WATCH TOP GUN (1986) WITH ME! | COMMENTARY | the greatest popcorn flick ever?! 

Fun story about Tom Skerrit, I delivered so many pizzas to his home in Seattle that his wife and I became friends. He might be the nicest human on the planet. She is equally as wonderful.

After this movie came out, whenever you went to an airshow that had an F-14 demo, the narrator would always say that he had received a message that the pilot had a need, a need for speed.....and then the F-14 would fly down the flight line conducting a high speed pass. Recruitment for the Navy also increased dramatically after this movie came out.

Goose’s death always gets me. I’ve seen this movie so many times and it still gets me every time

Fun fact: During filming on the carrier, the captain changed the course of the ship and it changed the lighting. Tony Scott asked the captain to turn back to the original course so he could finish the shot. The captain agreed, but would only do it for $25,000 (1986) dollars. Tony Scott immediately wrote the Navy a check for the amount. The rest of the shot only took five minutes. The reason for the course change is the carrier always has to sail into the wind during launch and recovery operations. The amount was for the fuel needed to keep the aircraft up for those five minutes that they couldn't land.

I only planned to watch a minute of this... but you are so watchable I ended up watching like 20. LOL. Well done.

Fun fact: the scene when they were being briefed by Charlie , and she was questioning Maverick on the inverted dive, you hear Iceman say , "bulls#%+!" That was improved by Val Kilmer, not in the script and that was real reactions by the actors when he yelled that out.

i've always loved this movie despite the 80s cheese. top gun maverick is everything that can be asked of a sequel. it builds on the original, surpasses the original and even manages to improve the original. just great stuff.

I saw an article once that stated "Top Gun isn't the best 80's movie, but it's probably the most 80's 80's movie"

Don’t forget that the Captain who was shorter than Maverick was also Principal Strickland in Back to the Future up against the famously short Michael J. Fox.

When Viper said he would fly with Maverick. I was like damn that is a very honorable thing to say...

At least “Take my breath away” was actually written and created specifically for this movie. The movie made it famous.

Shanelle and Ashleigh reacting to Top Gun at the same time...🤔 I guess such cosmic coincidences do exist...and they're awesome!!! 😁

My husband is a pilot and he loves this one...saw the new one it is GREAT i cried 3x

Lots of reactors doing this movie with the release of the sequel, but none are more exciting than Shanelle covering it on her channel. I can’t wait to watch this!

13:40 The nicknames are given to them by others, usually based on some flub/screw-up or personality trait

Interesting fact - There is a video done by an ex-JAG officer who stated that Maverick would have lost his wings and been sent directly to jail in the first ten minutes of this film.

It's too funny how you described Tom Cruise. Like you, I want to hate him - but, with every movie he does - he nails it!

A friend of mine in high school got a Navy scholarship because of this movie. He actually made a paper plane like the F-14 that flew with the wings in both positions and entered it in the school science fair and won.

“You know, the finger.” (flips her off) “Yes, I know the finger Goose.” “I’m sorry. I hate it when it does that.” 😂😂😂😂😂

I saw this Movie when it came out, but not in a Theater! I was Stationed on a Guided-Missile Destroyer stationed in the Pacific. We had been underway of 3 weeks and the Captain wanted Something Special for the Crew, so we had a "Movie Night" on the 02 level of the fantail. After a BBQ dinner, We Turned the 50mm Cannon Around, and showed "Top Gun" on the Back of the Turret, With the Ocean on both sides and a Crsecent Moon we saw it.

Oh I am SO in on this reaction. Also, Merlin was played by Tim Robbins!

This is my dad's favorite movie and the first Tom Cruise movie I saw on VHS! It was a box office success, making $360 million dollars ($798 million dollars today) against a $15 million dollar budget. It took home the Oscar for Best Original Song.

You've got to watch Taps. Tom Cruise, Tim Hutton, Sean Penn.

When I heard the line "You gotta let him go" I always took it to mean that the instructor knows that Mav is holding on to his father and that gets in the way of his progress. That's who he was talking about

14:31 This soundtrack ! Yes ! Berlin ! "Take my breath away' .... classic ... cheesy but good !!! isn't it ? or only for 1986 ? 37:18 Love your version of "You lost the loving feeling". Shanelle Your guitar skills are awesome. You reactions and comments on Top Gun (1986) hit me straight into my heart ! Thanks for sharing !

This came out the summer before my senior year in high school and got a few of my classmates to join the navy, only for them to later find out the navy wasn't all cool fighters and volleyball games.

Fun fact at the end when Maverick throws gooses dog tags in the ocean the producers had to pay a BUNCH of extra money to have them turn the boat around to capture that exact lighting.

