“I feel the need, the need for speed.”
“Son, your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash.”
“You two characters are going to Top Gun.”
Ok, I could go on forever with “Top Gun” quotes. What do you want me to say? It is one of my favourite films…ever. I never saw it on the big screen back in 1986, I’m not sure why. Maybe I didn’t go to the cinema as much back then or maybe it just did not interest me at the time. I first saw it on the big screen on September 1, 2019. My brother and I went. Now it is back for its 40th anniversary and yes, I am going again, this time it is a ticket for one.
While this is only the 2nd time I have seen it on the big screen, I’ve seen it on dvd more times than I can count. My brother and I relay script lines. Yes, I know that’s sad! I love the music and have my favourite tracks. But there is one scene that I love, a scene where the world knew that Tom Cruise was going to be something special.
Think back to the part where the pilots met Kelly McGillis`s character in the hanger. The moment that Tom Cruise put on those aviators and smiled at her, I was captivated. I am sure many women were. Maverick represented everything. He had rebellion, confidence, charm, and underlying vulnerability. His refusal to follow rules gave the cockiness that the role of Maverick needed, but also elements of frustration. The grin and swagger that he made part of the role gave him a magnetic quality. In just that one scene, he cemented his place as the cool guy of cinema.
Here we are, forty years after its original release, where Top Gun continues to fly high (pun intended) in popular culture. Looking back, it could have easily been just another 80s movie, but it became something different. It became a cult phenomenon. The movie shaped fashion and music. it shaped the art of film, and even military recruitment for that generation. It proved that some films do more than entertain, they define an era.
At the time of the films initial release, cinema was firmly entrenched in the height of the flashy 80s, the time of the blockbuster and good old-fashioned cinema. Director Tony Scott used every aspect he could to enhance the film making process and to give the movie a visual style unlike anything ever seen before. Top Gun gave the audiences sunsets, dramatic silhouettes, jet engines, great plot lines, and amazing aerial sequences in styles never seen before. Military aviation became stylish and cinematic on a scale never seen. Action and aesthetics usually reserved for music videos blended seamlessly to make Top Gun something special as well as influencing filmmaking for years afterwards.
The film also did something else. Interest in becoming a fighter pilot surged after the release of the film. The United States Navy embraced the publicity, even using it to their advantage with recruitment booths outside some cinemas! Top Gun was the first exposure to this world for many young people, and it was a romanticised view.
Fashion trends today still echo the original films legacy. Think of aviator sunglasses, bomber jackets, white t-shirts, and blue jeans. Add in a leather flight jacket and dog tags, and that inimitable and effortless style of Maverick springs to mind. Very few films have used wardrobe so powerfully that 40 years on, it is still an influence. Even those who have never seen Top Gun (seriously, if you haven’t seen it, what is wrong with you?) will recognise the look associated with it.
The film, along with the era itself, cemented aviator sunglasses as a timeless accessory. After the movie’s release, sales soared as men rushed to recreate the “Maverick” effect. Suddenly, all you needed were the aviators, a leather jacket, and a motorbike, and Hollywood had successfully sold the fantasy.
Music also played an integral role in cementing the status of the film. Think “Danger Zone” and you are immediately blasted into the action, adrenaline and speed pushing you along. Think “Take my Breath Away” and you have one of the most recognisable love themes. The use of music throughout the film changed how action films use music. The tracks were no longer just a background addition in a chase scene for example. Now these tracks were a part of the storytelling and the marketing. Through certain tracks, it was possible to push emotions such as excitement, romance, heartbreak, and triumph. Modern blockbuster soundtracks still borrow heavily from this formula.
The Maverick/Iceman rivalry was a pivotal part of the film — legendary, some might say. Maverick’s instinctive and sometimes reckless actions were perfectly juxtaposed against Iceman’s discipline and control. As we watched Top Gun, we were able to see changes in both men. What began as a fierce battle of ego gradually evolved into something far more meaningful. Respect and teamwork emerged, bringing maturity and emotional depth to the rivalry. The surface bravado was still there, but now it was interwoven with trust.
Top Gun succeeded because it captured universal themes of life and made them relatable to all. We saw friendship, ambition, rivalry, grief, love, fear, masculinity, trust, and redemption. Top Gun succeeded because it took the simple story of a man’s struggle with self doubt and his friendship with his friend and made that the heart of the movie.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Top Gun is that it still feels alive. New audiences continue discovering it, older fans revisit it with nostalgia, and its sequel became one of the biggest cinematic successes of recent years. Few films manage to remain culturally relevant for four decades, but Top Gun continues to soar because it tapped into something timeless.
For many years, talk of the sequel to Top Gun circled Hollywood. With the phenomenal success of the original, a follow-up seemed inevitable, but it also had to be worthy of the legacy. That balance proved difficult to achieve. It took 36 years for Top Gun: Maverick to finally soar onto cinema screens, but the wait proved more than worthwhile.
The sequel reignited audiences’ fascination with the high-octane world of fighter pilots while delivering something even more powerful — an emotional connection to the original story. The introduction of Goose’s son, Rooster, anchored the sequel to the 1986 classic, while the arrival of Penny Benjamin, just a name mentioned in the original, added another layer of history and nostalgia. Rather than relying solely on action and spectacle, Top Gun: Maverick honoured the heart of the first film, blending adrenaline, grief, friendship, and legacy into a sequel that felt both fresh and deeply familiar.
That sequel achieved something genuinely rare in Hollywood. It helped save cinema itself. At a time when audiences were drifting away from theatres, it reignited the magic of the big-screen experience and reminded people why cinema matters. It honoured the nostalgia and spirit of the original while confidently establishing its own identity, weaving in subtle callbacks and emotional nods that long-time fans treasured. More importantly, the sequel’s enormous success proved that the original had never faded from public consciousness; it remained firmly embedded in the culture of cinematic memory, passed from one generation of moviegoers to the next.
Forty years on, Top Gun is no longer simply a movie. It is part of cultural history. It represents a specific moment in cinema when style, music, action, and emotion came together perfectly. Whether people watch it for the aerial combat, the soundtrack, the nostalgia, or Maverick himself, the film continues to capture imaginations in the same way it did back in 1986. That is the mark of a true classic.
