1986 was a landmark year for military aviation in cinema. Top Gun came out in May, the very start of the Summer blockbuster season, and immediately boosted Navy recruitment by 10 bajillion percent. That’s not an approximation, those are the official figures from the Navy. 10 bajillion percent. People flocked to this movie, and who could blame them? It was the perfect synthesis of Cool, Sex, Militarism, and Cinema. In Reagan Era America, it was a guaranteed recipe for success.
Or was it?
Because we aren’t talking about Top Gun. This week, courtesy of our audience choice poll, we are diving into the OTHER military aviation action extravaganza from the same year. It’s the story of a teenage boy whose father is shot down, held captive, and scheduled for execution in a “fictitious” enemy country. When the military seems unwilling or unable to do anything about it, the boy and his friends take matters into their own hands, with the reluctant help of Academy Award Winner Louis Gossett Jr. Released in January of 1986, today’s film is a testament to the notion that getting there first isn’t as important as getting it right.
Next Episode: Top Gun (1986)
Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments!
Our website: www.dangerclosepod.com
Or join our Facebook group at: Danger Close - Podcast Discussion Group
If you like the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
If you would like to support the show and get extra episodes where we discuss sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy war movies, go to our Patreon page at:
www.dangerclosepod.com/support
BONUS EPISODE: Inception (2010)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Reports from the Front: Fourteen Hours in Husaybah
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Oppenheimer (2023)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Woman King (2022)
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Reports from the Front: The End Goal Is to Make It Home Alive
Top Gun (1986)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Das Boot (1981)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
BONUS EPISODE: Fright Pub: Last Night in Soho (2021)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Mister Roberts (1955)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
I Finally Watched...
Kill James Bond!
Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast
Blank Check with Griffin & David
Dead Meat Podcast