Μύ Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and his late partner Don Simpson "defined the modern day action blockbuster" with the Tom Cruise vehicle Top Gun. Fuelled by testosterone and helmed by the slick, visual stylist Tony Scott, it shot to box office glory over one long summer in 1986. It was a triumph of spectacle over story that infuriated most critics and set the mould for a subsequent string of action no-brainers credited to 'The Bruckheimer'.
Into The Danger Zone
After reading a magazine article on US Navy flyboys, Bruckheimer pitched the idea for Top Gun as "Star Wars on Earth", but the suits at Paramount balked at the script. It marks the beginning of a dramatic saga in the making of this film, which is presented as a six-part documentary (over two hours in total) called Danger Zone. As Bruckheimer tells it, his onetime partner Don Simpson actually "got down on his knees and begged" the execs for money.
Meanwhile Tony Scott fondly reminisces on the beginning of a successful career making high-octane action movies. However, he started out with very different ideas about the artistry of film having just made the esoteric vampire movie The Hunger. Here he talks about getting harangued by Simpson & Bruckheimer when he expressed his vision of Top Gun as "Apocalypse Now on an aircraft carrier".
Thanks to a bone-dry sense of humour, Val Kilmer is one of the highlights of this documentary, referring to Top Gun as "The great flying movie - if you don't count The Great Waldo Pepper". He also talks openly about the cultivated "frostiness" between him and Tom Cruise on set, which he insists was essential to the creative process. He also admits to being the ringleader in many a drunken night out - again, for "the good of the movie".
Other sections of the documentary throw the spotlight on music, visual effects, and aerial choreography. Especially interesting is a look back at the process of test screenings that shaped the final product. Initially Simpson "flipped out" when he saw the first (and most incoherent) cut of the film and threatened to fire Scott for the fourth time! But a cool-headed Bruckheimer intervened and guided his director through a long process of re-shoots to impose some sort of structure on the piece. A new ending was called for too, which Scott admits was, "so corny, but completely right for the movie". Draw your own conclusions!
Cruise Control
The Cruiser doesn't contribute much to the documentary aside from a few soundbites and a vintage interview, which doesn't add anything to what we already know. His favourite anecdote concerns a ride-along with elite Navy flying team The Blue Angels that finally convinced him to sign on for the movie. "It was amazing!" he says, amid a slew of other bland superlatives. Fortunately the other vintage material is more insightful and includes an amusing behind-the-scenes look at flight training where Cruise is treated like a crash test dummy. He's dropped, dunked, ejected, and, best of all, forced to play pat-a-cake without a supply of oxygen. Now that's entertainment!
Scott is part of a patchwork feature commentary that includes Bruckheimer and co-writer Jack Epps Jr. As you'd expect it's an uneven affair, but Scott's contributions are at least scene-specific and contain lots of technical notes (regarding different types of filters, lenses, etc) as well as some amusing production stories. For instance, he reveals that he was fired three times during the making of the movie, one time for making Kelly McGillis look "too whorish". When he was reinstated, he adds, "The studio took away my 9-inch pumps and makeup lady". We assume the pumps were for Kelly...
A couple of multi-angle storyboard featurettes also benefit from a director's commentary (Scott drew these himself), while a batch of music videos and photo galleries fill out this two-disc package. It's just a shame there isn't any new interview footage with TC and a little more behind-the-scenes access. Even so, Top Gun: Special Edition flies high on the list of must-have DVDs.
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