The saddest moment in the iconic military movie Top Gun is also one of the more realistic moments. Top Gun is known for its over-the-top, glossy, high-flying portrayal of the military and its TOPGUN program. However, the most pivotal scene in the movie isn’t one of heroic action but of human tragedy.
Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s radar intercept officer (RIO), Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, dies in a training flight accident. The pair are in an F-14 when the plane goes into a flat spin. When Goose and Maverick eject, Goose hits the canopy on the way out. Goose’s death reverberates throughout Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick.
How Real Life Makes Goose’s Death Sadder
This accident seems like a Hollywood exaggeration, but in fact, the F-14s have a known problem with their canopies that has led to Top Gun’s exact scenario playing out in real life. In general, the F-14’s canopy is clear of the plane before the two-person crew ejects, but there is a known problem where the canopy sticks during a flat spin, and in at least one case this has led to death. Even sadder, the RIO is typically the one to pull the eject lever, and first to eject. If he also knew about the problem with the canopy sticking in a flat spin, he’d know that Maverick would survive the drop into the sea, but Goose probably wouldn’t.
The scene is a gut punch, given that the movie had recently introduced Goose’s wife (played by Meg Ryan) and baby son. They are all friends from before Maverick and Goose go to Top Gun together, and Maverick does keep in contact with the family after Goose’s untimely death, through to Top Gun: Maverick. Viewers understand that the military is dangerous, but before this scene, many civilians were only abstractly aware that training on relatively safe U.S. bases could lead to such tragedy.
Goose’s Death Works Because The Rest Of The Movie Is So Different
Goose’s death is even more powerful, given the context of the film. Top Gun is a war movie without the war. It was mostly about men competing with each other, learning to trust each other, and building bonds that would last the rest of their lives. Top Gun showcases the excitement of the work-hard-play-hard lives of the top fighter pilots in the world. It’s an extended action-packed advertisement for the military, and it’s a good one. Therefore, the unexpectedly tragic scene dropped into the middle of this movie was even more impactful on audiences.
Goose and Maverick’s friendship is central to both Top Gun and even Top Gun: Maverick, given how much Goose’s death still haunts Maverick 30 years later. The play-hard-work-hard culture of the military is there because these people know that at any time they could be called on to sacrifice themselves for others. This leads to deep, lifelong friendships between the service members. It also leads to movies that are intense and sometimes heartbreakingly sad to watch.