Top Gun

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TOP GUN:

by

Chip Proser

REVISED:

April 4, 1985

Registered, WGAw.

NOTE:
Aerial dialogue in CAPS is UHF radio;

plane to plane, plane to carrier.

Aerial dialogue in small case is ICS;

an inter-cockpit system; a live mike,

heard by pilot and RIO only.

TG1 REVISED 04APR85 .

1. EXT. NIGHT. - THE PACIFIC IS ANYTHING BUT

WINDS HOWL. Rain drives horizontal. The sea surges up,

nearly to the flight deck of the Aircraft Carrier USS Kitty

Hawk. The carrier plunges, driving its bow into a wall of

grey water. The deck pitches forward and back, rolls left to

right, and yaws in a corkscrew motion. The entire 93,000 ton

behemoth rises and falls in the TYPHOON-DRIVEN SWELL.

2. SOMETHING DROPS DOWN OUT OF THE NIGHT

A ROAR. Silver wings flash by, a cockpit, fiery jet

exhausts. A forty ton monster drops at 120 knots into an area

the size of a tennis court in a CONTROLLED CRASH.

2A. A SHOWER OF SPARKS, A SCREECH OF RUBBER AND METAL as

the gear hits the deck. The hook catches the 3 wire and the

F-14 TOMCAT is slammed to a halt. It's the scariest thing

you've ever seen, the most dangerous maneuver in aviation and

just another day at the office for a Naval Aviator.

TITLES OVER:

HARD DRIVING ROCK AND ROLL - THE CARS - RIDE ME HIGH

3. FLIGHT DECK - THE LANDING SIGNAL OFFICER - (LSO)

Leans almost horizontal into the winds. He holds the pickle,

controlling the landing lights and speaks into a mike. His

calm, professional commands belie the extreme conditions.

LSO:

POWER, POWER...DON'T CLIMB...

OKAY, HOLD WHAT YOU GOT.

4. ANOTHER TOMCAT FLIES OVER THE RAMP

It slams in. The pilot hits full power, catches the wire, slams

to a stop, cuts his engines.

5. OMITTED

6. AIR OPS - BELOW DECK

Lots of scopes and electronic gear. The CARRIER CONTROL APPROACH

OFFICER (CCA) watches a blip on radar, reaches for his mike key.

7. EXT. THE TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING - (AERIAL)

We float like gods, above the storm, above the cloud cover,

looking down. From overhead, a probe slides into frame, then

a graceful nose. The cockpit sides by, Pilot, then Radar

Intercept Officer (RIO) barely illuminated by the orange glow

of their instruments. The fuselage gracefully swells to two

enormous air intakes, then variable angle wings, swept back

for high speed flight. Twin tailbooms cant outward,

horizontal stabilizers make constant adjustments. Enormous

twin jet exhaust ports glow red in the moonlight.

8. INT. COCKPIT - (AERIAL)

We become aware of WIND WHISTLE, JET ENGINE SOUNDS, RADIO

STATIC. The pilot, COUGAR, is calm, steady. The Radar

Intercept Officer in the backseat, GOOSE, is a wildman,

always an edge of humor in his voice. A UHF transmission

breaks in..

STRIKE (V.O. filtered)

GHOST RIDER, THIS IS STRIKE... WE

HAVE UNKNOWN CONTACT INBOUND,

MUSTANG. YOUR VECTOR ZERO NINE ZERO

FOR BOGEY.

Almost immediately the RIO picks up a target and responds.

GOOSE:

CONTACT 20 LEFT AT 25, 900 KNOTS

CLOSURE.

8A. ANGLE - SECOND F-14 - 115 - COUGAR'S WINGMAN

Come in on the cockpit with stenciled name and call signs: LT.

EVAN MITCHELL is the pilot, MAVERICK. In flight suit and oxygen

mask, we can only see his eyes. they are confident. In his

mid-twenties, he is lean, hard, athletic...the archetype fighter

pilot. His rear-seater is LTJG. WALTER MERLIN; WIZARD.

MAVERICK:

I'LL I.D. HIM, YOU HOOK 'EM.

Maverick peels off to right, to high cover position; 5 o'clock.

9. INT. GHOST RIDER 117 - COUGAR'S POV

HEADS UP DISPLAY (HUD) glows dimly on the windscreen. Directly

in front of the stick, two CRT screens display data. The bottom

screen shows a radar sweep. Wedged between the instruments is a

snapshot of a pretty young woman with a 2 month-old baby.

