Top Gun

Eye candy for teenage girls with crushes on Tom Cruise. It is easy to see why this picture was the big hit it was. Crisp, flashy, loud, and full of teenybopper sexuality. Every boy wants to be Cruise, and every girl wants to be Kelly McGillis. I bet Navy recruiting went wild after this picture came out. I begin to wonder why moviemakers are so fascinated with naval aviators. I mean, you'd think if they wanted flyers they'd use Air Fonee boys, or doesn't the Air Force have fighter pilots (modern day Lancelots) any more, just bomber pilots? Maybe because Air Force guys don't land on carriers, which I guess is more thrilling and dangerous than landing on the ground. In any event, the F-11 must be the world's most expensive phallic symbol. Interesting that they chose a two-man fighter for the centerplece; clearly serving the interests of the buddy story that makes up part of the picture, even though fighter jocks are traditionally thought of as solo guys. Still there is good plane footage (though how mash is real and how much models I don't know) and the only thing sexier than the planes is McGillis. And Cruise gets to lose his self doubt and fear in a big showdown with the Russkies, and everybody is happy at the end. Sure it's an infantile and puerile exercise, but it's more or less harmless, so what the hell.