Top Gun - you fear neither death nor the devil

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Movie
German title Top Gun - you fear neither death nor the devil
Original title Top gun
Top-gun-logo.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1986
length 109 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Tony Scott
script Jim Cash ,
Jack Epps Jr.
production Don Simpson ,
Jerry Bruckheimer
music Harold Faltermeyer
camera Jeffrey L. Kimball
cut Chris Lebenzon ,
Billy Weber
occupation
synchronization
chronology

Successor  →
Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun - Lost Command is an American action film from Tony Scott from the year 1986 . In the starring Tom Cruise a fighter pilot of the US Navy .

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer , the film grossed $ 356.8 million at box offices around the world. The production budget was only $ 15 million. However, the production of the film received financial and logistics support from the US Department of Defense .

In February 2013, the film was digitally revised and briefly shown again in selected cinemas in IMAX 3D format . The explanation given was that the flight scenes would be very suitable for 3D.

action

Formation of F-14A Tomcats and F-5E / F Tiger II from the Navy Fighter Weapons School, which were used to shoot the aerial combat

Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is a fighter pilot in the United States Navy, stationed as a pilot of an F-14 "Tomcat" on the aircraft carrier " USS Enterprise (CVN-65) ". Maverick is the son of fighter pilot Duke Mitchell, who was shot down during the Vietnam War in 1965 and has been missing since then. The exact circumstances of the crash are as classified information classified and Maverick unknown.

The film begins "somewhere in the Indian Ocean " with Maverick and his weapons system officer (Engl. Intercept Officer (RIO) Radar ) Nick "Goose" Bradshaw on a patrol flight as wingman of "Cougar" and its RIO "Merlin". The gang is given the task of intercepting an unidentified aircraft that has penetrated the airspace of the aircraft carrier. The enemy radar sightings are identified as two (fictional) MiG-28 combat aircraft . These have already approached the aircraft carrier within 250 miles. Maverick successfully intimidates both "intruders" by targeting the first aircraft with his targeting radar and then getting into firing position behind the second aircraft that Cougar is chasing.

Although the two enemy planes then turn away, Cougar suffers a panic attack as a result of the incident . Due to his panic disorder and disorientation, he can no longer obey the repeated orders of the CAG “Stinger” to return to the aircraft carrier. Maverick, who, like Cougar, has little fuel on board, defies Stinger's order to land immediately in order to ultimately successfully guide Cougar and his aircraft back to the aircraft carrier.

Cougar is so unsettled after the incident because of the danger of having almost made his wife a widow and his child an orphan that he submitted his departure as a fighter pilot. As a result of this fact, Maverick and Goose are reluctantly and despite the disobedience committed as the second best flight team in the Stinger squadron for training at the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School in Miramar , called "Top Gun".

Right at the beginning of his training, Maverick had a rivalry with the ambitious student pilot Tom "Iceman" Kazanski and had problems because his reckless flight was successful and he could win dogfights like against the instructor Lieutenant Commander Rick "Jester" Heatherly, but repeated it Rules of engagement violated and showing little teamwork. During a simulated dogfight at the side of pilot “Hollywood” and RIO “Wolfman”, he leaves them to hunt down chief instructor Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf. Although Maverick can successfully challenge the experienced pilot, he is ultimately shot down in a simulated manner by Viper's wingman Jester, who has meanwhile won the aerial battle against Hollywood and Wolfman.

Outside the air force base, Maverick meets Charlotte Blackwood in a bar, unaware that the attractive woman is a civilian instructor code-named "Charlie" at Top Gun. During a lesson he impressed Charlie with his detailed, actually secret, knowledge of the flight characteristics of the MiG-28 he encountered. Charlie ultimately accepts Maverick's advances and the two become lovers.

During the next mission, Maverick and Iceman chase Jester together. Maverick tries to connect his fire control radar to Jester's A-4 Skyhawk from a good position , but is hindered by the iceman flying close ahead. When the latter finally turns off to clear the path of fire for Maverick, his F-14 gets caught in the exhaust jet and the two engines go out one after the other due to a stall . Without thrust , the flow will stall and the machine will go into an uncontrollable flat spin . While trying to use the ejector seat to save himself from the crashing plane, Goose is shot into the not yet completely removed cockpit roof and dies.

Although the Aircraft Accident Commission released Maverick of responsibility for the accident, he was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt and unable to take any further aviation risks. During another training session with Jester, Maverick turns away discouraged despite the favorable shooting position, much to the amazement and annoyance of his new RIO "Sundown".

Unsettled by his hesitation, Maverick considers whether he wants to remain in the Navy. When he asks Viper for advice, he tells him about Maverick's father and his work during the Vietnam War. Viper risks his career to tell Maverick the truth about his father and how he stayed in Vietnam. Though Duke Mitchell's F-4 Phantom II was hit during a fierce aerial combat, he refused to fly back and heroically saved three other pilots before his fighter plane crashed. Although this act would normally have qualified him for the Medal of Honor , the incident was classified and kept secret by the United States Department of State because the battle took place outside of Vietnamese airspace and the United States government wanted to avoid an international incident.

