Yes…I know I’ve knocked it several times in posts here but the trailer actually looks pretty good and we have a date night with the in-laws watching the kids so we can do dinner and a movie.

Watched Top Gun tonight as my wife had never seen it (she was busy being 4 at the time) and we both found it kind of hoky and slow. Is it just me or are most older movies much slower to move the story along than modern movies? I recall watching it as a kid and really being awed by it then but it’s not one that has aged well for me.

And stupid Paramount Movie Channel censored the “you’ll be flying rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong!” line

Thread #4

Not really

Was discussing Top Gun 1

Watched it again last night myself. I agree with you on the pacing. Movies today seem to be more frantic with editing.

I thought TG was great when it came out back in '86. In fact I believe I watched in 3-4 times in the theatres. Of course then I went to flight school and became a Naval Aviator and that ruined the movie for me. Now I watch it to laugh/grimace at all the flight scene errors. It does have some great cheesy '80's lines that are part of society (I think?) still today though.

I want to know why Maverick and Goose’s boss in Top Gun is only a Commander? (Lt Colonel to us Army types), wouldn’t be be at least a full bird Captain?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Yes…I know I’ve knocked it several times in posts here but the trailer actually looks pretty good and we have a date night with the in-laws watching the kids so we can do dinner and a movie.

Watched Top Gun tonight as my wife had never seen it (she was busy being 4 at the time) and we both found it kind of hoky and slow. Is it just me or are most older movies much slower to move the story along than modern movies? I recall watching it as a kid and really being awed by it then but it’s not one that has aged well for me.

And stupid Paramount Movie Channel censored the “you’ll be flying rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong!” line

It’s free on Netflix all weekend. They left the rubber dog shit line in and it’s unedited.

Gotta my 14 year old to watch it to get him geeked up for the new movie.

After being in F-14s for 18 of my 23 years in the Navy, I cannot, out of respect, watch it with anyone else unless they’re prepared for spoilers.

Not the "who’s gonna win, who’s gonna lose," or "who lives, who dies type of spoilers but; ‘that can’t happen," "that is wrong," "bwahaha, let’s back it up and I’ll show you why this is a big error in geography," etc.

Wife says it ruins the "magic" of the movie, stepson tries the "what if" scenario only to be on the receiving end of the "really, tell me more about your extensive knowledge of an aircraft you’ve never touched" look.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:


It’s free on Netflix all weekend. They left the rubber dog shit line in and it’s unedited.

Gotta my 14 year old to watch it to get him geeked up for the new movie.

Of course.

We ditched Netflix months ago after realizing we barely used it any longer and they raised prices yet again.

Back to Top Gun 1 criticisms:

Is it just me or is the whole “romance” between Maverick and Charlie (Kelly McGillis) VERY forced too?

I agree on the pacing of movies now. I don’t recall Top Gun all that much. But I recall watching Rocky with my kids, maybe 10 years ago. I realized how boring they found it. Back then the story was more important than the action.

In Top Gun, James Tolkan mentions he once disciplined Tom Cruise for making a pass at the Admiral's daughter. In Top Gun 2, Jennifer Connelly plays that daughter. That means, if Connelly is the same age as the character, she would've been 15 or younger during the events mentioned in Top Gun 1. I wonder if that's the major reason why Maverick would've been in such hot water over that...

Well, Mav DID go ballistic with Penny Benjamin...

quote:

Originally posted by Windhover:
Well, Mav DID go ballistic with Penny Benjamin...

Great Balls of Fire!

I purchased Top Gun on Apple and watched with friends and wife tonight. Nostalgia is a funny thing. You remember the excitement and emotion when you watched it in 1986, and cringe at fashion, music, lines, machismo, etc.

Top Gun Maverick (2022) will be much more understandable with a fresh viewing of the original. But, with 36 years of advancing movie technology, it is a far better movie.

There are so many errors in the military aspects of the original, as well as the many visual errors. But, the story was told, with passion and reasonable filming continuity, even with the mistakes.