I was in the Navy in '86 based in Orlando going through training. I loved the movie but it really was over the top when compared to the real thing. It was the best 2hr recruitment film for the Navy ever.

It's one of my great regrets that when this movie came out my father, a retired Navy carrier pilot, was too ill with cancer to see it.

OK. The guitar and singing "You Lost that Lovin' Feeling" to us... I don't even... We do not deserve you. Great reaction. Great movie. Thank you for your work.

No miniatures, all practical effects.

Seeing this movie brings back good memories. My Dad took me to see it on a school night because he was Navy flight crew back in the 60's and he was super stoked to see it. It was one of the few VHS movies he ever bought as well (along with The Godfather and The Dirty Dozen).

In addition to leather jackets and tshirts, Shan, the sales of Kawasaki Ninja motorcycles went through the roof. Also, Tim Robbins played "Merlin", Maverick's back seater in the end dogfight. Action movies didn't usually feature very music heavy soundtracks because of cost. I think Danger Zone and Take My Breath Away were written specifically for the film.

For the most part, Tom Cruise didn't do his own flying in the new movie because the military would not allow it. He did fly at the end in a privately owned plane. All the flying was practical effects with all the actors actually experiencing the G forces.

19:54 - "Grease levels of fun" LOL! 🤣

"Am I crying or laughing?" nah girl, you are straight feeling it lol love the channel and keep up the good work

The callsigns (nicknames) are picked by fellow pilots, usually for something outrageous a person has done or a persistent behavior. Sometimes they change over a (Navy) pilots career. If you'd really like to know more about it, Ward Carroll (former F-14 back seat) has a YT channel and one of his drops is about the callsigns, "The REAL Truth About Aviator Callsigns"

Perfect, now she's prepared for "Hot Shots!" - 1991. And "Top Gun - Maverick", I guess. 🙄 😁

Seriously, Shanelle's squeals are the best. I think any other RU-vidr, it would get old fast, but you can tell she's really excited.

I’m so glad I came across this channel. This girl reactions are fire 🔥 Love her energy and passion on films.

Having seen "Top Gun," you are now fully prepared to check out the cinematic masterpiece that is "Hot Shots! (1991)"

As much as I would love to see you react to Top Gun Maverick, you should really go see this in the biggest theatre you can find. It is a cinematic marvel and yes, the cameras are in the planes in the sequal. Love your reactions, keep it up.

I watched it for the first time at my best friends house on VHS...and the 127 times after that. 🤣 Also: Good enough? That was AWESOME! 🤩

Oh my God. When you said, "he's a great runner", it reminded me of when I was in elementary school and the Librarian asked me why I was friends with this kid. I said, he's a great runner, he's almost as fast as me.

I saw this in college at the theater and yea, even in 1986 we all thought it was cheezy but we all loved it anyways.

You are really going to enjoy Maverick! Go watch it in the theatre though… it is unreal. And nostalgic, which is what movie lovers like 😉

My dad was in the Navy. I was born at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, home of the Nighthawks. I have a tattoo of the squad patch on my shoulder. I enjoyed being a military brat. It will make you either a very strong person, or a deeply disturbed one. The military can be a rough environment to grow up. You move every 3 years. You're constantly having to make new friends because even though you just moved there doesn't mean your new best friend won't be gone in a month. You learn to accept, appreciate, and let go of people quicky.

When this movie was filmed my Uncle who served a very long time in the Navy was stationed on the ship they filmed on.

A lot of contemporary reactors watch this and really brace against Viper telling Mav he has to "let (Goose) go", but honestly I was 8 when this came out. The whole idea of let it go and get him flying right away is central to what Top Gun is *for* - they are teaching pilots how to fight in war. In WWII or Vietnam aviators and pilots might run multiple sorties a day as part of prolonged campaigns and have friends die around them, and they won't get a day off or even the rest of that mission off if it happened. I found it to be one of the more important and valid ideas this movie plays with. And, in this case, it happens literally - the climactic aerial battle happens about a day after they left Miramar.

Having seen this in the theater when it was released and watching it hundreds of times over my lifetime I can honestly say the sequel is even better. And I've only seen Maverick once. It's so great.

I was 16 when this movie came out. Lived 3 miles from Mirimar. A buddy of mine was Cruise's stand in for the volleyball scene. I can tell you here and now, leather flight jackets NEVER became a thing after this movie came out. What was big? The hair styles and the sun glasses. And the Kawasaki Ninja.

This was 1986 Shanelle, grieving and PTSD were concepts in their infancy. The prevailing wisdom was to TOUGHEN up.

