Top Gun (1986)

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

Top Gun (1986) dir. by Tony Scott

You would be surprised that “Top Gun” only has a fifty or so percentage rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the general consensus reading:

"Though it features some of the most memorable and electrifying aerial footage shot with an expert eye for action, Top Gun offers too little for non-adolescent viewers to chew on when its characters aren't in the air.”

I personally disagree with this for the fact that I have always found Top Gun to be one of those movies that is both fun and has a great narrative. Teaching friendship and self-awareness, the film offers much more than just depth and over-thinking. It does the job of film in the most basic sense - to be entertaining. And it is very entertaining.

Roger Ebert also weighed in on the movie and in this case, I can see where he is coming from. Instead of being blatantly one-sided, Ebert tries to see the positives of the film, but cannot bring himself to see it as flawless. No film is without flaw, but I can honestly Roger Ebert makes a good point:

"Movies like Top Gun are hard to review because the good parts are so good and the bad parts are so relentless. The dogfights are absolutely the best since Clint Eastwood's electrifying aerial scenes in Firefox. But look out for the scenes where the people talk to one another.”

He has a good argument when it comes to what is good about the film when he talks about the fights and the aerial shots:

“We're used to seeing things within a frame that respects left and right, up and down, but the fighter pilot lives in a world of 360-degree turns. The remarkable achievement in "Top Gun" is that it presents seven or eight aerial encounters that are so well choreographed that we can actually follow them most of the time, and the movie gives us a good secondhand sense of what it might be like to be in a dogfight.”

But then, takes it apart in the next paragraph when comparing Tom Cruise’s other works to “Top Gun” and comparing other films in a similar genre to “Top Gun”. He states:

“It's pale and unconvincing compared with the chemistry between Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay in "Risky Business," and between McGillis and Harrison Ford in "Witness" - not to mention between Richard Gere and Debra Winger in "An Officer and a Gentleman," which obviously inspired "Top Gun." Cruise and McGillis spend a lot of time squinting uneasily at each other and exchanging words as if they were weapons, and when they finally get physical, they look like the stars of one of those sexy new perfume ads. There's no flesh and blood here, which is remarkable, given the almost palpable physical presence McGillis had in "Witness." In its other scenes on the ground, the movie seems content to recycle old cliches and conventions out of countless other war movies.”

So, can we say whether we really know if “Top Gun” should be on this list of films you must see before you die? Is there room for a different movie of a similar genre? What do you think about the way this movie is presented to us in comparison to the critics’ consensus?

Here is the Roger Ebert Review of “Top Gun”