Top Gun

The surprise here is that this blog is nearly three weeks old and we've not had a Top Gun post. What kind of perennial teenager am I? Top Gun is another classic 80s movie. Perhaps the classic 80s movie. So packed full of testosterone, fighter planes and some really bad love scenes that it could only be made in the 80s.

If Top Gun is on TV, I have to watch it, it's the law. And my favourite Top Gun viewing was in a hotel room on a business trip where I was bored and fed up and I switched on the TV and there it was. Like an old friend.

This is an almost perfect film. Tom Cruise at his absolute best before we all realised he was a scientologist nutbag. I admit, I had a poster of Tom on my wall (from Just Seventeen naturally) and  a man in uniform is irresistible.  Although of course the lovely one was Goose. Oh Goose. I still well up when he dies. I had a bit of a crush on Goose. Meg Ryan is wonderful in this too: "Take me to bed or lose me forever!" Val Kilmer is perfect. Kelly McGillis isn't. I honestly think she is so miscast and she is my weak link in the film. She simply isn't credible as a love interest to Tom Cruise and I think it's the combination of the crappy hair, the fact I've always believed she is a bit too old and the badly written part (not her fault).

The star of Top Gun is the music. What would 80s films have done without Kenny Loggins? And the theme is sublime. I once went to a body combat work out class and the instructor cooled down to the Top Gun theme. I don't normally smile at gyms but I did on that day, I beamed like an idiot and thought "what would Maverick do?"

So here is the opening credits to one of the great 80s films. Thank you Mr Tony Scott. I will always love you for bringing us this...