PG | 1h 50m | Action, War, Romance | May 16, 1986 Having just reviewed “Top Gun: Maverick,” it’s apropos and high time to review the 1986 original.
I remember seeing “Top Gun” with my buddy Steve when it first hit the theaters in ’86. We took Steve’s 17-year-old cousin Joshua: a classic, insouciant, gum-snapping, hyper-critical, too-cool-for-school, and definitely too cool for “Top Gun” (or so he thought), typical American teen ingrate.
Two hours later—that is, two hours of dizzying fighter jet barrel rolls, violent aircraft carrier landings, Sidewinder missile and Vulcan Gatling cannon blasting, and insane levels of fighter jock testosterone later—the kid walked out of the theater with a mile-wide grin on his face. You couldn’t shut him up for the entire trip home. A happy, happy boy was Josh.
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