In 1983, producer Jerry Bruckheimer was flipping through the May issue of California magazine when he was struck by a story. "Top Guns" read the headline, with a large photograph from inside the cockpit of an F-14 fighter jet.The story opened: "At Mach 2 and 40,000 feet over California, it’s always high noon." "I saw that cover and I said, ‘We gotta do this.This looks great,'" recalls Bruckheimer. "It's 'Star Wars' on Earth." And at the box office, "Top Gun" did nearly reach "Star Wars" proportions.
It was the No. 1 film of 1986, a rocket-boosted, testosterone-fueled sensation that established the then 24-year-old Tom Cruise as a major star.
It made Bomber jackets, Aviator sunglasses and playing homoerotic games of beach volleyball in jeans hip just as it did military service.
In the jingoist Reagan-era '80s, "Top Gun" was about as American as it gets.The Navy set up recruitment tables in theaters. Enlistments soared.
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