Stunning aerial footage still best thing about Top Gun at 40
Stunning aerial footage still best thing about Top Gun at 40
40年过去了，《壮志凌云》最精彩的依然是那些令人惊叹的空中镜头
When the action film Top Gun hit the big screen in 1986, critical reviews were mixed, but audiences were thrilled. The film racked up $358 million globally, making it the highest-grossing film of that year. Its success spawned a few video games and a critically acclaimed blockbuster 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, and the eye-popping flight sequences definitely boosted enlistment numbers for the US Navy. Those scenes are still the best thing about Top Gun, 40 years later. (Spoilers below because it’s been 40 years.)
1986年，动作电影《壮志凌云》（Top Gun）登陆大银幕时，影评界褒贬不一，但观众却为之疯狂。该片在全球斩获3.58亿美元票房，成为当年票房最高的电影。它的成功催生了几款电子游戏，以及2022年广受好评的重磅续集《壮志凌云2：独行侠》。片中那些令人目不暇接的飞行场面，无疑也极大地提升了美国海军的征兵人数。40年后的今天，这些镜头依然是《壮志凌云》最精彩的部分。（下文包含剧透，毕竟电影已经上映40年了。）
The film was inspired by a 1983 article in California magazine detailing the lives of fighter pilots at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego (aka “Fightertown USA”) and featuring plenty of aerial photography alongside the text. Producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson tapped Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. to write the screenplay, with Epps sitting in on declassified classes at the academy and even taking a flight aboard an F-14. Tony Scott, then a relative newcomer with just one feature film (1983’s The Hunger) to his name, was hired to direct. However, he had shot a commercial for Saab featuring one of the company’s cars racing against a Saab 37 Viggen fighter jet, so the producers figured he had the chops for Top Gun.
这部电影的灵感来源于1983年《加州》杂志上的一篇文章，该文详细介绍了圣地亚哥米拉马尔海军航空站（被称为“美国战斗机之城”）战斗机飞行员的生活，并配有大量空中摄影作品。制片人杰瑞·布鲁克海默和唐·辛普森邀请吉姆·卡什和杰克·埃普斯二世撰写剧本，埃普斯甚至旁听了学院的解密课程，还亲自乘坐F-14战机飞行了一次。托尼·斯科特当时还是个新人，名下仅有一部剧情长片（1983年的《血魔》），但他被聘为导演。此前他曾为萨博汽车拍摄过一支广告，内容是汽车与萨博37“雷”式战斗机竞速，制片人因此认为他有执导《壮志凌云》的实力。
The film wastes no time getting us in the air. Our hero, Maverick (Cruise) and his radar intercept officer, Goose (Anthony Andrews) are flying maneuvers in an F-14A Tomcat in the Indian Ocean, along with Maverick’s wingman, Cougar (John Stockwell) and his RIO. They encounter two hostile MiG-28s (a fictitious craft represented in the film by the Northrup F-5). Maverick scares one away with a well-timed missile lock, but the other MiG locks onto Cougar before getting chased away by Maverick. Just to make sure we understand how Maverick got his nickname, the pilot inverts his plane and flies directly above the hostile MiG, giving his adversary the finger as Goose snaps a commemorative Polaroid.
电影开场便迅速将观众带入空中。主角“独行侠”（汤姆·克鲁斯饰）和他的雷达拦截官“呆头鹅”（安东尼·爱德华兹饰）正在印度洋上空驾驶F-14A“雄猫”战机进行演习，同行的还有“独行侠”的僚机“美洲狮”（约翰·斯托克韦尔饰）及其雷达拦截官。他们遭遇了两架敌对的米格-28战机（片中由诺斯罗普F-5战机代替）。“独行侠”通过精准的导弹锁定吓跑了其中一架，而另一架米格战机锁定了“美洲狮”，随后被“独行侠”驱离。为了让观众明白“独行侠”绰号的由来，他将飞机倒转，直接飞到敌机上方，并向对手竖起中指，而“呆头鹅”则拍下了一张纪念拍立得照片。
Cougar, however, is badly shaken by the encounter—so much so that he freezes up and can’t land his plane. So Maverick defies orders to land immediately (they are low on fuel) and flies back to Cougar to lead him safely back to the carrier. That earns Maverick a reprimand and establishes him as a cocky, arrogant rule-breaker with a fierce loyalty to his fellow pilots. Despite this, because Cougar has “lost the edge” and quits his commission, Maverick and Goose get to take his place at the titular Top Gun.
