20 Snappy facts about Top Gun
Top Gun was released in 1986 and became an iconic film from the era. Arguably one of the best and memorable films of the Eighties. Here are 20 Snappy facts about Top Gun you probably didn’t know.
1 Box office success
Top Gun went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1986. The movie generated a handsome revenue of $357 million at the box office.
2 The soundtrack
The soundtrack released with the film only contained tracks written for the film. In 2000 the soundtrack was updated and re-released with existing tracks featured in the movie
3 Charlie was a real life person
The character of Charlie was based on a real-life navy employee called Christine Fox. A mathematician who worked at the center for naval analyses.
4 Recruiting booths
The film was a box office hit. To capitalize on this, the US navy set up recruiting booths outside movie theatres. 90% of all interested saw the movie.
5 Cougar
According to the original script, Cougar was supposed to crash his F-14 on landing. The US Navy summarily stopped this scene. They argued that Top Gun was a flight school and this scene would give the wrong impression. The script had to be changed.
6 Planet Hollywood
The flight suit Tom Cruise wore in the movie, was later put on display at Planet Hollywood.
7 Charlie Blackwood
Brooke Shields and Debra Winger were considered for the role of Charlie Blackwood. The producers opted for the unknown Kelly McGillis.
8 Bruce Springsteen
Producers of Top Gun had the idea of securing Bruce Springsteens’ song “Born in the USA” for the film, but their attempts were not successful.
9 The aircraft carriers
Two US Navy aircraft carriers were used for filming. The USS Enterprise and the USS Ranger.
10 Meg Ryan
Top Gun was Meg Ryan’s debut appearance in a feature film.
11 Take my breath away
The production team (Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Don Simpson) were so impressed when they heard the single from the group Berlin, that they decided to add a couple more romantic scenes with Cruise and McGillis to feature the track.
12 The first VHS tape for home video
Up to this point, films were only released on VHS tape and sold to rental stores for home rental purposes. Top Gun became the first film made available on VHS tape to be purchased privately. All thanks to commercial space on the tape sold to Pepsi.
13 The motorcycle
The bike Maverick owned in the movie was a Kawasaki Ninja 900GPz900R. it was the fastest production motorcycle at that stage.
14 Who would have played Maverick
A whole list of actors was considered for the hotshot pilot role. Among these were Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Mathew Broderick, Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox, Scott Baio, John Travolta, and Tom Hanks. They all turned down the role of Maverick.
15 Danger Zone
The band TOTO was slated to perform the track “Danger Zone”. Then REO Speedwagon was given the nod. Kenny Loggins eventually landed the honor.
16 Inspiration
The inspiration for the film came from a 1983 article in a magazine called “California”. The article was about the US Navy’s Top gun flight school.
17 The Pentagon
the Pentagon charged Paramount Pictures 1.8 million dollars for the opportunity to use the Navy’s aircraft and aircraft carriers for filming.
18 Tom Cruise is really short
Tom Cruise had to wear lifts in the scenes with Kelly McGillis. The lifts were in the form of special cowboy boots, while McGillis had to remain barefoot during filming.
19 The fine
At the real Top Gun school, any staff member that mentions or quotes the film is slapped with a $5 fine.
20 The Migs
The “Mig-28s” in the movie is actually just black-painted F-5F fighters.