Absolutely love this, watching the second one last week reignited my love for it even more, love the cast, love the music, love the script, just great!

I saw this movie in the theater one week before I went to basic training in the Air Force (not Navy). Didn't fly jets, but guarded them. (Security Specialist aka Military Police). Good times!

I was 22 Years old in 1986 when I saw Top Gun in the Theatres. It was an exciting Movie. It was amazing seeing the closeups and camera Angles. I loved the Music track as well.

Finally! So happy to watch this with you!

Shan, you should see Anthony Edwards (Goose) in Gotcha! which came out the year before this movie.

This was the first movie i ever saw on vhs, it was fairly new at the time and I was 8 years old. Rewatched it the second time age 25. Despite not seing it since age 8.. I actually remebered pretty much all the major seance.

Yup, and that's why we go to see the second one on the big screen. Absolutely perfect sequel and excellent on the big screen. TONS of callbacks and references to this one. Hope you go see it, but careful .. you'll lose all your nails in that one!

Hello Shanelle! Re: the "nicknames". They are called Call Signs. They replace your actual name on radio frequencies. You don't pick, your squadron or wing assigns you one. If you don't like it, you could request a new one, and that one will always be worse. Call signs tend to try to pull you down a notch or poke fun at you. Since our company pilots are all veterans, they brought the tradition and their callsigns with them. We have a pilot who was handsome but bland. His call sign was "Nima", short for "Nothing Interesting, Move Along". There was "Mental", coz her family home was across from the Institute for Mental Health. There was "Scratch", who took off with too little power on his trainer and literally scratched the paint off the bottom of the trainer clearing the trees at the end of the runway. Since i sometimes go up with them on Medevac runs and flights to our more remote job sites, they gave me my own. The VP of the company told them i had spent time as a CSI and Medical Examiner. So i became "Ducky", as in Dr. "Ducky" Mallard from NCIS. There are a lot of funny example. The (former?) Commanding Officer of the US Air Force, Gen. Michael "Mobile" Holmes, a Colonel who got into the news for Disciplinary Action was Col. Dan "Tess" Stickles, a pilot in the Pacific has the callsign of Blaze for accidentally setting fire to the base canteen, a USN Flight Doctor was "Ford" for Found On Road Dead Drunk after too much partying. Then there was the guy who went around the squadron telling everyone he wanted "Hollywood". One squadron mate answered "You ain't Hollywood, more like Burbank!". So "Burbank" it is. Then there's things like "Blow" Jobbins, "Ghost" Casper, "Kanga" Rew, "Lingus" for an Irishman with a first name of Kenny, and Maj. "Oh My" Ghad. Then there's "Bambi" who hit a deer while on a training flight, "Lamb" who liked to wear dresses cut way too low (Look At My Boobs), "Rotor" (Ran Off The Only Runway), "Utah" (Uptight Ass &$@!), and "Wifi" for the pilot whose wife was from a rich family (Wife Financed It).

those are not "nicknames", they are call signs ... normally you "earn" yours by doing something stupid and the call sign is remembering everyone of that

Another video I clicked fast on lol now you gotta watch the sequel. Probably the best sequel of sequels

I had just graduated from college, I was working at the Orlando Airport Marriott, and five evenings in a row I went to watch this movie, I was infatuated with aircraft, especially fighter planes and jets. This was the number one movie of 1986, and I still top this day watch this movie. Fighter jets are the coolest weapons ever... My call sign would have been "Black Lightening", mainly because when I was young and healthy I ran the 100 yard dash in 9.9 seconds, and the quarter mile in 49 seconds... I am glad you enjoyed the movie....

First time I saw Top Gun, I had just joined the Air Force and my job was aircraft weapon systems, so when this movie was playing in base theaters everyone in the theater would yell out their job when the planes were doing something on screen tha related to them. For example, my job was aircraft weapons systems so when the planes were on the aircraft carrier deck and weapons were in the shot or when a missile was fired all the people in the theater with the same job as me would YELL "weapons" so on for other jobs, "avionics", "ecm", "crew chief", it was a blast! This movie was an instant classic with active-duty military and is definitely a cultural classic. Wow, I really miss the good ole days of Hollywood.

Long time, no see. Glad to have you back. I'm very excited to see your reaction to Top Gun.

Great movie. A great 80s underrated Spy Comedy with the guy who plays Goose is Gotcha! which I highly recommend you see. Another great Val Kilmer movie is The Saint. Also you should try other Tom Cruise movies like Rainman , The Firm, A Few Good Man, Cocktail, Interview with a vampire, Vanilea Sky.

