This classic, starring such acting staples as Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan and that guy with the big nose, is not really that great. I don't know why people watch it so much. Its not that interesting. Typical plot: jock guy gets the girl. Typical twist: fight with the enemy (Commies- it was during the cold war), best friend dies. Typical ending: protagonist comes home a hero. Little thought went into making this movie. Nothing profound ever came from it, except rocketing that "Danger Zone" song to Household-namedom, and that "take my breath away" song to infamy (it is played an average of 1 in every 4 minutes of screen time). All in all, this movie sucked. The dog fight scenes are harder to follow than a beatnik's stream-of-conscience poetry night. it would appear that ten different shots of airplanes flying were used to piece together the combat, resulting in stock film of flying planes that spontaneously erupt into a firey ball. Also, apparently after hiring Val Kilmer and that other guy, the producer had no money left for a screen writer, so decided to save money by hiring an infinite amount of monkies with typewriters, paying them with smuggled panamanian bananas. The Monkies got Gyped, The Movie got a Script, and the audience got a lousy movie. but thats alright, because apparently the guy who played "Goose" (a term meaning to grab someone's ass when they are not expecting it) has a huge box office appeal to the ladies. Go figure. So, that is why it goes down as a classic. But, it really sucks. Don't watch it.