Top Gun Navy Recruiting Machine

In 1986, the film Top Gun was made in collaboration with the Pentagon. Enlistment spiked when it was released, the Navy set up recruitment tables at theaters playing the movie, and polls soon showed rising confidence in the military. The movie relied on Pentagon-supplied warplanes and aircraft carriers, which the studio received at a steep discount in exchange for giving military officials line-by-line input on the script.

Previous Fact Next Fact