Top Gun - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Top Gun or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Top Gun

[chad]

The ship that Viper served on with Maverick's father, the U.S.S. Oriskany, was the first United States warship slated to become an artificial reef, under authority granted by the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 108-136). It was sunk with controlled charges 24 miles (39 km) south of Pensacola on May 17, 2006. It is now popularly known as the "Great Carrier Reef", a reference to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

[cameron]

Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) (also known as Panther Squadron) was filmed aboard the U.S.S. Oriskany (CV-34) aircraft carrier in 1954 written by U.S. Navy Commander Harry A. Burns. It was inspired by a Saturday Evening Post article, "The Forgotten Heroes of Korea" by James A. Michener.

[sophie]

Numerous critics complained that the movie largely amounted to a Navy recruitment film. The U.S. Navy stated that the film's popularity resulted in a 500 percent increase in the number of recruits wanting to enter into their aviation program. Paramount offered to include a Navy Recruitment ad on the initial home video release in exchange for debits owed the U.S. Navy for their cooperation. However, the ad agency who produced ads for the U.S. Military informed the Pentagon that the movie itself was enough of a propaganda tool, and that an official recruiting ad would be redundant.

[addison]

In the film Viper tells Maverick Jester called no joy during an exercise. However you never hear it in the film.

[sylvia]

Goose's real name is Nick Bradshaw. His name is briefly seen on a flight patch on top of his dresser when Maverick goes to retrieve Goose's belongings after he dies. It can also be seen numerous times written on the side of the F-14 he and Maverick fly. It is most noticeable when Goose hits the canopy after ejecting.

[tamara]

The Pentagon demanded script approval to ensure that the Navy was portrayed in a positive light. They demanded the cause of Goose's death be changed from a midair collision to an ejection mishap because the Navy was concerned that it looked like too many pilots were crashing.

[toni]

Brooke Shields and Debra Winger were considered for the role of Charlie Blackwood, but producers wanted an unknown for the part: Kelly McGillis.

[aaron]

In the last fight scene, where Iceman is hit and has to shutdown an engine, the footage of the engine being shutdown is actually footage of the F-14's machine gun firing.

[wesley]

In 1986, jet fuel was pretty cheap - about 1 dollar per gallon. However, Paramount still paid 10,000 dollars an hour every time they went up to film an F-14.

[ruby]

In Spain, Ghost Rider call-sign was translated literally as "Jinete Fantasma", instead the real "Motorista Fantasma" as the Marvel Comics character published in 1972 seen in Ghost Rider (2007), since that the character was totally unknown in Spain at those times.

[elmer]

Kenny Loggins's upbeat song Danger Zone is played three times in the film, which is more than any other song. There is even a thrilling scene in which Maverick races a Tomcat taking off on his motorbike with the song playing.

[kristina]

John Travolta was considered for the role of Maverick, but his agent's asking price for him was too high, especially in light of his recent box-office flops.

[jim]

The film was originally going to have a scene near the end where Maverick visited Goose's grave. A filmed version of this scene was never released, however still screen shots from what such a scene would have looked like are available on the special edition DVD.

[amber]

Cougar was supposed to have crashed while trying to land back on the carrier, and his death was supposed to be why Maverick "slid into Cougar's spot", but this was summarily cut by the Navy. As this was intended to be a recruitment tool for the Navy, they didn't want negative attention drawn on a particularly hazardous aspect of serving on a carrier, or flying fighters.

[alyssa]

One of the first films to be selected for the Cinema 52 project, in which a subject watches a film 52 times over the course of a year. Revelations of note about Top Gun resulting from this experiment include: Tom Cruise blinks 469 times, the word "the" is spoken 223 times, and the average time between Air Boss Johnson coffee spills is 27 minutes and 23 seconds.

[kristen]

The call-sign 'Ghost Rider' that Maverick uses for his plane was the name of a real F-14 squadron (VF-142), and a model of a Tomcat from that squadron can be seen behind Sundown in the shot where Maverick tells Slider he stinks.

[phyllis]

Goose was originally to have died in a flaming crash aboard an aircraft carrier, but the Navy objected, and the scene was changed to the training accident that has been featured since the film's release.