As I said in the other post... the ending of Top Gun, a least as I remember it from a zillion years ago, when all the crew on the carrier come out on deck celebrating Tom's victory has to be one of the stupidest scenes ever put in a movie.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I recall watching it as a kid and really being awed by it then but it’s not one that has aged well for me.

About ten years ago, a guy I was working with was saying he watched it with his son because, well, he was a kid when it came out (same age as me), and it was a cultural phenomenon, and why not? He said watching it as an adult, his opinion changed. "Gayest movie ever." I looked at him funny, and he said "Oh, no. I'm being serious, it's loaded with the gayest scenes I think I've ever seen in a movie. You look skeptical, but watch it again and think about what I said during the locker room scenes, the end where they're all having a big love fest for Maverick because he shot down some planes. The volleyball scene gets special mention, that's gotta be some gay screenwriter's fantasy, seeing all those guys oiled up, prancing around, acting tough, and rubbing oiled-up muscled torsos together. Tellin' ya, gayest movie ever. But hey, F14's are awesome."

You know? He wasn't wrong. A definitive film from the 80's, but he's not wrong. We got a great Kenny Loggins song out of it, and the Navy recruitment numbers went berserk.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
"Gayest movie ever." I looked at him funny, and he said "Oh, no. I'm being serious, it's loaded with the gayest scenes I think I've ever seen in a movie...

Many people have opined about the homoerotic subtexts in Top Gun, all the way back when it was originally in 1986. Quentin Tarantino has a pretty well-known commentary about it.



To anyone who declares Top Gun of being the 'Gayest Movie Ever', I see your nomination and raise it w/ 300. Do you know why it was titled 300? On a scale of 1-10 for homoeroticism, it rated a 300.

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
Do you know why it was titled 300? On a scale of 1-10 for homoeroticism, it rated a 300.

Ha! Yeah, fair. It’s different, though. It’s so “in your face” about it that it didn’t even come to mind. It’s like comparing Andy Dick to Ru Paul.

I started to watch TG again.

Dumb question: at the beginning, they mention the training school. In particular I caught that his was a Navy school. Navy pilots. I understand that the Navy has various disciplines. But seems like the Air Force should have an excellent fighter pilot school, one that is superior to the Navy's, or at least parity (both should be excellent).

I'm not sure I've ever heard of an Air Force pilot school like Top Gun. Are most tactical air engagements via the Navy? What is the Air Force role in air fighter engagements?

The USAF has a similar school called USAF Weapons School located in Nellis AFB and yes the instructors from both schools would occasionally tangle with each other over Nevada. Aggressor squadrons are located on each coast for the Navy and at principal fighter bases for the USAF, this is where those graduates go and disseminate what they've learned to the rest of the fleet/wing. When Topgun was developed, it marked a divergence between how the Navy and USAF conducted air combat training. As the years progressed, Navy kill ratio climbed while the USAF remained static, the later half of the Vietnam War there wasn't much air-to-air engagements but, more strategic bombing campaigns so opportunities for shooting down NVAF was limited. This was the early beliefs of radar kills and no need for gun kills, which emphasized a thorough understanding of how to fly the airplane; today radars have advanced, sensor fusion & networking is a thing and the AAMRAM has replaced the Sparrow greatly increasing missile reliability. Post-Vietnam, the USAF updated their tactics given the Navy's success with Topgun and the introduction of the F-15 & F-16, where the gun was a permanent part of the aircraft.

Topgun (one word for the school) is a course for junior officers at the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center, who've completed their first sea tour with a Strike Fighter squadron, who have been selected to be teachers. Upon completion, and depending on where they are in their career, they either go back to their squadron and become the training division officer within the Operations department or, go to the Fleet Replacement Squadron (formerly know as RAG) and become an instructor with the Strike Fighter Weapons School (two schools Pacific & Atlantic) which is where they train the fleet squadrons on tactics and weapons employment at Topgun. Each of the navy aviation communities has similar school for their advanced instructors: F/A-18G (HAVOC), E-2 (Topdome) and Seahawk (SETI)