At the graduation ceremony, Iceman, Slider, Hollywood, Wolfman and Maverick are unexpectedly assigned to the USS Enterprise, near which an American spy ship is floating in hostile waters without propulsion. Until it is repaired, the gang around Iceman and Hollywood is to monitor the airspace, while Maverick and RIO Merlin remain on the aircraft carrier in readiness as an alarm group on the launch catapult . Hollywood and Iceman are attacked by six MiGs at the same time on their patrol and Hollywood's F-14s are shot down, while Iceman can continue flying if shot. After Maverick's catapult launch, the launch system fails, which is why Maverick and Iceman remain the only fighter planes in the air for a long time.

When Maverick reached the fighting, his F-14 inadvertently got caught in the wake of a MiG and began to spin. Although he is able to intercept the plane this time, he is losing his confidence and is about to flee. Maverick takes the dog tags of Goose in hand and asks his friend desperately for advice, returns to action back-up from three MiGs. Maverick also dutifully covers Iceman, who can also score a kill. After this extremely successful assignment, Maverick is free to decide on his further career path. He returns to Miramar as a trainer and meets Charlie in a bar.

Real background

During the Vietnam War had become increasingly clear that US Navy pilots neither the use of air-to-air missiles , still in air combat (English fight dog ) had to machine the opposing air forces a clear superiority. Especially in the F-4 Phantom II squadrons equipped with AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder , in addition to the lack of an on- board cannon, a lack of close combat quality was found, which the pilots z. B. the F-105 Thunderchief of the Air Force did not show it. As a result, a Top Gun training course was set up at the Navy 's own elite flight school at the end of the 1960s to train air superiority. In the meantime, Top Gun is also often used to refer to the aforementioned flying school itself.

Filming at Naval Air Station Miramar and NAS North Island, California (USA), in 1985
A Navy pilot who worked on the production

Trivia

  • Only Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis are named as the main actors at the beginning of the film. The actors Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Michael Ironside and Tim Robbins, who later became famous through numerous films, are supporting actors here.
  • After Beverly Hills Cop , this was the second film that the producer duo Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer produced together. After Top Gun more financially successful followed Hollywood - blockbusters for which the producer duo is known now.
  • Adrian Pasdar , who was only 19 years old at the time and who later became famous for the Heroes series , made his actor debut here. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was so fascinated by him during the casting that he had the role of Chipper written in the film. Originally there was also a dialogue scene between him and Tom Cruise in the original script, but when Cruise saw the first rough version of this scene, he had it cut out. He was, according to an interview producer Don Simpson gave on the Today Show on July 28, 1987 , "... intimidated by his screen presence."
  • Since original Russian fighter jets were not available at the time of shooting, the makers of the film used a black-painted American F-5 Tiger II and T-38 Talon to simulate the MiGs. The MiG-28 type mentioned in the film is a fictional aircraft that never existed under this name.
  • The US Navy supported director Tony Scott with expertise and aviators.
  • One of the Navy pilots who flew the F-14 for the film is American astronaut Scott Douglas Altman .
  • Parts of flight scenes were reused in the series JAG - On behalf of the honor as well as in the episode "GX-1" of the MacGyver series .
  • Bryan Adams was supposed to contribute the song Only the Strong Survive to the soundtrack, but refused to release it because, in his opinion, the film glorified the war.
  • The F-14 Tomcat squadron shown at the beginning was the VF-1 "Wolfpack", callsign: Wichita.
  • Almost all pilot and RIO actors flew at least once in a Tomcat themselves to get a feel for the flight action; individual footage of it were also taken over for the film. They looked more realistic.
  • On January 23, 2011, the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV broadcast a report about Chinese air force maneuvers, in which scenes from Top Gun were cut.
  • The American camera pilot Art Scholl had a fatal accident with his Pitts while filming .
  • Although the film is set on the USS Enterprise, most of the footage was shot on the USS Ranger (CV-61) . The Enterprise can only be seen in the long shots.
  • The callsign Maverick goes back to the American lawyer and rancher Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870). In contrast to the other breeders, he did not brand his cattle. Since then, unbranded calves have been called “Mavericks” in English. In English usage since then, a maverick has been a person who shows independence in thought and action, is a nonconformist, rebel, or outsider. In German usage, the term lonely describes a maverick best.
  • The FSK age classification was downgraded in 2001 to "12 years and older". When it was originally released in Germany, the film was still rated for young people aged 16 and over.

synchronization

Tom Cruise was dubbed by Stephan Schwartz until 1996, and since then by Patrick Winczewski . In Top Gun , Val Kilmer is dubbed by Patrick Winczewski, so you can hear both dubbing voices of Tom Cruise in this film.

