Some of the most important directors of our time released their best work during this incredible period. Whether it was a fortuitous alignment of stars in the cosmos or just a random confluence of studio schedules, the Summer of 1986 was a great time to be a movie lover!
It just doesn't seem possible that it's been a whopping THIRTY years since these films were released.
By 1986 the Golden Age Of Videotape was in full swing, so I saw the vast majority of these films at home on our trusty VCR rather than in the theater. Whether I'd have enjoyed them more on the big screen, I can't say.
Note that of all the films on this list, five are sequels and there's only one remake. You hear that Hollywood? Audiences like new ideas and stories.
It seems silly to issue a Spoiler Warning for a bunch of three decade old movies, but... consider yourself warned!
Released July 18, 1986
Budget: $17,000,000
Grossed: $131,000,000
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Paul Reiser (!).
The Plot:
Decades after the events of the first film, Ellen Ripley is found in suspended animation. She joins a platoon of Space Marines and returns to LV-426 to wipe out the aliens who've overrun the colony there.
Thoughts:
• Sigourney Weaver was hesitant to reprise her role as Ripley, fearing a sequel would be subpar and poorly written. When she finally read writer/director James Cameron's script, Weaver was pleased with the way Ripley was handled, especially the mother/daughter bond with Newt, and finally agreed to do the film.
• Actor Bill Paxton improvised most of his lines, such as the iconic, "Game over, man. Game over!"
• Bishop the android says he's incapable of hurting a person or letting anyone come to harm. This is a paraphrase of Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws Of Robotics (1: A robot may not injure a human nor allow a human to come to harm, 2: A robot must obey orders given by a human except where it would conflict with the First Law, 3: A robot must protect its own existence except where it would conflict with the First and Second Laws).
• Hicks was originally played by actor James Remar, who was fired a few days after shooting began and replaced by Michael Biehn. Remar says he was fired due to the debilitating drug habit he had in those days.
Remar can still be seen (from behind) in the finished film, when the marines first enter the alien nest.
Biehn says he received a call from his agent on a Friday, and was in London shooting the film the following Monday.
• ALIENS was the only film that actress Carrie Henn, aka Newt, ever starred in. She grew up to become a teacher. She occasionally does sci-fi and comic conventions, where she no doubt gets sick of people coming up to her and saying, "They mowstly come out at night. Mowstly."
• Steven Lang auditioned for the role of Carter Burke, which eventually went to Paul Reiser. Lang went on to star as Colonel Miles Quaritch in director James Cameron's Avatar.
• After the film premiered, many businesses inquired about buying Power Loaders to use as forklifts. They were disappointed to find out that the Power Loader was just a special effect, and sadly not a real piece of equipment.
• Even though I'm a big fan of ALIENS, somehow I never managed to see it in the theater. I saw it on home video about a year after the film was released.
Despite the fact that I watched it on a tiny thirteen inch TV with a single tinny speaker, I was still on the edge of my seat all through the third act. That's how awesome the movie is!
Released July 1, 1986
Budget: $20,000,000
Grossed: $11,000,000
Starring Kurt Russell, Kim Catrall, Victor Wong and James Hong.
The Plot:
An American truck driver is drawn into a dangerous and mysterious world inside Chinatown, which is ruled by an immortal wizard.
Thoughts:
• Director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell expected the film to be a huge success, but due to a lack of promotion on the part of 20th Century Fox, it was a box office bomb. ALIENS stole a lot of its grosses as well. Fortunately it became a cult hit through the power of home video.
• Carpenter said the movie was originally supposed to be a Western, but that concept was scrapped and it was set in the present day (present being 1986, of course).
• John Carpenter and Kurt Russell worked together on four other movies: Elvis, Escape From New York, The Thing, and Escape From L.A.
• Kurt Russell was Carpenter's first choice to play Jack Burton. 20th Century Fox wanted either Jack Nicholson (!) or Clint Eastwood (!!) for the part, proving that studio executives have always been morons.
Russell turned down the lead role in Highlander to appear in this film.
• In the film, the Brides of Lo Pan must all have green eyes. Actresses Kim Catrall and Suzee Pai both have brown eyes in real life, so they wore very obvious green contact lenses in the movie.
