My lifelong affinity for cocky men in tight clothes began, to the best of my recollection, with Superior gun. Before arriving at locker room scenes (hot), the volleyball scene (practically public sex), or any of the explicitly sexual straight scenes featuring Tom Cruise, at his sexiest, shoving his tongue down Kelly McGillis’ throat in full view from the camera, there’s this first scene after Maverick and Goose arrive at Top Gun, and they attend a conference led by dad Tom Skerritt. One of the attendees casually leans over to his buddy and says, “That’s getting me hard,” and his buddy, with a little more lust in his eyes than what qualifies as “casual,” says, “Don’t tease not me.”
This easy way for guys to have sex together? It sent me down a highway to the danger zone. I would come, at destination, to realize that this conversation has basically the same allure among men when conducted without the sarcasm. Meanwhile, Maverick scans the room, makes eye contact, and holds gazes for far longer than straight protocol usually allows. “I just wonder who’s the best,” he says when Goose notices what he’s doing. Uh, same. I realized that what he was doing was very much like cruising. I always find this scene extremely loaded with eroticism, so much so that the beloved Top Gun: Maverick Disappointed me. It is devoid of any kind of gay subtext or even jokes. Without a doubt, 35 years of speculation about Cruise’s sexuality played a role in de-queering Cruise. Superior gun, but no one, it seems, is ready to have that conversation. –Rich Juzwiak