Greatest Recruiting Video of All Time: 'Top Gun'

May 16, 1986 saw the release of one of America's greatest action movies, Tony Scott's "Top Gun." Theaters like AMC are doing a theatrical re-release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this American icon. "Top Gun" made badboys out of Navy fighter pilots and skyrocketed actors Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Anthony Edwards into the lexicon of cool.

"Top Gun" laid its influence on the action genre defining the action buddy dynamic with Maverick (Cruise) and Goose (Edwards). It fixed director Tony Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer as legends of the modern American action film. It boosted sales of aviator sunglasses and made volleyball screen-worthy way before Wilson had his big break in "Cast Away."

One lasting influence from "Top Gun" changed the lives of several thousand young men who wanted to do more than fine tune their Righteous Brothers Karaoke. In David Robb's book "Operation Hollywood" it's noted that enlistment for naval aviators jumped 500 percent after the film's success. In an article from Richard D. Parker, it's also reported that 16,000 uniformed naval personnel enlisted a year after the release of "Top Gun."

Just how many of these enlistments went on to practice "foreign relations" at 30,000 feet in an F-14? That's not a number easily found, but it surely left a lot of wanna-be flyboys getting buzzed in the towers below. In 1986 the "LA Times" reported that "recruiters manned tables outside movie houses during "Top Gun" premieres."

The Navy gave "Top Gun" producers full cooperation, which comes with thousands of dollars of equipment used for filming. This cooperation came after the Navy asked filmmakers to change Kelly McGillis's character so she wasn't an enlisted woman. As reported in "The Guardian" this was because "relationships between officers and enlisted personnel are forbidden in the navy." So every breath Charlie Blackwood (McGillis) took for Maverick was originally intended to be in the danger zone. If the filmmakers hadn't of made this slight script adjustment, "Top Gun" would have never had the action sequences it is so remembered for.

This is the movie that re-glorified military service in theaters after years of resentment from Vietnam and its cinematic reactions. The Military Times defended its choice to include "Top Gun" in their Greatest American Military Movies List: "(The movie) is essential because it sums up a decade of Cold War military buildup and training, and reflects the spirit of healing and nationalism in post-Vietnam America. While the 1970s are marked by great war movies such as "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deer Hunter," those films are still wrestling with the demons of the last big conflict."

"Top Gun" struck accord at a time when we needed new heroes at the box-office. 1986 saw Sylvester Stallone trying our patience in "Rocky IV" and "Cobra." That punk "Ferris Bueller" was just taking the day off and we had enough of the "The Karate Kid" the first time around. "Crocodile Dundee" was showing off his Aussie manliness too, which wasn't boding well for the American male. All we needed was Tom Cruise in Aviators and a bomber jacket to score with his instructor and when his tears for Goose melted Iceman's heart, we signed up to be his wingman anytime.