• The film was originally going to be a sequel to 1984's Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension, but was heavily rewritten to be a standalone story.
• If you watch the film closely, it becomes obvious that Jack Burton is a bumbling clod, and his pal Wang Chi is actually the hero. I freely admit this flew completely over my head when I first saw the film in the theater in 1986. Hey, what can I say, I was a stupid kid.
Released September 26, 1986
Budget: $8,000,000
Grossed: $174,000,000
Starring Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski.
The Plot:
A reporter meets a colorful bushman in the Australian Outback, and introduces him to New York society.
Thoughts:
• The second highest grossing film of 1986.
• The American poster features quotation marks around "Crocodile," because the studio feared audiences would think the movie was a kids' film about an actual crocodile (!).
• Paul Hogan insisted that the character of Crocodile Dundee was his own creation. Later it was discovered the character was based on real-life Australian bushman Rod Ansell. Ansell became famous down under when his boat capsized on a solo hunting trip, forcing him to spend two months in the outback before reaching civilization.
Unfortunately Ansell never saw a cent from the movie based on his life. His life took a tragic turn when his wife left him, he developed a drug habit and was involved in a police shootout. Some believe his exclusion from the film's profits drove him to his erratic behavior. And that's one to grow on!
Released June 11 1986
Budget: $5,800,000
Grossed: $70,000,000
Starring Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck and Jeffrey Jones.
The Plot:
A high school student skips school, and he and his friends experience an adventure-filled day in Chicago.
Thoughts:
• Rob Lowe, John Cusack, Jim Carrey (!), Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr. and Michael J. Fox were all considered for the role of Ferris.
Anthony Michael Hall turned down the role because he didn't want to be typecast as a perennial teen.
Amazingly, John Candy auditioned for the role of Cameron Frye, but was turned down because the producers thought he was too old (at thirty six!) to play a teenager. Oddly enough, Alan Ruck, who ended up playing Cameron, was actually twenty nine (but somehow looked eighteen)!
• The first cut of the film clocked in at two hours and forty five minutes. That seems to be typical of John Hughes movies, as the first cut of Planes, Trains And Automobiles was reportedly around three hours long!
• Actor Charlie Sheen supposedly stayed up for forty eight hours straight to achieve his character's drugged-out look. Riiiiight. He "stayed up" to look like he was on drugs.
• Apparently there was a lot of romance on the set of Ferris Bueller. Cindy Picket and Lyman Ward, who played Ferris' parents, married in real life shortly after filming. Unfortunately they divorced in 1992.
Mathew Broderick and Jennifer Grey also became engaged after shooting the movie (despite the fact they play siblings!). Sadly, a year later Broderick and Grey were involved in a car crash in Ireland, which killed a mother and daughter.
• During the parade scene, Ferris passes a theater playing Godzilla 1985. Years later in 1998, Matthew Broderick starred in the American version of Godzilla.
• There've been many attempts at a sequel, but star Matthew Broderick says the film's perfect as is and doesn't need a follow-up.
• There's a fan theory rattling around the interwebs that suggests Ferris Bueller doesn't actually exist, and is a figment of Cameron's imagination, sort of an idealized, outgoing version of himself. Sort of like Fight Club. It's an interesting theory, I guess, but I know darned good and well that's not what writer/director John Hughes had in mind.
• Full disclosure: I never saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off until 2016 (!!!), so it hasn't resonated with me over the years the way it has with the rest of the population. Nothing against the film, mind you– I wasn't actively avoiding it, it's just one of those movies that I never got around to seeing until way, way after everyone else did.
Released August 1, 1986
Budget: $9,000,000
Grossed: $18,000,000
Starring Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens, Cliff DeYoung, Veronica Cartwright, Sarah Jessica Parker and Howard Hesseman.
The Plot:
A young boy is abducted by an alien ship in 1978 and returned, un-aged, to Earth in 1986. When it's discovered his mind is full of alien info and he can control an advanced spaceship, the military wants to capture him for study.
Thoughts:
• As you're no doubt aware, Paul Reubens, aka Pee-Wee Herman, was the voice of MAX the alien spaceship (although he's credited as "Paul Mall").
• This is the second ever Disney film to contain profanity. The word "shit" is used twice, and Mr. Freeman calls Dr. Faraday a bastard.
