Top Gun

"Top Gun was a recruiting video for the navy. It really helped their recruiting. People saw the movie and said "Wow! I want to be a pilot." You create images and young men pick them up and they become important images for them. They want to imitate them." - Film Producer John Davis (Behind Enemy Lines)

"Top Gun" also served to prepare the American public for the Gulf War. It was such an effective recruiting tool, that the navy set up recruiting booths in theatres showing the film, and saw recruitment skyrocket by 500%.

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More on Top Gun

The process of rebuilding the military's image in the wake of Vietnam reached its peak with the release of "Top Gun" in 1986, that year's top-grossing movie. The Navy saw this peacetime story of naval fighter pilot school as an opportunity to significantly boost its image and lent unparalleled support in the form of a carrier, aircraft, and technical advice.

JOE TRENTO: How did they get the cooperation? They allowed the military to rewrite their script. They essentially gave them the script and anything in the script that the military did not like or didn't think reflected well on the military was edited out and rewritten.

Philip STRUB: "Top Gun" was significant to me and to others because it marked a rehabilitation in the portrayal of the military. For the first time in many, many years, you could make a movie that was positive about the military, actors could portray military personnel who were well-motivated, well-intentioned and not see their careers suffer as a consequence.

On top of glamorizing the image of Navy pilots and stimulating a surge in flight training candidates, "Top Gun" also served to boost public confidence in American weapons technology, in general -- technology that would be extensively tested in battle just four years later.

Lawrence SUID: "Top Gun" also in large measure, in my view, prepared the American people for the Gulf War. Before the completion of the rehabilitation, the American people had more or less decided the United States military couldn't do what it said it could do. "Top Gun" showed that we could shoot down airplanes, that our aircraft carriers could go anyplace, and that our pilots were the best. And so, when the Gulf War comes along, there's no reason for any American civilian to believe that we can't beat Saddam Hussein.