Top Gun

A heart-pounding combination of action, music, and incredible aerial photography helped make Top Gun the blockbuster hit of 1986 — and inspired countless future Navy careers.

Being accepted into an elite training school for Navy fighter pilots is a dream come true for Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw. But as he competes with a rival student flyer for the program's coveted top award, a tragedy, as well as personal demons, will threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an ace pilot.

Top Gun offers an inside look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy's prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a daring young flyer who's out to become the best, and Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick that there are a few things you can't learn in a classroom.

Synonymous with any mention of the film, Tom Cruise's signature aviators, patch-covered, sage green fly suit, and dark brown leather G-1 bomber jacket with fur collar also offer an opportunity to reflect how military fashions permeate everyday life and how servicemembers find ways to assert their individuality within the confines of requisite military dress.

The screening is cosponsored by the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC) and presented in conjunction with "Fit for Duty: Form and Function in Military Dress," a multi-site exhibition catalyzed by the CF+TC, on view Rachel Hope Doran '19 and Terrace Level Vitrines at the Human Ecology Building and Wortham Museum at Barton Hall through March 2026.

Part of our "Fit for Duty" series. Courtesy of Universal Pictures and Swank Motion Pictures.