Released August 15, 1986
Budget: $9,000,000
Grossed: $60,000,000
Starring Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum.
The Plot:
A scientist invents a transporter and tests it on himself with unfortunate and gruesome results.
Thoughts:
• Michael Keaton and John Lithgow auditioned for the lead role of Seth Brundle.
• Mel Brooks (yep, that Mel Brooks) was one of the film's producers. He kept this fact a secret though, fearing the public would think it was a comedy if they saw his name attached to the film.
Brooks came up with the film's tag line: "Be afraid. Be very afraid."
• When the film premiered, Jeff Goldblum wrote a letter to actor Vincent Price (who starred in the 1958 version of The Fly), saying, "I hope you like it as much as I liked yours." No kidding, Vincent!
Released March 7, 1986
Budget: $19,000,000
Grossed: $12,000,000
Starring Christopher Lambert, Clancy Brown and Sean Connery.
The Plot:
An immortal swordsman living in New York City is being hunted down by another of his kind. "There can be only ONE!"
Thoughts:
• Highlander's another film that wasn't a big hit at the time, but has gone on to cult status.
• Kurt Russell was originally cast as lead character Connor MacLeod, but dropped out to star in Big Trouble In Little China.
Marc Singer, Michael Douglas (!), Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, Michael Nouri, Peter Weller, Ron Perlman, Liam Neeson (!!), Christopher Reeve, Kevin Costner, Sting (!!!), Mickey Rourke, Ed Harris and Mel Gibson were also considered for the role.
• Christopher Lambert barely spoke English when he landed the role of Connor MacLeod. His only other English-speaking film at that point was Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes, in which he uttered just a few words.
• Due to scheduling problems, all of Sean Connery's scenes had to be filmed in one week.
• Full disclosure again: This is another film I didn't see until many, many years after the fact. Again, I wasn't avoiding it, it's just one I somehow never got around to watching. Naturally, thirty years of hype couldn't help but set me up for disappointment, as I thought the film was just OK.
Released August 1, 1986
Budget: $37,000,000
Grossed: $38,000,000
Starring Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins and Jeffrey Jones.
The Plot:
A sentient, talking duck from another dimension is accidentally brought to Earth, where he has to cope with our society.
Thoughts:
• Believe it or not, Howard The Duck was the first major motion picture based on a Marvel comic! My, how times have changed.
It's widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made. Eh, it's by no means great, but believe me, I've seen far, far worse (heck, I've seen worse films this year!).
• Jay Leno was considered for the role of Phil Blumburtt before it ultimately went to Tim Robbins. Man, the world dodged a bullet that day.
Amazingly there was a time in the 1980s when Jay Leno was being groomed as a film actor (!).
• In 1986, George Lucas was heavily in debt after constructing his $50 million Skywalker Ranch film studio. Lucas produced Howard The Duck, hoping the film would be a huge box office hit and get him out of debt.
When that didn't happen, he began selling off Lucasfilm assets, including his newly formed CGI animation division. Steve Jobs bought Lucas' animation department, which later morphed into a little business called Pixar!
• The Howard suit cost a reported $2 million ($4.5 million today!). There were eight different actors who portrayed Howard in various scenes. Ed Gale was the one used most often, and the only one who received a film credit.
• Lea Thompson actually did all her own singing in the movie.
• The movie was such a flop that Frank Price, head of Universal Studios, quit his job shortly after it premiered. The next day the Variety headline read, "Duck Cooks Price's Goose."
• In 1986, George Lucas was heavily in debt after constructing his $50 million Skywalker Ranch film studio. Lucas produced Howard The Duck, hoping the film would be a huge box office hit and get him out of debt.
When that didn't happen, he began selling off Lucasfilm assets, including his newly formed CGI animation division. Steve Jobs bought Lucas' animation department, which later morphed into a little business called Pixar!
• The Howard suit cost a reported $2 million ($4.5 million today!). There were eight different actors who portrayed Howard in various scenes. Ed Gale was the one used most often, and the only one who received a film credit.
• Lea Thompson actually did all her own singing in the movie.
• The movie was such a flop that Frank Price, head of Universal Studios, quit his job shortly after it premiered. The next day the Variety headline read, "Duck Cooks Price's Goose."
