Ok, Mom? (Ok,
this is a small aside concerning the film to my Mom – of course you can read
it, it wouldn’t be on the blog otherwise) Mom? Yeah, do you remember I kept
asking you a couple of months back about a series concerning pilots? Something
I watched when I was very small, about pilots and a flying school, and you
hadn’t the foggiest idea what I was talking about? I’m semi convinced this is
it. You will no doubt point out, as you are a very observant woman, that this
is not a series but a film. I was very small (I mean, the date for Top Gun
fits, I’d be three – or a tiny bit older maybe as it was on TV) so maybe my
sense of time was a bit warped back then, what can I say? And I mean, if it
wasn’t this it was something very, very similar to this. Do try and check it
out and see if it reminds you of anything, I’m getting a tad obsessed with it…
Ehm… Well
we all have our hang-ups in life, what can I say? Ok, so this is yet another
little tribute looking back at the work of the late great Tony Scott. I will,
over the course of the next couple of weeks, try and go through his major works
and let you know how I progress. I have a feeling you’ll be hearing a lot of
him if Top Gun is anything to go by. Like I said above, it’s either something I
watched and loved as a child or very, very similar to something I watched and
loved as a child and what can I say… As an adult, I have watched it and once
again LOVED it. I mean no wonder there’s a “Top Gun day” (May the 13th).
I mean, I’m no great fan of such “days” but I might change my profile photo for
it or something next year. Seriously.
God that
was one heck of a sidetrack. So what’s the darn film about? Well, Top Gun, the
opening credits inform us, is a flight school for the best of the best of
pilots from the U.S. army. The aim of the school is to teach these elite pilots
the lost art of dogfighting. The film takes place in 1986 – or the mid to late
‘80s at any rate – so the Cold War is still continuing so actual enemy
encounters are both real and frequent. ‘Maverick’(a rather young and dishy Tom
Cruise) is a hot headed, hot shot pilot. He flies well but recklessly, gets
into Top Gun by the skin of this teeth and for all his confidence, he still has
a lot to learn about life and flying. For the flying, there really is no better
place than Top Gun. As for life, well, the beautiful civilian contractor
working in the school as an instructor may have a thing or two to teach him…
Now this,
this is the kind of feel-good movie I love. There is steaming romance and
passion, there is action and adventure… There is just enough adrenaline that
you actually hop up and down in your seat but deep down you’re pretty sure the
main characters will turn out alright in the end. That being said, it isn’t
some “cliché” either. I mean think about it – and I was actually talking to my
cousin about this the other day – how many of us are actually interested in
planes? Oh I know you enthusiasts are out there and I’m more than fine with it,
but my point is for the most of us, unless we’re undertaking international
travel, planes are background noise. I mean, there’s a lot of it (noise) but
you get what I mean. It takes quite something to make a film so appealing about
a rather specialist subject that you actually get caught up in complex
technical manoeuvers and explanations. Before that panics you, don’t let it.
That’s precisely the point I’m trying to make. Firstly, I mean yes they’re
technical but not so much that a layman (like me) couldn’t follow it. Secondly,
you’re so caught up in the film that you’re basically highly motivated to
understand it. So you do. If you see what I mean. And who can forget the Oscar
®winning song that accompanies Maverick and “Charlie” s romance, “Take My
Breath Away”? This is the stuff legends are made of boys and girls. And it just
so happens that Tony Scott is a legend. For good reason.
P.S. I have
an idea. I know you guys aren’t that hot on comments – which is fair enough,
especially if you’re kind enough to return week after week to read my opinions
on films. But maybe, if you remember this, you can help me out. I’m trying to
remember the name of a TV series I watched when I was very young. It was
similar to Top Gun, eerily similar, but I’m not sure that this is it. It was
about flying school and fighter pilots. Possibly set in WWII but I don’t
remember it that clearly. Probably American or possibly British in origin, it
would have aired around the mid to late’80s or possibly very early ‘90s but I’d
put my money on it being mid to late’80s. I LOVED it when I was a child. I’m
convinced it’s real but my mother smiles benignly and says “you had such an
active imagination as a child” when I mention it (yes, it has reached that
point). I know it’s not a lot to go on (hence I can’t even begin to figure out
how and where to figure out its name), but if anyone knows what I’m talking about PLEASE
get in touch. Please… :S
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