Too bad the sequel never got off the ground.  Doubt they will use Kelly M anyway since she has not aged well. 

Another 3D money grab; it will suck just like most other 3D conversions.  It is still an awesome movie though. I saw it in the theaters with about 20 friends and we had a great time.  The volleyball scenes are so hokey though; so many trick camera angles to make it look like they are actually playing; but that's the magic of movies.  Any two of my high school girls would humiliate them off the court.

 “I think this is a film for women,” my wife commented quietly after our screening of Top Gun 3D.

You are only noticing this now?  I though this was accepted wisdom ever since the film came out.

I've thought 2 things about this movies over the years:

I thought that Top Gun was the unofficial sequel to An Officer And A Gentlemen. We see the cocky young recruit now flying the jets he wanted so bad but still needed to learn some life lessons.

And I also thought that Maverick was my perfect idea of what the young Anakin Skywalker was like. An excellent pilot, extremely cocky and too sure of himself and treating others poorly to suit his needs. All of which made him a perfect candidate for going to the dark side.

I never made the connection between Top Gun and An Officer and a Gentleman, but now that you mention it, that makes perfect sense.  Maybe it started out as an actual sequel in the planning stages, and evolved into what it finally became after different writers got hold of it and put their own spin on the screenplay.

Monkeyfoot, I think you're right on.  The Maverick character from Top Gun is what George Lucas should've modeled Anakin Skywalker after, at least somewhat instead of the Jake Loyd version.  IMO, he wasn't the right actor both in terms of his level of acting and his age; he was too young.

BTW, they are doing a sequel and I believe Tom Cruise is involved.

 I saw this in a movie theater in Idaho, going across the country with my grandparents and sister in our annual summer trip from California to Ohio.

I can still remember being blown away that the town was so small you had to wait until nighttime to go to the movies, b/c they didn't do full showings.

I also remember buying candy cigarettes for the first time that day. And not just the candy ones, but the ones that would puff fake smoke.

Ah, the 80's....how grand!

Wait, wait, wait... Rob, how OLD are you?!  You first saw this on VHS?!?!  Christ, you make me feel old.  I remember seeing this on the big screen at the age of 11 in June of '86.  I even remember the table that the Navy recruiters had set up in front of the theater to capitalize on the film's pro-military advertisement.

I also think that using the term "jingoistic" is a bit of a stretch (and one with a clear negative conotation at that).  The term might apply to a film like Red Dawn, but considering the limited actual military action that happens in both the first and last 10 minutes of the film, I think that "jingoistic" is an exaggeration at best.

Top Gun encapsulates a LOT of what the 80s were about - pro-America, pro-military, loud noise, and big guns.  With that said, I think you are being a little hard on the plot.  The film holds up very well over time for entertainment value, and I don't think it repeats its own plot that much.

And, perhaps because you were clearly so YOUNG when you saw the film, you missed the obvious:  this was the BEST first date movie possible in the late 80s and early 90s.  It DOES hold lots of "chick-flick" moments to appease the ladies, while still holding plenty of machismo for the guys.  God knows, I watched this film on plenty of first dates in high school, and dodged a lot of Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts crap as a result.  God bless and keep Tony Scott!!