A parody of Top Gun (1986) in which a talented but unstable fighter pilot must overcome the ghosts of his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers.
Topper Harley, a top gun fighter pilot, is recalled to serve on the SS Essess. Topper's mission is to destroy Saddam Hussein's nuclear plants. Unfortunately, Topper is psychologically imbalanced and is sure to crack under pressure.—Rob Hartill
Plagued by troubling thoughts and tired of living in the heavy shadow of his father, troubled U.S. Navy ace pilot Lieutenant Sean "Topper" Harley reluctantly returns to active duty. As the emotionally unstable commander returns to the memory-laden place of his youth while still coping with sorrow, a bitter rivalry with cocky fighter pilot Lieutenant Kent Gregory and an unexpected encounter with desire await him. But when America calls, there's no time for love. Now, Topper must give his all in a critical mission in Iraq, and as if that weren't enough, confront an unscrupulous aerospace designer bent on making a quick profit. Can Harley fight his inner demons, get the girl, and live to tell the tale?—Nick Riganas
Ace pilot Topper Harley is asked to come back to the Navy for a special assignment (he dropped out to go live with Native Americans after an incident made him doubt his abilities). He has personality conflicts with the other Top Gun, as they are both romantically interested in the same woman. An aerospace company's owner is trying to sabotage the mission so the current fighter jet will be scrapped in favor of his jets.—Ed Sutton <[email protected]>
Hot Shots has been described as "Top Gun meets Airplane!"
At Flemner Air Base 20 years prior. A pilot named Leland "Buzz" Harley (Bill Irwin) is on a routine training run. He loses control of his plane and ejects, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnum (Ryan Stiles) to crash alone, as Mailman could not get his seat belt locked in time and hence failed to engage the ejection mechanism.Although Mailman survives, but he lands in the jungle. As he gets out of his plane, tree branches stick to his helmet. Mailman is mistaken for a deer owing to the branches stuck to his helmet and is shot by a hunter.
Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) (Buzz's son) wakes up from a nightmare he's having about the event when Lt. Commander Block (Kevin Dunn) asks him to return to active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, to help on a new top-secret mission: Operation Sleepy Weasel. Topper was living at an Indian reservation, with a native name that translates to "Fluffy Bunny Feet". Topper was discharged from the service 18 months ago for willful insubordination. He lost a $30 million fighter in the process.Topper is reluctant to go, but the chief asks Topper to get some AA batteries for his Walkman. The chief gives Topper a motorbike jacket.
RADM Thomas "Tug" Benson (Lloyd Bridges) is the commander of the base. Block briefs Benson on the heavily defended target of mission Sleepy Weasel, but Benson is not much for details and leaves all the operational planning to Block. Block is frustrated with the lack of leadership and direction from Benson.
Harley starts to show some psychological problems, especially when his father is mentioned. His therapist, Ramada (Valeria Golino), tries to keep Topper from flying, but he relents, and also starts to build a budding romance with her. Meanwhile, Topper gets into a rivalry with another fighter pilot, Kent Gregory (Cary Elwes), who hates Topper because of the loss of his father "Mailman" (Kent was Mailman's love child) to Buzz Harley and believes Topper may do the same to him.The mission requires low altitude flying and Benson chooses the latest and most advanced fighter in the Navy arsenal for the mission. Every time Block mentions Buzz, Topper spaces out, throwing the whole unit into chaos. Due to this condition Ramada recommends to ground Topper, but Block overrules her and keeps Topper flying.
Meanwhile, Block starts privately meeting with an airplane tycoon, Mr. Wilson (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), who has recently built a new "Super Fighter" that will make the American pilots superior. Block reveals that he brought back Topper for the reason of making Sleepy Weasel fail. Block would then report that it was the Navy's planes that were the real reason for the mission failure and that they need to be replaced with Wilson's planes.Block did not want any pilot to get hurt and the reason he was collaborating with Wilson is because he genuinely believed that the Super Fighter is a better plane, and the US cannot afford to fall behind its enemies in combat readiness.
Ramada and Gregory knew each other from before and Gregory wants to marry her. But Ramada pushes back saying that she is not ready for marriage yet and needs more time. Ramada succumbs to Topper's charms and ends up having sex with him.
Topper misses the early morning mission training as he was in bed with Ramada. Fellow pilot Jim had been kicked out of the program due to his walleye vision. But he takes Topper's place as he knew that Topper would be declared AWOL and Jim believed that the mission needed Topper.
During one of the last training missions, an unfortunate accident between Pete "Dead Meat" Thompson (William O'Leary) and Jim "Wash-Out" Pfaffenbach (Jon Cryer) (who has walleye vision) occurs, leaving Dead Meat dead and Wash Out reassigned to radar operator. Jim rams his plane into Pete's and then ejects to crash into Pete's cockpit. Pete pushes Jim out of the cockpit and ejects himself. But Pete is later killed by the ambulance racing in to rescue him.Block believes this is enough to convince the Navy to buy new fighters, but Wilson brushes it aside as a "minor incident," and the planes need to fail in combat to take notice.
Meanwhile, Topper starts to show more and more feelings to Ramada, but she is also smitten with Gregory, who believes Topper cannot handle combat pressure.
On the carrier U.S.S. Essess, Block reveals the mission to be an attack of an Iraqi nuclear plant and assigns Topper to lead the mission, much to Gregory's chagrin. Meanwhile, Wilson, who is also on board, coerces a crew member to sabotage the planes, putting the pilots' lives at risk. At first, the mission goes according to Block's plan. He mentions Buzz Harley to Topper, who becomes overcome with emotion and unable to lead the mission. Block just starts to call out for the mission to be aborted when Iraqi fighters attack the squadron.
All the planes' weapons fail, and Block realizes what has happened. Block is livid that Wilson wanted American pilots to die on the mission, which he cannot accept. He then tells Topper that he saw what really happened with Buzz and Mailman, that Buzz tried to do everything possible to save Mailman, but ended up falling out of the plane, failing in his attempts. Inspired, Topper beats the Iraqi fighters all by himself and bombs the nuclear plant, despite sustaining heavy damage. Back aboard ship, Block decides that American planes will always be superior with pilots like Topper (and German parts). Wilson's plan is revealed and his standing with the military is lost.
Back in port, Gregory accepts Topper as a great pilot and lets Ramada be with Topper and the two begin a loving new relationship.