Released June 20, 1986
Budget: $13,000,000
Grossed: $115,000,000
Starring Ralph Macchi and Noriyuki Pat Morita.
The Plot:
Daniel LaRusso and his pal Mr. Miyagi travel to Okinawa, where they struggle to save a local village from evil land developers.
Thoughts:
• The movie started filming just ten days after the release of The Karate Kid.
• Although much of the movie's set in Okinawa, it was actually filmed in Hawaii, due to the similar landscape and the ease of filming on U.S. soil.
• The Karate Kid Part II earned more than the original film— $115 million vs. $90 million.
• After filming The Karate Kid, actress Elisabeth Shue (who played Daniel's girlfriend Ali) enrolled at Harvard. She was supposed to have a minor role in Part II, in which she and Daniel break up. However, the writers scrapped this plan, and Daniel makes a brief mention of her and then she's never seen or heard from again.
Released June 27, 1986
Budget: $25,000,000
Grossed: $13,000,000
Starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.
The Plot:
Have you seen The Wizard Of Oz? It's pretty much that, but with more creepy sexual undertones.
Thoughts:
• Mick Jagger, Prince (!), Sting and Michael Jackson (!!) were all considered for the role of Jareth, before the producers decided on David Bowie.
• One of the film's choreographers is Cheryl McFadden. You may know here better as Gates McFadden, who played Dr. Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• All through the film, Jareth juggles a set of crystal balls. The juggling scenes were one hundred percent real, with no camera tricks or special effects used. Michael Moschen performed all the juggling by crouching behind David Bowie and sticking his arms out in front of him. As a result he couldn't see what he was doing and had to juggle blind.
• The sources of most of the characters Sarah meets inside the Labyrinth can be found in her room in the real world (very much like the way Dorothy incorporated things from her world into Oz). She has a stuffed animals that look like Sir Didymus and Ludo on her shelves, a doll that resembles Hoggle, and even a figure that looks a lot like Jareth on her dresser.
She also has a music box containing a figure wearing a dress identical to the one she wears in the ballroom scene. There's even a wooden maze on her dresser that looks suspiciously labyrinth-like.
There's also an M.C. Escher print on her wall, which is very much like the "crazy perspective" environment in which she confronts Jareth.
Little Shop Of Horrors
Released December 19, 1986
Budget: $25,000,000
Grossed: $34,000,000
Starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, James Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest and Bill Murray.
The Plot:
A nerdy florist discovers a talking, man-eating plant that threatens to take over the world.
Thoughts:
• Little Shop Of Horrors was directed by Frank Oz, who's best known as the voice and puppeteer of Yoda in the original Star Wars films.
Although Oz is primarily a puppeteer and voice artists, he's had a decent career as a director. He helmed The Dark Crystal (with Jim Henson), The Muppets Take Manhattan, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob?, The Indian In The Cupboard, In & Out, Bowfinger, The Stepford Wives (2004) and Death At A Funeral.
By the way, Oz's real name is Frank Oznowicz.
• Ellen Greene, who plays Audrey, is the only member of the off-Broadway cast to appear in the film.
The role of Audrey was originally offered to Cyndi Lauper and Madonna (!!!). Yikes.
• When I first saw the film, I was impressed with the articulation of the massive Audrey puppet's gigantic mouth, and wondered how they got it to move so fast.
Turns out they undercranked the camera, and then played the footage at the normal twenty four frames per second, which sped up Audrey's movements considerably. Of course this meant that the actors had to move and lip sync slower than normal as well.
• The film originally ended with Seymour and Audrey being eaten by Audrey II. Director Frank Oz reluctantly changed it after negative reaction from test audiences. This is why we can't have nice things.
Released December 19, 1986
Budget: $6,000,000
Grossed: $138,000,000
Starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, John C. McGinley, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Tony Todd and Johnny Depp.
The Plot:
A young man drops out of college and joins the Army during the Vietnam War, where he experiences the horrors of combat.
Thoughts:
• Oliver Stone was the first Vietnam veteran to direct a movie about the Vietnam War. Many events in the film were drawn from Stone's personal experiences in the war.
• Platoon took a long time to make it to the big screen, as Stone wrote the first draft back in 1971.
