Top Gun 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. 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 Asshole. 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. The MiG pushes negative G, hard down and away. He heads for the deck. WIZARD He's running for it. MAVERICK Ah, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. WIZARD Speaking of feet, fuel's down to 4.0. We're gonna get them wet unless we find a Sonoco station. MAVERICK COUGAR, THIS IS MAVERICK. I'M GETTING HUNGRY, LET'S HEAD FOR THE BARN. ...COUGAR, WHERE ARE YOU? 17. EXT. KITTY HAWK FLIGHT DECK - THE LSO Stands the on plunging deck, peering into the roaring night. CCA (Filtered) GHOST RIDER ONE-ONE-FIVE, THIS IS MUSTANG. WX THREE HUNDRED. ONE MILE VISIBILITY WITH HEAVY RAIN. FINAL INBOUND BEARING THREE-FOUR- ZERO. DECK IS MOVING. 18. INT. COCKPIT 117 - COUGAR COUGAR This is crazy. How the hell we supposed to land on something we can't even see! GOOSE Hey, if it was easy, everybody would want to come up here and do it..... Instead of just us. COUGAR (corrects him) You. MUSTANG (V.O. filtered) MUSTANG TO GHOST RIDER 115...110 SPIN, 42 LOCK. AT 5 MILES READ YOUR NEEDLES. 19. INT. COCKPIT 115 - MAVERICK MAVERICK NEEDLES READ DOWN AND LEFT. CCA (V.O. filtered) CONCUR, FLY YOUR NEEDLES. MAVERICK NEEDLES CENTER. CCA (V.O. filtered) ROGER. CALL THE BALL. MAVERICK Call the ball? I don't see the ship! 20. INT. COCKPIT 117 - COUGAR'S POV BLASTS slam the airframe. Rain tattoos the canopy. A gust rolls the Tomcat, he straightens it, A gust flips it again. 20A. MAVERICK'S POV The Carrier lights appear and disappear through the storm. 21. INT. COCKPIT 117 - COUGAR GOOSE (To Himself) A walk in the park, Mustang. You with me, cat man?...Cougar...you with me? Goose is thrown about as the wing dips, straightens, dips. COUGAR Help me with this one, I'm really screwed up. GOOSE Bring it left. Bring it left, You're high. COUGAR This is crazy! GOOSE What is? COUGAR Wait! Hell!..Something's wrong! GOOSE What? What is it? COUGAR Were upside down! GOOSE You're crazy. We're level. COUGAR Can't you feel it? I'm hanging in my straps! GOOSE You're not. We're level. Look at the instruments, we're okay! COUGAR They must be broken. I'm hanging in my straps! We're inverted! GOOSE We're not! Trust me! We're okay. 22. FLIGHT DECK - LSO CONTROLLING 115 - MAVERICK LSO ...
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