Top Gun (1986) is a military drama film that was a worldwide phenomenon that launched Tom Cruise into superstardom. This full-length action film is centered around the character of Navy pilot Pete Mitchell, call sign “Maverick,” and his journey through the rigorous Top Gun dogfighting academy to prepare pilots for enemy combat.
To be clear, this plane movie is hopped up in silly ’80s military and does not take itself as seriously as it lets on. That said, it’s interesting to see a character as clearly “red-blooded American” as rogue pilot Maverick go through the typical flirtations and courting motions with Charlie (Kelly McGillis) his flight instruction (he did not know this at the time of first meeting her), but have absolute aircraft carrier-sized amounts of sexual tension with by-the-rules pilot Iceman (Val Kilmer). Both of these relationships have a lot more flirtatious traits in common than one would think —
prolonged eye contact, double entendres, and the like. It’s all covered in innuendo with the Iceman interactions.
That said, Maverick is not always a chivalrous bi hero. He is reckless, often selfish, and does not respect some boundaries he really should — such as following Charlie into the bathroom of the karaoke bar where he tried to pick her up. This relationship may have ended up in a blue smoke-filled sex scene with Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” playing under it, but this started with some bad faith as far as decorum and consent.
For his part, Kilmer never denied the chemistry we arrived at here. From a 2006 interview with Elle:
Elle: Having played Iceman in Top Gun, please rank its homoerotic content from 1 to 10, 1 being not gay at all, and 10 being Liberace in an F-16.
Val Kilmer: 11.
That about sums it up, Iceman.
Is it groundbreaking? No. Is the movie subtle? Not by a long shot. Is the bisexuality present, nuanced, and easy to lose in a gay reading of the material? Without question. But it’s there, and it’s fun, if not necessarily providing enough to write a major dissertation about it.