GOOSE:

Closing fast. MUSTANG, THIS IS

GHOST RIDER ONE ONE SEVEN. CONTACT

ONE BOGEY, 090 AT 15 MILES, 900

KNOTS OF CLOSURE.

COUGAR:

Look for the trailer.

GOOSE:

I don't see anything. MAVERICK,

YOU HAVE A TRAILER?

10. MAVERICK'S F-14

Flying in combat spread, 1 mile abeam, higher.

GOOSE:

NEGATIVE, COUGAR. LOOKS LIKE HE'S

SINGLE.

11. INT. 117 - COUGAR'S COCKPIT

COUGAR:

HANG BACK AND WATCH FOR HIM. HERE

COMES...MIG ONE.

12. EXT. SKY

Closing at 900 knots, The MiG is a speck, then a flash and a

ROAR, a knife-edge pass at 300 feet. It rockets past his left

wing tip and disappears. Cougar kicks rudder, whips the stick,

screams into a tight turning roll and dives after him. He slams

the throttle forward to ZONE 5 AFTERBURNER.

13. EXT. - MAVERICK'S F-14

Maverick sees a SECOND MiG drop from above onto Cougar's tail.

MAVERICK:

BOGEY ON YOUR SIX. I'M ON HIS.

Maverick swings after him, lights it.

13A. ALL FOUR JETS SCREAM DOWN IN A POWER DIVE.

They punch through cloud cover into the soup.

14. EXT. COUGAR'S F-14

He is closing on the first MiG when a shocking BLIPBLIPBLIPBLIP

tone breaks into their headsets.

GOOSE:

I've got a six strobe. I think

he's locked on us.

COUGAR:

It's a MiG 21. They don't have

radar missiles!

GOOSE:

Let's hope you're right!

COUGAR:

What is he doing?

GOOSE:

He's pissing me off!

Cougar swings mad gyrations, cutting back and forth across the

front MiG's tailpipe, trying to break the lock-on. The TONE grows

more insistant.

COUGAR:

Can't shake him.

MAVERICK (V.O.)

WHAT'S MIG ONE DOING?

COUGAR:

Maintaining course. Straight for

Mustang.

GOOSE:

Stay with him.

The tone grows steady, BLIPBLIPBLIPBLIP.

GOOSE:

(alarmed)

That's missile lock!

COUGAR:

He better be kidding!

GOOSE:

Lordy! Eyeball to A**hole.

Hope nobody burps!

14A. INT. MAVERICK'S F-14

MAVERICK:

I'LL LOCK ON THEM, COUGAR. (to himself)

Gotcha covered, don't nobody move.

COUGAR:

I'M UP HERE TOO, MAVERICK.

MAVERICK:

ROGER, COUGAR. (to himself and his RIO)

Okay boys, pull out with your hands up

and nobody'll get hurt.

14B. INT. COUGAR'S F-14

Up front, Cougar checks his gunsight...He gets I.R. lock...

COUGAR:

We're locked on MiG ONE. Why

doesn't he disengage?

GOOSE:

These guys are getting on my

nerves.

14C. FINALLY, MIG ONE TURNS AWAY.

GOOSE:

GHOST RIDER TO MUSTANG. BANDITS

TURNING AWAY.

But Cougar presses forward, and MiG TWO stays on his tail.

MAVERICK:

COUGAR, BREAK LEFT. TRY A HIGH G

ROLL UNDERNEATH. BREAK OUT THE

BOTTOM.

Anger gives way to discipline. Cougar's Tomcat breaks left,

dives into dense cloud. MiG TWO still follows.

MAVERICK:

HE'S STILL ON YOU, COUGAR.

15. EXT. COUGAR - IN THE CLOUDS

Still hears the tone, BLIPBLIPBLIP...

COUGAR:

I KNOW. I KNOW.

He rolls over into wild evasive maneuvers, finally breaks lock.

16. INT. MIG

Breaks out of cloud, looks around, startled. There is nothing,

no F-14. He scans the sky frantically, while rolling the

aircraft. ...Suddenly, he feels a presence. He looks straight up

and behind him. A few feet away, a TOMCAT slides into position

canopy to canopy, an incredible feat of flying. Maverick and

Wizard stare at him. Maverick slides even closer, canopies nearly

touching. The MiG pilot acknowledges them with a weak wave.

Maverick stares for a moment, then flips him the bird.

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