"Top Gun"Elevates You To New Altitudes
             Top Gun is a 1980's action packed military aerial thriller and romance starring Tom Cruise as an underdog, crackerjack, F-14 pilot named Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. This film is a celebration of military heroics with a lone cowboy theme. The horses are jets, the guns are missiles, the "western draw" is replaced by being the first to "lock in" on a target. The hero's call sign is even a reference to an old cowboy show Maverick.
             This modern day Western was the perfect movie for 1986. The country was engrossed in Reagan's cold war politics against Russia and this movie plot portrayed American jet pilots rallying together as a team to defeat the invading enemy. Add subplots of romance, rivalry, and tragedy. Finish with a mounting score by Harold Faltmeier which includes songs Danger Zone and Take my Breath Away and you have all the elements for a blockbuster.
             In the opening scene we are introduced to Cruises character, Maverick, and his flying partner Nick "Goose" Bradshaw played by Anthony Edwards. They are on a mission in the Indian Ocean to intercept Mig Fighters that have crossed into international airspace. Realizing there is no real threat the duo decide to have some unauthorized fun by flying inverted three feet above the Russian built jet and flipping the pilot the finger, snapping a Polaroid, and peeling off. Maverics wingman however cracks under the stress of the encounter and Maverick, on almost no fuel, must talk him down to the carrier. The wingman turns in his wings and Maverick and Goose are moved up in the standings which means they will be sent to Top Gun, the Navy's elite flying school that teaches the lost art of aerial dog fighting.
             These first fifteen minutes of the movie are action packed hyping the audience for a rollercoaster ride in the sky. Aerial scenes always present a challenge
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