Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1986)
(Right) In ftp Gun. Tom Ciuse ptay* a cocky Hairy Pi tt who doesn't Ike to ptay by to rata and who'* *o good, he awgM got away wtt it (Below) Cneie confront* lie rmf (Val Utter, left), e by to-book star pitot TOP GUN BY JIMMY SUMMERS hen the time came to cast the part of Maverick Mitchell, the best young Navy pilot in the air, the producers of Top Gun had only one actor in mind. That was Tom Cruise. With relatively fe w roles to his credit, Cruise has become one of the most sought after and popular young performers in mo tion pictures. From his first appearance on screen in Taps, Cruise had a certain something that made him stand out from the rest rtf the crowd. By the time he starred in Risky Husiness, dancing in his underwear to the music of Bob Seger, the world knew it had a new star Certain people just can't be held back from achieving success, and it seemed obvious that Cruise was one of those special people Now Cruise is playing a character that might be described in just the same way Lt. Rete ''Maverick” Mitchell is also a golden boy, but he's a golden boy of the sky He's an F 14 fighter pilot who's been selectively chosen to participate in the Navy’s prestigious Fighter Weapons School, or as it is known to the pilots, the Top Gun program The few who are privileged to be Top Gun students arc chosen from the Navy’s top air crews. Because the Navy's F 14 pi lots already represent the best the Navy has to offer, the Top Gunners are the lie si of the best, the excelling elite After an intensive program that includes simulal cd in air dogfights and fMKjrs of class room study, the Top Gun graduates re turn to their commands and .share their new expertise with the other crews in their squadron. These aerial cowboys are a special breed, a description most readily sup |M>rted by the pilots During the produc lion of Top (iun, Tom Cruise met many a Top Gunner and one of them summed up his slightly immodest attitude alxHil his line of work by saying “there are only four occupations worthy of a man acti»r, rock star, jet lighter pilot or President of the United States." That's not the son of statement you get from a shrinking violet It's also not an attitude that's overly tol erant with outsiders, but Tom Cruise managed nonetheless to earn the pilots' respect Said one Top Gun pilot "Tom look his role very seriously lie looked like a pilot, studied like a pilot and some times even partied like a pilot humiliate ly, for him, he still made the salary of a movie star The pilot Cruise plays in Top Gun is considered one of the best in the Navy's program Hul Maverick Mitchell isactuev ing Iils success without necessarily play ing by the rules He prefers to fly by in stinct, a notion that keeps him in hot water with hi* su|teriors Me may win more ektghghts than any other pilot, I Hit lie's only a lew steps away from lx*lng Itootcel out of the program Matters are only worsened when he falls in love with a civilian s|tee ialist as signed to the program Claying Charlotte Blackwood, the forbidden love Interest, is Kelly McGillts Y<mi might remember M< (hilts from an even more compileated romance in Wurwis, when she played the Amish widow in love with Harrison Cord's Philadelphia deice live Hounding out the e ast are more of Mol lywood's promising new fates Playing Maverick's radar intercept officer his one partner in llic air is Anthony Pd wauls of Kvvvum- of Ihr Ncrd\ and (lot chu Playing his chief competition for the ilistinction of to() lop Gunner is Val Kil mer of Tofi See re/'a nil Heal < ,rmu\ Also in the e ast are Tom Skerritl, play ing the Top Gun commanding ode er and Mic hael Ironsides, playing the Top Gun instructor ♦