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Posted

Top Gun Opening scene

 

The opening scene of the original Top Gun.

They absolutely nailed the sounds and environment of launch and recovery, because they actually filmed real operations.

Flight deck guys leaning into the wind and connecting launch bars to the catapults and hold back bars behind the nose gear, hauling fuel lines and air start hoses around, with the real steam drifting around.

Guys giving the  engine run up signs prior to launch. Jet blast deflectors going up and down.

Real footage of actual launces and traps. 

It still gets my metabolism up as the tension in that environment is relived.

Just an incredible environment

 

Interesting footnote. Tony Scott from Paramount was responsible for the filming of that. He really liked the sun backlighting the scene, but since it was during actual operations, Enterprise needed to turn and it would change the lighting. Scott asked the skipper to keep going for five more minutes, and the skipper said that would cost $25,000, so Scott wrote a personal check, and Enterprise stayed the course for five more mins.

 

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Posted
On 9/7/2024 at 6:18 AM, sherpa said:

Top Gun Opening scene

 

The opening scene of the original Top Gun.

They absolutely nailed the sounds and environment of launch and recovery, because they actually filmed real operations.

Flight deck guys leaning into the wind and connecting launch bars to the catapults and hold back bars behind the nose gear, hauling fuel lines and air start hoses around, with the real steam drifting around.

Guys giving the  engine run up signs prior to launch. Jet blast deflectors going up and down.

Real footage of actual launces and traps. 

It still gets my metabolism up as the tension in that environment is relived.

Just an incredible environment

 

Interesting footnote. Tony Scott from Paramount was responsible for the filming of that. He really liked the sun backlighting the scene, but since it was during actual operations, Enterprise needed to turn and it would change the lighting. Scott asked the skipper to keep going for five more minutes, and the skipper said that would cost $25,000, so Scott wrote a personal check, and Enterprise stayed the course for five more mins.

 

Sounds like you served on a carrier...I was on the JFK in the 1970s.

  • Like (+1) 1
Posted
On 9/7/2024 at 6:18 AM, sherpa said:

Top Gun Opening scene

 

The opening scene of the original Top Gun.

They absolutely nailed the sounds and environment of launch and recovery, because they actually filmed real operations.

Flight deck guys leaning into the wind and connecting launch bars to the catapults and hold back bars behind the nose gear, hauling fuel lines and air start hoses around, with the real steam drifting around.

Guys giving the  engine run up signs prior to launch. Jet blast deflectors going up and down.

Real footage of actual launces and traps. 

It still gets my metabolism up as the tension in that environment is relived.

Just an incredible environment

 

Interesting footnote. Tony Scott from Paramount was responsible for the filming of that. He really liked the sun backlighting the scene, but since it was during actual operations, Enterprise needed to turn and it would change the lighting. Scott asked the skipper to keep going for five more minutes, and the skipper said that would cost $25,000, so Scott wrote a personal check, and Enterprise stayed the course for five more mins.

 

 

They did do a great job with that opening but for "authentic" modern carrier ops, nothing beats "The Final Countdown."

 

 

Posted
1 hour ago, RkFast said:

 

They did do a great job with that opening but for "authentic" modern carrier ops, nothing beats "The Final Countdown."

 

 

 

Funny you should mention that movie.

The "shooter," who is the officer that presses the catapult launch button once everything is OK, was my flight instructor during advanced Navy jet training.

Good guy and still a friend.

 

That movie had quite a bit of collateral damage.

There's an F-14 that does an extremely low to the water pull out. The guy who did it was trying to make it cooler than he should have. Overstressed the airplane.

A senior officer doing liaison with the studio got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and lost his career.

 

Top Gun was much more scrutinized as the result, and had no such issues, although famous civilian acrobatics pilot was killed during filming of a spin scene.

Posted

"Station Eleven" was the best show I've watched in ages, with a phenomenal and truly emotional score, and the Jeevan and Frank storyline will stay with me for a long time, especially when they finally make Kirsten's play:

 

Can't find the clip from episode 9, but as a dad with girls, the scene where Jeevan hears this homemade song is heart-rending:

 

Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, sherpa said:

 

Funny you should mention that movie.

The "shooter," who is the officer that presses the catapult launch button once everything is OK, was my flight instructor during advanced Navy jet training.

Good guy and still a friend.

 

That movie had quite a bit of collateral damage.

There's an F-14 that does an extremely low to the water pull out. The guy who did it was trying to make it cooler than he should have. Overstressed the airplane.

A senior officer doing liaison with the studio got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and lost his career.

 

Top Gun was much more scrutinized as the result, and had no such issues, although famous civilian acrobatics pilot was killed during filming of a spin scene.

 

I just always appreciated the authenticity of that movie because it was shot on an operational carrier, no studio, no CGI movie trickery with the flight scenes (for the most part). In that video at 2:19, the Corsair launching blows a tire, which resulted in the barricade scene earlier in the film...and the producers just worked it into the storyline. You can see the puff and the wing dip.

Edited by RkFast
Posted
1 hour ago, RkFast said:

 

I just always appreciated the authenticity of that movie because it was shot on an operational carrier, no studio, no CGI movie trickery with the flight scenes (for the most part). In that video at 2:19, the Corsair launching blows a tire, which resulted in the barricade scene earlier in the film...and the producers just worked it into the storyline. You can see the puff and the wing dip.

I get it.

 

But the original in Top Gun is what it's really like.

The music score is perfect.

The buildup you feel prior to launch is captured.

The steam. The deck guys, "shirts" as we knew them and respected them by, is so accurate.

Any scene that effects my metabolism is one that I will note, and this onw always has.

This topic is OLD. A NEW topic should be started unless there is a very specific reason to revive this one.

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