One of my best movies of the 80’s is Top Gun. It was a great action film that made guys like Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Edwards famous. The writing was kind of corny, but it produced a lot of memorable quotes, such as “I feel the need – the need for speed.” The acting was also substandard. But it was testosterone filled, so that made it a classic flick for us guys. I certainly didn’t watch it for the acting. Oh, I almost forgot Meg Ryan made a cameo. Between her and Kelly Mcginnis, they were the highlights of good acting in the entire movie.
I lost my original DVD a few years ago and was going to replace it with the Special Edition DVD. However, I just saw the HD-DVD version at Fry’s for $9. So I picked it up. I was curious to know what was in the hi-def version. As far as I could tell, the colors were richer, and the detail for the close-ups (mostly faces) were quite dramatic. I noticed a lot of edge enhanced images, especially during the dark scenes, resulting in “halos” around objects. It was most likely due to bad authoring. They didn’t bother to review and clean-up those scenes.
Like anything from the 80’s, the music played a big part in making the movie famous. It was no surprise the soundtrack was the only one that won an Oscar. The best original song was Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away”.
Kenny Loggin’s “Danger Zone” was great too.
Personally, I think Harold Faltermeyer’s Top Gun theme song was the best. With a backing from Steve Stevens’ rocking guitar work, it was the perfect theme song for the movie.
Building IT
Jot It Down
hey Rudy,
Thanks for the flashback! Top Gun would be on my top 10 list of ’80 movies too. That was back when Tom Cruise was just Tom Cruise. 🙂 The cool thing about Top Gun is that I saw it for the first time when it came out in a movie theater in Sweden (college intern job). I was working there for the summer and some Swedish friends wanted to see it. I’m pretty sure I was the only American in the theater. At the end of the movie, there was a standing ovation! There was no anti-Americanism back then, at least not in Sweden. Or maybe it was just the Tom Cruise effect… 😉 Anyway, I agree. Top Gun Rocks! ~ Steve, aka “trade show displays”
Hey Steve,
I watched ID4 in Canada and people gave that movie a standing ovation too. It was kinda cool to watch people get excited over a movie like that.
And I’d pick Will Smith over Tom Cruise, any day. Cruise is such a loon.
Hey Rudy,
You have good taste! I like Will Smith too. He’s a good actor, and seems like a class act too. I haven’t heard the expression “loon” in a while, but I think it fits Cruise perfectly! 🙂
~ Steve
PS. I saw Valkerie a few days ago (a friend had free passes) and thought it was a great thriller (in spite of Cruise, the other actors are great and the story is a good one) 🙂
I saw Tropic Thunder, and I thought Cruise’s career just went on reverse. That’s as far as I’ll go with the current Cruise.
[…] rooting for Troy and Gabriella. Now I’m not saying it’s an amazing grown-up movie (like Top Gun), but I liked it. It’s got good, wholesome kids, a reasonable plot, great songs, and the only […]
Top Gun was a fun movie and its still fun as of today. I still enjoy the Danger Zone song from the movie.
hey Rudy,
I watched Tropic Thunder on DVD last night. I’m “so so” on the movie. I think anytime there are a bunch of “stars” in a movie, it is easy for them to overshadow everything else. Some of it was also a little crude for me, and my wife fell asleep for about 20 minutes during it 🙂 Anyway, regarding Cruise, when I first saw his character I didn’t know it was him until I heard his voice. What makeup! And I have to say I chuckled at his dancing at the end. He was willing to make a fool out of himself, something I probably wouldn’t do (unless they paid me his salary! 😉 So you didn’t like Cruise in the movie? As I said, overall I couldn’t recommend the movie…
~ Steve, aka the trade show booths guru
Trade Show Guru´s last blog post..Trade Show Booths and Duct Tape
Interesting enough, with the big name stars in the movie, like Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, they were both in heavy make up. So we can’t recognize them. Jack Black is the other one but he had a minor role. Tropic Thunder is a underrated film. And yes, because of its crudeness I couldn’t recommend it either. 🙂 Definitely couldn’t stand the cursing abuse by Cruise. Maybe that’s his way to vent out the frustration for being a Scientologist. 😉
[…] I posted earlier, the movie “Top Gun” was a blockbuster success and the soundtrack went to #1 with it. […]