• Stone sent a copy of the script to Jim Morrison of The Doors in 1971, hoping to get him to play Chris (the part ultimately went to Charlie Sheen). Morrison reportedly had a copy of the script with him when he was found dead in Paris a few weeks later.
• Stone deliberately cast his two main actors against type. Tom Berenger was famous for playing good guys, but was cast as the sadistic Sgt. Barnes in Platoon. Willem Dafoe had mostly played villains up to that point, but was cast as the heroic Sgt. Elias.
Apparently the tactic worked, as both actors received Oscar nominations for the film.
• Charlie Sheen narrates the movie, which echoes his father Martin Sheen, who narrated Apocalypse Now, an earlier Vietnamese War movie.
Released February 28, 1986
Budget: $9,000,000
Grossed: $40,000,000
Starring Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader and Andrew McCarthy.
The Plot:
A working class girl and a rich guy fall in love and try to date, but their various social circles get in the way of their happiness.
Thoughts:
• Supposedly the film came about when actress Molly Ringwald asked director John Hughes to write a film based on the song Pretty In Pink by The Psychedelic Furs (and yes, the song appears in the movie).
• Jon Cryer, who plays Ducky, claims that despite what it looks like onscreen, both Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy thought he was "irritating."
Have you ever seen Cryer on Two And A Half Men? Who could blame them?
Short Circuit
Released May 9, 1986
Budget: $9,000,000
Grossed: $40,000,000
Starring Steve Guttenberg, Ally Sheedy, Fisher Stevens, Austin Pendleton and G.W. Bailey.
The Plot:
A military robot is hit by lightning and becomes sentient, deciding it would rather learn and explore the world rather than kill.
Thoughts:
• Sign of the times: Fisher Stevens plays Ben in the film, an Indian character with a broad, exaggerated Hindu accent. Just one thing— Stevens isn't Indian. There's no way in hell something like that would ever be allowed today.
Released August 8, 1986
Budget: $8,000,000
Grossed: $52,000,000
Starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell and Kiefer Sutherland.
The Plot:
In 1959, four young boys explore the local woods to try and find the body of a missing teen.
Thoughts:
• Based on the short story The Body, part of the anthology book Different Seasons by Stephen King. The Shawshank Redemption (under the name Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption) and Apt Pupil are also in the book, and were both turned into film as well.
That must be some book!
• Columbia Pictures was concerned that the story's original title The Body was misleading, thinking it sounded too much like a horror film. Director Rob Reiner came up with Stand By Me, from the Ben E. King song of the same name.
After the film premiered, there was renewed interest in the song, and the Stand By Me soundtrack made the Top Ten in 1986.
• King claims the "leech incident" in the story and film (you'll now it if you've seen the film) actually happened to him as a child.
• Actor Corey Feldman, who plays Teddy, claims the character was very close to his actual personality and personal life at the time. Yikes!
• Actor Jerry O'Connell was eleven during filming, and was amazed that he was allowed to swear in the movie.
• The scene in which the train bears down on Gordie and Vern on the bridge was filmed with old fashioned movie magic. The train was actually several hundred feet away, but the scene was shot head on with a telephoto lens, that compressed the image, making it look like the train was right behind them.
Hey, we didn't have fancy CGI in the 80s!
• When the boys pool their money, it adds up to $2.37. The number 237 appears in many Stephen King stories (such as Room 237 in The Shining).
• Art imitating life: In the film, the character of Chris, who's played by River Phoenix, is said to have died relatively young while trying to break up a fight. In reality, River Phoenix died young (from a drug overdose in 1993), while the other three main actors are still alive and working.
Released November 26, 1986
Budget: $21,000,000
Grossed: $133,000,000
Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelly, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Robin Curtis and Catherine Hicks.
The Plot:
When an alien probe threatens Earth, the crew of the Enterprise goes back in time to retrieve two humpback whales in order to communicate with it.
Thoughts:
• In the opening scene showing the shrieking alien probe approaching Earth, there were originally subtitles explaining what it was supposed to be saying. Things like, "Where are you?" and "Can you hear us?"
Thankfully director Leonard Nimoy came to his senses and dropped the subtitles from the final cut.
