How Top Gun Took Flight: The 40-Year Making of a Blockbuster
Forty years after its 1986 release, Top Gun’s creation is recapped: producers bought the rights after a Star Wars-on-Earth magazine feature, won Pentagon backing for real flights, cast Tom Cruise after a Blue Angels ride, and built Maverick around internal rivalry and Goose’s death, balancing breathtaking aerial sequences with an emotional core; the film boosted Cruise’s stardom and Navy recruitment, spawned a 2022 sequel, and set the stage for a third installment.