role actor Voice actor
Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell Tom Cruise Stephan Schwartz
Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood Kelly McGillis Susanna Bonaséwicz
Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazanski Val Kilmer Patrick Winczewski
Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw Anthony Edwards Mathias Einert
Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf Tom Skerritt Joachim Kerzel
Lt. Sam "Merlin" Wells Tim Robbins Tobias Master
Lt. Cmdr. Rick "Jester" Heatherly Michael Ironside Detlef Bierstedt
Lt. Bill "Cougar" Cortell John Stockwell Thomas Petruo
Lt. Leonard "Wolfman" Wolfe Barry Tubb Stefan Krause
Lt. Ron "Slider" Kerner Rick Rossovich Benjamin Völz
Cmdr. Tom "Stinger" Jordan James Tolkan Friedrich Georg Beckhaus
Carol Bradshaw Meg Ryan Janina Richter

reception

Reviews

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
IMDb

“A song of praise dissolved in seductive pictorial compositions for the military community, which offers young people advancement, fulfillment and a high degree of adventure. Without a distance and striking, extremely ambivalent in the directness that relies on unbroken fascination. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The fact that the film was actively supported by the US Navy during its production earned it the reputation of being a commercial for the Department of Defense at its cinema premiere. Be that as it may, it offers breathtaking, action-packed aerial shots. With films such as “ Flashdance ” and “ Beverly Hills Cop ”, Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who died in 1996, became the most successful producers of the 80s. And also with «Top Gun». His “chic” styling and his hit soundtrack (Giorgio Moroder won the title song Oscar for “Take My Breath Away”) make him an outstanding representative of the cinema of that decade. "

- TV movie

"Films like Top Gun are difficult to judge because its good scenes are very good and its bad scenes are relentlessly bad."

- Roger Ebert

Quentin Tarantino called Top Gun a “gay fantasy film”.

Awards

The title Take My Breath Away by the band Berlin , composed by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock , won the Oscar in 1987 in the category “ Best Song ”. In the same year the song won the Golden Globe Award , composer Harold Faltermeyer was nominated for the film music for the Golden Globe. The film received three other Oscar nominations: for sound effects, for sound and for editing.

The film received the Golden Screen and the People's Choice Award in 1987 .

Soundtrack

continuation

Tony Scott and Tom Cruise worked on a sequel until Scott's death in 2012. In 2014 plans for a sequel were announced again. In June 2015 it was announced that Tom Cruise would again play Maverick. This makes it a condition that real aircraft are used instead of CGI- generated aircraft. In May 2017, Cruise announced that the sequel would be realized in the same year. On June 1, 2018, Tom Cruise announced the first day of shooting and thus the start of shooting for Top Gun 2 via Twitter. The accompanying picture shows Tom Cruise in a pilot's suit on a runway in front of a fighter pilot, the words "Feel the need" is a quote from Top Gun. In addition to Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, another actor from the original, is back in the sequel. The film, entitled Top Gun: Maverick, is slated to hit German cinemas at Christmas 2020.

literature

  • Mike Cogan: Top Gun. The book about the film. German by Joachim Honnef. 16th edition. Bastei-Verlag Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1993, 186 pages, ISBN 3-404-13084-7 .

Web links

Commons : Top Gun (film, 1986)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Top Gun  Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Top Gun In: Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ Martin Minke: Top Gun 3D with Tom Cruise from February 2013 for a few days in the cinema . In: film starts . December 12, 2012, accessed March 22, 2017.
  3. ↑ Movie details . In: TV feature film .
  4. ^ Tazewell County Scott D. Altman, Commander, United States Navy, NASA astronaut
  5. ↑ Jens Witte: Internet users expose Chinese TV cheating. In: Der Spiegel . January 30, 2011, accessed November 30, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Release certificate. (PDF) for Top Gun. Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, accessed on August 5, 2020 (test number: 56785 / V).
  7. ↑ Top Gun - You fear neither death nor the devil . In: German synchronous card index . Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  8. ↑ a b [1] at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed on April 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ Top Gun - Lost Command in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  10. ↑ Top Gun - You fear neither death nor the devil. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 26, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  11. ↑ Top Gun ( memento from September 13, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). In: TV feature film .
  12. ^ Roger Ebert: Top Gun Review . May 16, 1986. (English)
  13. ↑ a b Top Gun . In: Cinema , accessed March 7, 2015.
  14. ↑ Annemarie Havran: Tom Cruise only wants to do “Top Gun 2” if it is shot with real jets and without CGI . In: film starts . July 29, 2015.
  15. ↑ Annemarie Havran: "Top Gun 2": Producer confirms Tom Cruise's return for the sequel to the cult 80s film . In: film starts . June 29, 2015.
  16. ↑ Tom Cruise on Twitter . In: Twitter . ( twitter.com [accessed June 1, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Top Gun 2 finally brings Val Kilmer back to the Danger Zone . In: moviepilot.de . June 7, 2018 ( moviepilot.de [accessed June 7, 2018]).