new dialogue needed to be written and recorded to conform to the manufactured scenes
simpson and bruckheimer's previous box office blockbusters flashdance and beverly hills cop
had multi-platinum selling soundtracks and that expectation was the same for top gun
a cut of the movie was screened to a cattle call group of musicians and pop acts to solicit
song contributions resulting in more than 100 submissions for the filmmakers to sort through and
select their favorites kenny loggins song playing with the boys was used for the infamous volleyball
scene and he was also a last minute replacement for the band toto on danger zone which ended up
being one of logan's biggest hits while the movie had been shaped into satisfactory form paramount
still wanted feedback from an actual outside audience and selected dallas for a screening just
days before it was scheduled the space shuttle challenger exploded after takeoff killing the
seven crew members aboard as the nation mourned the tragedy the screening went ahead as planned
dreading a subdued response from the moviegoers the producers were instead pleasantly surprised by
an overwhelmingly positive reaction and they knew they had a hit on their hands exhibitor screenings
followed and the feedback was that the movie was exciting but the romance needed to be stronger
the filmmakers quickly convened to add a couple more scenes unfortunately mcgillis hair had been
cut short and returned to her natural color while cruz was busy filming martin scorsese's the color
of money with a new higher hairstyle and he was only available for one day to circumvent these
issues they put mcgillis in a hat and soaked down cruz's hair for the elevator seduction
and then filmed a quick love scene in shadow the additional pg-rated passion was swiftly
edited into the movie just before the final mix was finished and theatrical prints were cut
in may 1986 top gun premiered in new york and san diego where the cast and crew were in attendance
along with navy pilots and top brass who were not nearly as impressed as the filmmakers and studio
also vocal in their disappointment were the critics although the flying scenes earned praise
top gun received brutal reviews that called it clunky predictable corny and jingoistic propaganda
but general audiences didn't care in the slightest the movie opened in first place at the box office
and rapidly became a cultural phenomenon sales of bomber jackets and aviator sunglasses skyrocketed
navy recruitment soared and thanks to the increased spotlight the actual top gun school
was rewarded with new planes and headquarters tunes from the soundtrack were omnipresent and
berlin's ballad take my breath away reached number one on the billboard charts and won
an oscar for best original song while goose and maverick's awkward bar room rendition
prompted a radio resurgence of the righteous brothers you've lost that love and feeling
the top gun soundtrack ultimately sold over 11 million copies top gun remained in theaters
for 10 months eventually collecting 175 million dollars domestic and over 350 million worldwide
and its home video release was one of the first vhs movies sold at an affordable retail price
eventually moving almost 3 million copies the movie cemented tom cruise's status as
an international superstar and he is now forever associated with the brash character of maverick
several other cast members were also launched to stardom jerry bruckheimer along with don simpson
until his death in 1996 produced a string of box office smashes and reunited with tony scott
on five more productions the director sadly took his own life in 2012. top guns energetic
style and unapologetic mix of music militarism and machismo influenced countless movies and
filmmakers and of course it's also prompted some interesting discussions and interpretations it
is a story about a man's struggle with his own homosexual while the movie does remain
distinctly 80s after more than three and a half decades its propulsive aerial sequences are still
considered some of the most remarkable ever put on film and while the sequel had been discussed
ever since the first movie's success tom cruise is finally climbing back into the cockpit and hitting
the afterburners again for top gun maverick because audiences still feel that need for speed
let us know your thoughts leave a comment in the comments and thanks for watching
now
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