Shanelle..so good to see you back...!!..With your knowledge of the workings of film. .and also just reaction of a viewer...I truly love. ..

Regarding "I was actually _second_ best in my class" at the end, think back to when they said there are no points for second place.

I saw Top Gun in the cinema in 1986 and bought the soundtrack afterwards (I also bought the original Terminator soundtrack, which isn't on Spotify ). Trivia: The nicknames are CallSigns and are given to a pilot by the other members of the team. It is normally based on something embarrassing, so no one is likely to get a cool callsign like "Maverick" or "Viper". As an example, one of the real Navy pilots for the movie had the callsign "Bozo" (and was responsible for making Cruise puke). Also, the accident with Goose was caused by a real design flaw in the engines of that plane. And when in a flat spin, the RIO (Goose) could be fired into the canopy by the ejector seat, travelling several hundred mph on impact.

You definitely need to watch True Romance. It's a Quentin Tarantino script that got a big budget and they had Tony Scott (Top Gun) direct. It came out in '93, right in between Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

OMG she plays the guitar and sings? I just fell in love. This exact moment. It just happened.

16:46 - Oh, I know you can't. I'm betting this is where you reach the "Oh no, not again" moment with it. 🤣

13:37 actually that's usually the point of the call signs in the Navy. Your call sign is usually mocking you in some way for something silly you did or said, or maybe a character trait you get made fun of for. You're really not supposed to get cool call signs in the Navy (unlike the Airforce). The squadron will come up with a bunch of options for you and then vote on them and give you the one that they like the best. The characters in this film have far cooler call signs than you'd typically get in the Navy.

They are call signs. And I believe in this movie the far away shots were actual pilots pretending to fight,and the cockpit shots of cruise are real but in trainers with the real pilot in the back and cruise pretending to fly

My “call sign” is - SLICE. I first saw TOP GUN on VHS tape, 24” TV onboard the USS CONSTELLATION (CV-64) in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We were on a 6 month deployment, aka WESTPAC cruise. It ain’t no “cruise”. It was my first introduction to working 12-hour days, everyday, whilst between port calls (everyday is Monday). We did 87 straight days at sea, at one point. Sleep, work, eat, repeat. At least I was in an air conditioned (A/C) space. Those BoilerTechs and Enginemen worked 4 hours on, 4 hours off, 24-hours a day in non A/C spaces. I would always c them on the mess decks (where we ate) in sweat-soaked coveralls.

Great reaction to one of the great films of the 80's. I was lucky to have seen it in theaters when it originally came out. What an impact it made on this high schooler, and those of us in Gen X.

So glad you did this reaction., The names the guys go by are NOT nicknames- but Call Signs. This harkens back to when America had created its Air Force. This is to keep our soldiers safe. Also, its weird to call this movie “Camp” when its totally not. Camp would be the batman and robin movie, or Harley Quinn.. this movie Top Gun is a love letter to the Air Force and those who serve. The music in the movie may seem cheesy, but at the time and because of the popularity of the movie the soundtrack BLEW UP- the music and songs were created For the movie. But then like Celine Dions My heart will go on- All the songs on this soundtrack went crazy popular.

Saw at the theater! Love just about everything Tom Cruise is in, he been entertaining for decades! And was that Jewel or Shanelle singing a TV the end , great voice Shanelle!

Absolutely loved your perspective and the memories. The trivia/info at the end was AMAZING stuff I didn't know. Thank you!

Shanelle's reactions always make me smile. In 1986 my dad took me to see Top Gun, I was ten and have been watching it ever since.

Tony Scott was the director. When mentioned the lighting. You really see Tony and Ridley Scott rely on lighting for some great movies

I really love your reactions, and this was no exception. I know you'd love to react to Top Gun: Maverick on the channel, but PLEASE see it in the theater. You're honestly missing out, if you don't. Take care, be safe!

Danger Zone gets all of the attention, but the Top Gun anthem is the greatest 80s movie song. The first note gives immediate chills.

Highway To The Shanelle Zone! The #1 movie for the Memorial Day Weekend of 1986. Cruise was 23, I think, & was the only choice for Maverick. I didn't get a chance to see the film until Labor Day. There was a lot of other films out there that I wanted to see, including an advance screening of Big Trouble In Little China. I thought Top Gun was okay at the time but the movie over the past, almost, four decades has grown on me. During the Great Balls Fire scene, there is a little kid in a cowboy hat sitting on the piano. That, of course, is Goose's son & has a direct connection w/ Top Gun: Maverick. Definitely worth seeing. Love the guitar solo, Shannelle!