然而，“美洲狮”被这次遭遇吓坏了，以至于他僵住无法降落飞机。“独行侠”不顾立即降落的命令（当时燃油不足），飞回“美洲狮”身边，引导他安全返回航母。这让“独行侠”受到了训斥，但也确立了他狂妄自大、不守规矩，却对战友有着强烈忠诚的形象。尽管如此，由于“美洲狮”因“失去锐气”而退役，“独行侠”和“呆头鹅”得以顶替他的位置，进入“壮志凌云”学院。
Charlie turns out to be a Top Gun instructor. The flight sequences are the best part of the film. Maverick’s got the flying chops, the abrasive confidence, and nerves of steel, but can he learn to set his ego aside and be a team player? His archrival, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), doesn’t think so, especially when Maverick abandons his wingman in a training run to make a showy, aggressive pass at an instructor’s plane. Everyone ends up failing the exercise because of it. Iceman thinks Maverick is dangerous—which the latter naturally tries to turn into an asset: “I am dangerous.”
查理后来被发现是“壮志凌云”学院的教官。飞行场面是电影最精彩的部分。“独行侠”拥有高超的飞行技术、咄咄逼人的自信和钢铁般的神经，但他能学会放下自我，成为一名团队合作者吗？他的死对头汤姆·“冰人”·卡赞斯基（方·基默饰）并不这么认为，特别是在一次训练中，“独行侠”为了向教官的飞机进行炫耀性的攻击而抛弃了僚机。结果导致所有人演习失败。“冰人”认为“独行侠”很危险，而后者自然地试图将这种评价转化为优势：“我就是很危险。”
Lt. Commander Rick “Jester” Heatherly (Michael Ironside) shares Iceman’s concerns, admitting that while Maverick’s flying is impressive, he might not trust him in actual combat. And training for combat is why they’re all there. This is an ’80s blockbuster, so of course Maverick ultimately redeems himself and saves the day in an actual air skirmish—and also gets the girl, a civilian Top Gun instructor named Charlie (Kelly McGillis). But first, he suffers a major personal loss. Maverick and Goose accidentally fly through the jet wash of another plane, both engines flame out, and they go into a flat spin that not even Maverick can recover from. The pair eject, but Goose hits the jettisoned canopy of the aircraft, and the impact kills him. Maverick isn’t to blame but nonetheless feels responsible. The loss chastens him just enough to take the edge off his insubordinate recklessness.
里克·“小丑”·希瑟利中校（迈克尔·艾恩斯代德饰）也认同“冰人”的担忧，他承认虽然“独行侠”的飞行技术令人印象深刻，但在实战中可能无法信任他。而他们来到这里正是为了进行实战训练。作为一部80年代的大片，结局自然是“独行侠”完成了自我救赎，在一次真实的空战中力挽狂澜，并赢得了女孩——一位名叫查理（凯莉·麦吉利斯饰）的平民教官的芳心。但在此之前，他经历了一次重大的个人损失。“独行侠”和“呆头鹅”意外飞入另一架飞机的喷气尾流，导致双引擎熄火，飞机进入了连“独行侠”也无法改出的平螺旋状态。两人弹射逃生，但“呆头鹅”撞上了抛出的座舱盖，不幸身亡。“独行侠”虽然没有过错，但仍感到自责。这次损失让他变得沉稳，也磨平了他那不服管教的鲁莽。
We all know that the best thing about Top Gun continues to be those incredible, pulse-pounding in-flight sequences and gorgeous orange-hued shots of crew and grounded planes at the base and on aircraft carriers. Scott shot most of the air footage from a Learjet, augmented by mounted cameras inside the F-14 cockpits and exteriors. That’s why he shot the whole thing in Super-8: The larger anamorphic lenses wouldn’t fit in the cockpit. The US Navy supplied aircraft, carriers, and crews, and the flight deck footage captured normal operations, with nothing staged. The stunt pilots included future NASA astronaut Scott Altman, who performed the aforementioned infamous “flipping the bird” maneuver and the tower buzzing moments. There was one casualty: aerobatic pilot Art Scholl, who performed a lot of the in-flight camera work. Scholl fell afoul of the flat spin maneuver; he couldn’t recover and crashed his biplane into the Pacific Ocean near Carlsbad, California. Neither his body nor the plane was ever recovered, but Scott dedicated the film to Scholl.
我们都知道，《壮志凌云》最棒的地方依然是那些令人心跳加速的空中镜头，以及基地和航母上机组人员与停放战机在橙色调光影下的绝美画面。斯科特大部分空中镜头都是从里尔喷气机上拍摄的，并辅以安装在F-14座舱内外的摄像机。这就是为什么他用Super-8胶片拍摄的原因：更大的变形镜头无法装进座舱。美国海军提供了飞机、航母和机组人员，飞行甲板上的镜头捕捉的是正常的作业流程，没有任何摆拍。特技飞行员中包括未来的NASA宇航员斯科特·奥特曼，他完成了前述臭名昭著的“竖中指”动作和低空掠过塔台的镜头。拍摄过程中有一人遇难：特技飞行员阿特·肖尔，他负责了许多空中摄像工作。肖尔在进行平螺旋动作时失控，无法改出，最终坠入加州卡尔斯巴德附近的太平洋。他的遗体和飞机从未被找到，但斯科特将这部电影献给了肖尔。