The Most Patriotic Movie Inspired The Worst Military Scandal

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 22 seconds ago

Your mileage may vary, but for me (someone who definitely feels the need for speed), the most patriotic movie ever made is the original Top Gun. It has all the staples of all great ‘80s films, including over-the-top action, Cold War fearmongering, and 10 pounds of macho squeezed into a five-pound bag. On top of that, though, this movie had a very patriotic message: that the only thing standing between America and a Communist takeover was lantern-jawed men who specialized in drunk, womanizing flirting when they weren’t blowing enemy jets out of the sky.

Even the most positive critics of the movie noted that it was basically a big recruitment ad for the Navy. In fact, Top Gun did cause a spike in enlistment, and leading man Tom Cruise became the de facto face of America’s military might in the ‘80s. However, that ended up being a double-edged sword a few years later, and not the kind used in The Last Samurai. When details of the infamous 1991 Tailhook scandal went public, military investigators basically threw Cruise under the bus, claiming that his hit action movie had created a party culture in the Navy that ended up ruining the lives of 90 victims!

Boys Behaving Badly: The Movie

As a movie, Top Gun doesn’t need much of an introduction. This is the classic film where Tom Cruise plays a gifted young pilot, Maverick, whose skills land him at Top Gun, the famous Naval Fighter Weapons School. There, his fiery temper and reckless piloting make the other pilots wary. One person who isn’t weary is Maverick’s sexy civilian instructor. They hook up, but that’s not enough to ease the pain of losing his buddy during a training exercise gone wrong. Fortunately, he’s able to pull it together for a climactic final fight against Russian jets who are on the verge of making the Cold War very, very hot.

One of the reasons Top Gun is so beloved is because of Tom Cruise’s Maverick character. Cruise brings plenty of magnetic charisma to the role, and the hotshot pilot has several crowdpleasing moments, including wooing a woman by getting an entire bar of drunken soldiers to help sing “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers. However, in 1991, the public learned about a major incident at the Tailhook Association Symposium in Las Vegas. There, a group of drunken naval soldiers assaulted 83 women and seven men. When the smoke cleared, military investigators decided that Cruise and Top Gun were to blame!

Facing The Gauntlet

The details of the incident (which the media dubbed the “Tailhook Scandal”) are pretty grim. This occurred at a symposium in Las Vegas, which was attended by one-third of America’s naval aviators, all of whom were eager to celebrate the recent victory in the Gulf War. While the conference had charms like pretty speeches from former POWs, what aviators really looked forward to was hanging out on the third floor of the Hilton hotel hosting the symposium. In the hospitality suites, soldiers held raucous parties fueled by freeze booze, and naked people were a common sight. Some were hired strippers, and some were just inebriated aviators.

Female Hilton workers avoided this third floor, which took on a grim nickname: “The Gauntlet.” Unfortunately, some hotel guests didn’t get the memo and wandered in. They, along with several female soldiers and military spouses, ended up getting groped and otherwise intimately assaulted. One soldier (Paul Coughlin) had her clothes ripped off, and she feared worse would happen, but she successfully escaped. Despite being ignored by her superior officer, she successfully blew the whistle on the Tailhook Scandal. Later, she resigned from the Navy, claiming she was constantly harassed for shedding light on this terrible incident. She ended up suing and ultimately won $5 million from the Las Vegas Hilton. 

A Hit Movie Becomes An International Scandal

So, where does Top Gun come in? Tailhook became an international scandal, but the Navy didn’t want to hang any of the offenders out to dry. Some faced internal punishments (like reprimands and, at worst, demotions) and lesser charges (like indecent exposure), but nobody faced any charges of assault. The public wanted someone to blame, and the government gave them one…sort of. As written on Military.com, some officials blamed a “Top Gun mentality” because “The movie fueled misconceptions on the part of junior officers as to what was expected of them and also served to increase the general awareness of naval aviation and glorify naval pilots in the eyes of many young women.”

While he wasn’t explicitly named, it’s clear the Navy was blaming Tom Cruise, claiming that his hard-partying character was a bad influence on an entire branch of the military. At least, that was the attitude back in the early ‘90s. Decades later, the military decided to stop blaming the acclaimed actor and instead reward him for service to his country. In 2024, Cruise received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest civilian honor the Navy can give to private citizens.  He was specifically rewarded for “outstanding contributions” to the military through film, effectively expressing gratitude for making the Navy look so cool in the Top Gun films.

From getting publicly shamed to receiving the highest possible honor from the Navy? That’s a 180 that will definitely (ahem) take your breath away!