• Ever wonder why Lt. Saavik stays on Vulcan and doesn't accompany the crew on their little romp? Supposedly there's a deleted scene that explains she became pregnant while helping Young Spock through his pon far (it's a Star Trek thing) in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.
I'm not sure I care for that explanation, but at least it's better than the big fat non-reason we got in the final film.
• This film contains the one and ONLY instance in any movie or TV episode in which Kirk actually says, "Scotty, beam me up.
• Many underwater shots of the humpback whales were filmed with four foot long animatronic models. Apparently they were pretty convincing, because many animal rights groups criticized the film for getting too close to whales in the wild and pestering them just for a film!
• The movie was originally going to feature Eddie Murphy (!!!) as a UFO buff who spots the crew's Klingon Bird Of Prey decloaking at the Super Bowl. Everyone else in the audience thinks it's a special effect, but Murphy's character is convinced it's real, and he eventually discovers Kirk and his crew.
This storyline was fortunately scrapped when Murphy chose to star in The Golden Child instead. Praise the Movie Gods!
What can I say? It was the 80s, and the cocaine flowed thick and freely.
• There's another subplot that never made it into the film. After the crew travels back to 1986 San Francisco, Sulu wanders into Chinatown. He runs into a young boy named Hikaru, who he realizes is his great-great-great (and so on) grandfather).
Supposedly the kid they hired for the part started crying and wouldn't stop, and the scene was ultimately dumped. Oh myyyyyyyyyyy!
• James Doohan, who played Scotty, was a war hero in real life and lost the middle finger on his right hand in battle. He was pretty good at hiding his missing digit on the TV show and the previous films, but you can see it here in the scene where he picks up the computer mouse and tries talking into it.
• During the probe's attack, a technician lists the various cities that are being affected, including Leningrad. Whoops! Leningrad changed its name to St. Petersberg in 1991, five years after this movie premiered (maybe they changed it back again in the 23rd Century?).
• After time traveling to 1986, Kirk and Spock ride a bus through San Francisco. A punk rocker angrily blares his boom box at them, until Spock casually reaches over and knocks him out with the Vulcan neck pinch.
The punker was played by Kirk Thatcher, an associate producer on the film. He actually made himself up in full punk attire and haircut, and even wrote the I Hate You song playing on his boombox.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the only one of the films in which no one dies.
Released May 16, 1986
Budget: $15,000,000
Grossed: $176,000,000
Starring Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards and Tom Skerritt.
The Plot:
Is there a plot? A pilot code-named Maverck attends the Top Gun Naval Flying School, is determined to prove himself and rise to the top, while wooing a beautiful civilian instructor.
Thoughts:
• Matthew Modine, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Matthew Broderick, Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox (!), Scott Baio (!!), Rob Lowe, Kevin Bacon, Eric Stoltz and Robert Downey Jr. (!!!) were all considered for the part of Maverick.
• The Navy set up recruiting booths in theater lobbies across the country, hoping to recruit pumped-up young hotheads exiting the theaters. Believe it or not their plan worked, and recruitment rates that summer were the highest in years.
• Top Gun star Tom Cruise had to wear lifts in his shoes when acting opposite Kelly McGillis.
• Val Kilmer didn't want anything to do with the film, but was contractually obligated to appear in it. The role of "Iceman" turned out to be the most iconic of his entire career.
• Kelly McGillis' character Charlie is based on an actual person. Christine Fox was a civilian flight instructor, who rose through the ranks of the Pentagon and became Acting Deputy Secretary Of Defense, the highest office ever held by a woman at the DOD.
• An early draft of the film had Maverick and his squad squaring off against North Korean planes. Ultimately the nationalities of the enemy were kept vague, so as not to offend our enemies, I guess.
Other notable movies that premiered in 1986:
• Solarbabies
• SpaceCamp
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
• Blue Velvet
• Manhunter
• The Color Of Money
• Hoosiers
• Three Amigos
• Heartbreak Ridge
• Troll
• Critters
• The Hitcher
• From Beyond
• F/X
• Henry, Portrait Of A Serial Killer
• Night Of The Creeps
• Chopping Mall
• Deadly Friend
• Iron Eagle
• Children Of A Lesser God
• Gung Ho
• King Kong Lives
• Invaders From Mars
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