33:19 "so its Soviet" - this is a bit misleading. The MiG (there are a number of them over the years, although ironically the one in this film is fictitious) is a Russian developed aircraft but that doesn't necessarily mean the enemy is Russian. And in fact the incident that inspired the events in this film The Gulf of Sidra incident was against Libyan forces. And Libya did fly MIGs in their airforce. But the film went out of its way to not name an enemy for a reason, so technically they're not Libyan either.

Love your reactions Shanelle! Run don't walk to go see Top Gun Maverick if you haven't already. Seen it twice and my wife and kids loved it just as much as me!

Loved your reactions Shanelle,glad you enjoyed this old,classic film. When I was in the navy,served aboard carriers,I enjoyed it very much.There are moniters all over the ship,so you can watch flight ops,which I did often. I was also in an attack squadron-VF-84 ( Jolly Rogers ) got to talk to a lot of our pilots on ship and shore,they were always nice and polite. VF-84 was a part of the airwing attached to the USS Roosevelt,when the carrier is headed to a port,the airwing flies in 3 days ahead of the carrier. An aircraft carrier is HUGE,lots of places to explore and have some alone time if you want/need it. GO-NAVY !!!! LOL.

I saw what you did there! Good explanation and demonstration of rack focus! :) Great reaction as usual, a fun and VERY 80s movie!

Not a Tom Cruise fan but love to watch, your perspective and commentary.

Yes Tony Scott is the brother of Ridley Scott they are two amazing directors

Why did you have so many chills? Because despite it being camp and cheese and all of that, it earns every moment. This is a movie I loved as a kid, but now that I'm older, I love it even more. It hits every note, pays them off perfectly. And the aerial combat is absolutely incredible.

28:47 - LOL!! You damn near killed me with that comment, made me snort milk outta my nose! Finally fed up with it, huh? 🤣🤣🤣

This is one movie you really should see in a theater; the opening is amazing on a big screen, and all the flying & combat scenes sound fantastic with the industry grade subwoofers found there. Fun Facts: It's TOPGUN, not TOP GUN. RU-vid Legal Eagle (a real lawyer) did a video with a former Marine JAG on all the crimes Mav committed in the movie. It's not pretty. Tony Scott wanted another shot for the opening sequence, but the ship was over budget (carriers are expensive to run), and the captain told him that it would cost something like $150,000 to do so. Scott wrote him a check. McGillis didn't have a good chemistry with Cruise for a reason. She later came out as gay. MiGs (now Russian, the company still exists) are always odd-numbered, so a MiG 28 is a mythical aircraft. There were MiG 27s and MiG 29s. The planes in the movie are F-5s. Until recently both F-5s and A-4s were used as Aggressor aircraft because they could simulate the speed and agility of then-current era Soviet fighters. ... Recently Ashleigh Burton also watched TOP GUN for the first time. She actually said she was ovulating during the volleyball scene. LOL. By the way, it's naval aviator, not pilot. That word has a distinctly different meaning in the Navy. That's why Mav looked put off when Charlie called him a pilot. She was throwing him shade on purpose. :) I've seen the sequel, and it's 50% Hollywood BS and 50% fun story. Real aviators love it for the air scenes. And, yes, there are cameras everywhere. It's nearly all real. Turn your brain off and enjoy the popcorn. It's fun.

20:16 Not a trend. At least not from any of the movies I was watching. I think it was just a choice for this movie to really theme certain moments of the film to a particular song. And I think it really works in this film.

4:31 - LOL! Love your "this bit of trivia gave me a cerebral short circuit" look! 🤣🤣🤣

The real tearjerker of a (platonic) love story is between Maverick and Viper, who risked his career to help heal Maverick's heart with some long-overdue closure, and gave him the biggest vote of confidence in offering to fly with him. 🥰

Not familiar with Tony Scott?! That makes me sad; nearly everything he's done is fantastic. And I only say nearly because there's 3 or 4 of his films I haven't seen.

Aside from the sappy love story, which almost everyone disliked, and the cheesy dialogue, which is forgivable because it was the 80s, it is definitely one of the best 80s movies. Obviously due to the phenomenal aerial sequences which blew everything away up to that point and has probably never been matched since(especially considering there was no CGI used in the film). I have yet to see Top Gun : Maverick yet so I reserve judgement on that. Also callsigns get picked by your squadron members of the first squadron you are first assigned to. You get no say. Goose for example was probably short for mothergoose because he was kind of a mother hen.

I never knew how much I needed a Shanelle serenade until now...

I love your videos, you are so insightful about the details such as lighting, soundtracks, dialog, emotions....things I take for granted.