‘It looked like Star Wars on Earth’: the making of Top Gun at 40

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-writer Jack Epps discuss how the smash hit action drama came to be, from Tom Cruise vomiting on himself to ruling the box office It would be one of the most important flights in film history. When a young 5ft 7in actor with long hair and ponytail rocked up on a motorcycle, a group of US navy pilots were all too happy to test his need for speed. “They look at him and they don’t know who Tom Cruise is,” recalls screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. “They do what they like...

By David Smith in Washington

Seeing the Stars of Top Gun Then & Now Will Take Your Breath Away

These days, Tom Cruise is just as likely to be hanging off the side of a plane as piloting one onscreen, but he had to start somewhere. He first planted the seeds of his future action hero status...