Quentin Tarantino’s Pick for Best Action Script Officially Lands on Free Streaming

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema. 

Before he established himself as one of the foremost directorial voices of his generation, Quentin Tarantino made a name for himself as the writer of True Romance, directed by Tony Scott. Tarantino has often spoken glowingly about the late director, acknowledging his impact on the action genre. After Scott’s death in 2012, Tarantino hosted a screening of the films Domino and Man on Fire for college students, and was moved to tears while watching them. He also considers Scott’s crowning achievement — a 1986 classic starring Tom Cruise — as one of the best-written movies of all time.

The movie in question was added to the library of a free streaming service this month, along with Man on Fire. While initial reviews for the 1986 movie were mostly mixed, it developed a strong cult following over the decades. Cruise and Scott were in touch about a possible sequel at the time of the filmmaker’s death. Some years later, a follow-up was officially green-lit with director Joseph Kosinski at the helm.

The sequel was released theatrically in 2022 and is generally credited for having revived the struggling theatrical market. It grossed $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, of which more than $700 million came from domestic theaters. Such was the reception of the sequel — it holds a near-perfect 99% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes — that it went on to score a Best Picture nod at the Oscars.

We’re talking, of course, about Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick. Also starring Kelly McGillis and Anthony Edwards, the original movie grossed $360 million worldwide against a reported budget of around $15 million. It holds a 58% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Though it features some of the most memorable and electrifying aerial footage shot with an expert eye for action, Top Gun offers too little for non-adolescent viewers to chew on when its characters aren’t in the air.”

• He reads ground the way other people read a room.
• He will stand between you and the worst of it without discussing it.
• He says almost nothing, and never the wrong thing.

• The 1982 original came from David Morrell’s 1972 novel, which ends very differently.
• Stallone cut most of his own dialogue in the edit to make the character nearly silent.
• Five films across thirty-seven years, from 1982 to the fifth in 2019.

• He is better in the room than he is on paper, and he is excellent on paper.
• He will not explain the plan, and the plan will work.
• He treats charm as a tool, and it is a remarkably effective one.

• Eon has made twenty-five Bond films since Dr. No in 1962, across six actors.
• Denis Villeneuve is directing the next one for Amazon MGM, which took creative control in
  2025.
• The search for the new 007 was still running through 2026, with screen tests under way.

• He has read the thing nobody else thought to read.
• He will risk the whole plan for the artifact, and be right about half the time.
• He improvises better than most people prepare.

• The Cairo swordsman scene was improvised on the day because Harrison Ford had dysentery.
• Raiders was filmed in about 73 days, which was fast even in 1981.
• Dial of Destiny in 2023 was Ford’s fifth and last outing, at the age of eighty.

• He turns whatever is in the room to his advantage.
• He is funniest when things are at their worst.
• He has never once agreed that it is over.

• Die Hard came from Roderick Thorp’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever, a sequel to a book
  filmed in 1968.
• Nakatomi Plaza is Fox Plaza, which was the studio’s own headquarters at the time.
• Bruce Willis was a television comedy actor then, and a long way down the casting list.

• He takes the risk himself rather than assigning it.
• He is three moves ahead and will not say which three.
• He treats your survival as the actual objective.

• Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M at a thousand feet for the opening of Rogue
  Nation.
• The HALO jump in Fallout took 106 takes, filmed at dusk for the light.
• The Final Reckoning in 2025 was the eighth film, and was sold as the last.

Here’s Where You Can Watch ‘Top Gun’ for Free this Month

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount Pictures

• Image via Paramount

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount Pictures

Image via Paramount

The movie’s 83% audience score on the aggregator website more accurately represents its success with fans. In a famous monologue from the movie Sleep with Me, Tarantino posited a theory about the queer subtext in Top Gun, and said that the movie boasts “one of the greatest scripts ever written in the history of Hollywood.” Top Gun is now available to stream on Pluto TV. Meanwhile, Tarantino is set to return to his roots as a screenwriter with this month’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by David Fincher.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.