LOS ANGELES, May 12 (UPI) -- Top Gun, returning to theaters Wednesday along with its sequel, was one of the defining blockbusters of the '80s. Forty years later, its trademark swagger, flight footage and soundtrack inspire nostalgia for movies that delivered such total packages.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) and his copilot Goose (Anthony Edwards) get chosen for Top Gun, the Navy's elite flight school. They compete with other pilots in exercises simulating aerial combat.
The footage of Navy F-14s and enemy MiGs by director Tony Scott and cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball is still impressive today. The military cooperated with the film to help facilitate filmmakers.
Maneuvers like flying upside down or cutting off a formation are flashy, but even basic flying around canyons and maintaining formation are impressive. Watching it, we take it for granted that it is difficult to keep four planes in frame at airspeed. There were probably a lot of takes where the camera missed.
The film explains the maneuvers to lay people in the audience. Maverick breaks so Jester (Michael Ironside) can pass. Close-ups of the cockpits match the spinning or tilting of the planes.
