Tony Scott Retrospective: “Top Gun” (1986)

Whenever my dad would upgrade his entertainment system, the movie he would test drive it with was always “Top Gun.” Starting with the gentle pitter-patter of Harold Faltermeyer's synthesized drum machine over the Paramount Pictures logo, it segues into the golden dawn on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Amidst the smoke and the flight deck crew's communication with hand signals, the music crescendos in sync with the warming up engines of the F-14's. Upon the firing of the jet's afterburners and takeoff, the soundtrack jolts into Kenny Loggins' “Danger Zone.” This combination of sights and sounds puts anyone's home movie-watching experience to the ultimate test. There is perhaps no more apropos introduction for a movie you're about to see than the opening credits of “Top Gun.”

There is probably also no greater U-turn in subject matter between a director's debut film and their subsequent sophomore opus than Tony Scott's pivot from “The Hunger” to “Top Gun.” Ironically, what the two films have most in common are the less-than-subtle homoerotic overtones. It's also interesting that “Top Gun” was Tony Scott's only PG-rated film in his entire career. He definitely was shooting for an R-rating, though. When you watch the backlit silhouetted love scene, it very obviously cuts away from when Kelly McGillis is just about to drop her top, as if we're watching a network television edit.

Perhaps that was either Tony Scott's joke on the audience, or an attempt to get the love scene axed altogether. Apparently, when the original cut was shown to test audiences, there was strong feedback that the film needed a sex scene. The reason the post-production footage was so dimly lit was a matter of necessity. Since both Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis had moved onto other projects when it came time to film, they no longer looked like their characters from “Top Gun” anymore. Whatever the reason and regardless of how Scott felt about having to do it, this became the look of most of his subsequent love scenes in his future work (particularly in “True Romance”).

Despite this campy scene with its superfluous tongue probing and all, the film in general holds up pretty well, I'm always surprised by that when I revisit it. It does indeed ooze the 80's (especially with its music), but not to the point of being distracting or embarrassing. Also, credit is due for how influential this movie was. Not only did the Navy see a 500% increase in recruitment after its release (yikes), but this was the movie that paved the way for owning films on home video. Up until this time, VHS tapes were very expensive to own (literally like $100) because they were manufactured to be sold wholesale and thus most everyone was limited to renting any movies they wanted to watch. In the earlier years of VCR's, it was unexplored territory as to whether people wanted to watch any one movie often enough to justify owning it. The popularity of “Top Gun” caught Pepsi's attention and they said, “Hey, if you let us put a specially made commercial at the beginning of the video, we'll make them priced to own immediately upon release.” It was wildly successful and the rest is history.

“Top Gun” was the film that set the standard for Tony Scott's style (smoky sets and inexplicable sweating, for example) and was the one all his other movies were compared to. It was some time before people and advertisements stopped referring to Tony Scott as “the director of 'Top Gun.'” Regardless of Scott's additional great work, “Top Gun” will probably still be the movie for which he is most remembered 100 years from now. However, as a testament to just how huge this movie was, the same will probably also be said for Tom Cruise. That's one helluva movie. One that people will probably still be using to test their home theaters.