Let’s Make Some Noise, vintage movie style: celebrating the films of yesterday and the day before
“Top Gun”, “Mission: Impossible”, and “Mission: Impossible III” theatrical release posters
By: Kevin Vickery
Welcome once again to the latest monthly feature of my column where I continue to explore feature films from 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10 years ago. Each month I’ll choose a common theme and then highlight and discuss movies of those specific years.
“Top Gun”: 1986, Rated PG
Four decades ago, in May of 1986 Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer delivered this Summer Blockbuster action-drama film, directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a daring young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise. “Top Gun” also stars Anthony Edwards, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt who appear in supporting roles.
After flying a brilliant rescue maneuver, Maverick and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards), are given the opportunity to train at the United States Navy’s Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.
There, Maverick competes with the cold and calculated Iceman (Kilmer) while falling for his civilian flight instructor, Charlie Blackwood (McGillis). An in-flight accident causes the death of Goose, causing Maverick to slip into a deep crisis of confidence.
Eventually Maverick returns after overcoming his doubts during a sudden combat deployment and earns the respect of his peers.
“Top Gun” overcame initial critical resistance to become a huge commercial hit, grossing $177 million globally. The film has maintained its popularity over the years and is now considered to be a cult classic.
Additionally, the soundtrack to the film has since become one of the most popular film soundtracks to date, reaching 9× Platinum certification and Number 1 on the “Billboard”200 albums chart for five non-consecutive weeks while also winning both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for “Take My Breath Away” performed by Berlin. When track one on the soundtrack and my personal favorite, “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins was released, the album sales album exploded by 7 million in the US alone.
In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. The sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick”, in which Cruise and Kilmer revisited their roles, was released 36 years later in May of 2022, to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success.
If you haven’t seen it in a while, I think “Top Gun” is definitely worth a re-watch especially if you, “feel the need… the need for speed!”
You can watch, “Top Gun” on various streaming services including for free on Pluto TV and with paid subscription services like, Hulu, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime.
“Mission: Impossible”: 1996, Rated PG-13
Thirty years ago, Tom Cruise produced and starred in this spy-thriller film directed by Brian De Palma based on the 1966 television series of the same name and its 1988 sequel series. This Summer Blockbuster from May of 1996 was the first installment in the “Mission: Impossible” film series and also stars Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vanessa Redgrave.
In the film, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) seeks to uncover who framed him for the murders of most of his Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team. After surviving a failed mission were team leader, Jim Phelps (Voight) is killed, Hunt finds himself accused by the CIA of being a mole who sold state secrets.
He then builds a new rogue team to break into the CIA headquarters to steal the true NOC (non-official cover) list and clear his name.
Throughout the plot twists and turns Ethan learns that Jim had faked his own death and is actually the mole. In a final showdown on a train traveling through Europe, Ethan disguises himself wearing a mask as Jim to expose him as the real traitor.
“Mission: Impossible” received positive reviews from critics, with much praise for the action sequences, De Palma’s direction and Cruise’s performance while grossing $457.7 million worldwide despite some criticism for a convoluted plot. I enjoyed the film but admittedly, it’s a little hard to follow at times.
The film’s success led to a long-running film franchise, beginning with “Mission: Impossible 2” (2000), “Mission: Impossible III” (2006), “Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol” (2011), “Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation” (2015), “Mission: Impossible-Fallout” (2018), “Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning, Part 1” (2023), and “Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning” (2025).
You can find, “Mission Impossible” on several streaming services including for free on Tubi and Pluto TV as well as with paid subscription services like, Apple TV, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime.
“Mission Impossible III”: 2006, Rated PG-13
Tom Cruise returned as producer and in the starting role twenty years ago for the third installment in the “Mission: Impossible” film series as this Summer Blockbuster action-spy film directed by J.J. Abrams was released in May of 2006. “Mission: Impossible III” also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, and Laurence Fishburne.
This time around, now retired from field duty Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent and trainer Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is forced to return to active duty to capture elusive arms dealer Owen Davian (Hoffman).
Ethan has settled down to train IMF recruits after marrying his wife, Julia (Monoghan) who is unaware of his spy past. After learning his protege, Lindsey Farris (Russell) is captured, Ethan leads a team to rescue her only for her to be killed by a hidden explosive in her head.
After learning that Davian is behind her death, Ethan’s team goes rouge, capturing him in Vatican City but he escapes when his forces ambush the transport convoy.
Davian then kidnaps Julia and forces Ethan to steal a vile of biohazardous material called “the rabbit’s foot” in exchange for her freedom. Ethan accomplishes this task, gets caught, breaks out and learns that high ranking IMF official, John Musgrave (Crudup) is a mole working with Davian.
Eventually Ethan rescues Julia, kills Davian, defeats Musgrave with her help and reveals his true identity to her, and they all live happily ever after.
“Mission: Impossible III” received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its pace and stunts, and was considered an improvement over its predecessors, grossing over $398 million worldwide.
In my opinion this was the best of the first three films in the series largely due to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s chilling performance as villain, Owen Davian and Director, J.J. Abrams’ development of Cruise’s character to have personal stakes invested. His tense direction allows for Cruise who famously performs most of his own stunts to excel in the opening flash forward and the bridge attack scene which are arguably some of the best action sequences in the franchise.
Admittedly, this is also where I checked out and have not yet seen any of the remaining six films in the series. “Mission: Impossible III” was the last “stand-alone sequel” meaning they each tell a totally new, self-contained story and viewers do not need to know the original plot or characters to understand it. The remaining films are “direct sequels” and involve intertwined plot lines and must be watched in sequence to fully understand. Maybe someday I’ll get around to taking that on but frankly that’s a pretty big task for someone who was only interested because of the old TV series.
You can also find, “Mission Impossible III” on several streaming services including for free on Tubi and Pluto TV as well as with paid subscription services like, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime.
If you’ve read this far then you know that “Your mission should you choose to accept it…” was to find the reoccurring theme in this month’s installment. Tom Cruise movies is the obvious choice but it’s also a repeat of last month’s Summer Blockbuster theme and I would also accept action movies as a triple shot of correct answers. Thanks for reading and until next month… “This message will self destruct in five seconds.”
This, “Make Some Noise” column originally appeared in the Saturday, August 23rd and Sunday, August 24th online weekend edition of The Courier Times.
Make Some Noise 