This week's Thursday Thread-Up is an American classic that hit the big screen on the evening of Independence Day.
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| Show banner designed by Andrew Kern |
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| Show poster designed by Tom Bifulco |
There was a pretty bad hailstorm that hit the area in the hours before the gate opened, but thankfully it cleared up by 6:30 and it was beautiful for the rest of the night.
Top Gun premiered about six weeks before my sixth birthday and was a massive success, but I didn't see it for the first time until roughly 35 years after it premiered. I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise, particularly when he's cast as an action hero, and there's no genre that I have less interest in than military films. The only war movie that I've ever seen that I really loved was Inglourious Basterds.
I saw Top Gun for the first time at home during the pandemic in an effort to catch up on some of the modern classics that I hadn't seen yet. It was better than I expected, but I wouldn't say that I loved it. My opinion on it after having seen it on the big screen really hasn't changed much. It's an enjoyable film overall, but half of its appeal for me is its use of music. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to spend a night at the drive-in seeing it on the big screen, but I can't see myself wanting to see it for a third time.
The more I learn about this country's past, and seeing where it is today and where it appears to be going in the future, I don't see that we have very much that's worth celebrating. At least we have the drive-in where we can relax, enjoy some films with friends, and forget about the horrible things that are taking place at the moment, if only for a few hours.
