Episode 363: Highway to the Reagan Zone

Show Noted Episode 363: “Highway to the Reagan Zone” This week Host Dave Bledsoe tries to get a free drink by strongly implying to the bartender that he was “kinda the Air Force version of Maverick from Top Gun”. (Just as when he used it in the 80’s, he crashed and burned) On the show this week we tell the tale of the original Top Gun and how it was pure propaganda for Reagan’s America and not just hot, sweaty, homoerotic volleyball. (HOT!) Along the way we hear one of Dave’s pick up lines from back in the day and wonder how he ever got laid. (Mostly bad liquor and women with the worst taste in men) Then we dive right into the origins of Top Gun in a magazine article with prose so purple you could stomp it to make wine. (Too sweet, very tannic) Then we meet Don and Jerry who took one look at this badly written article and saw millions of dollars at the box office. We explain how and why the Pentagon got involved (free tickets for the Generals!) and how America primed to get their mojo back by invading a tiny island with no real military on the flimsiest of pretexts. (Turns out the yellow cake they had was just Betty Crocker) Then we explain why the homoeroticism in Top Gun was actually pretty banal. Our Sponsor this week is the US Military, join up now before the next war! We open the show with Mav and Goose talking about photography and close with Psycostik, who is in a dangerous zoning situation. Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ www.whatthehellpodcast.com Give us your money on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/om0KOWbOkCk We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! http://seltzerkings.com/ Citations Needed: TOP GUNS – BY EHUD YONAY California Magazine, May 1983 http://www.topgunbio.com/top-guns-by-ehud-yonay/ The Pentagon Goes Hollywood Filmmakers and the military enjoy a profitable partnership http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,962933-1,00.html ‘TOP GUN’ BOOSTING SERVICE SIGN-UPS https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-05-ca-20403-story.html Tom Cruise Said in 1990 Making a Sequel to Top Gun Would Be 'Irresponsible' https://gizmodo.com/tom-cruise-top-gun-sequel-playboy-opinion-1986-propagan-1848858326 Uncited Additional Reading:  http://cecrilouvain.be/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1CRI-1.pdf https://americanhomefront.wunc.org/2020-08-17/1986s-top-gun-led-to-a-military-recruiting-boom-will-the-upcoming-sequel-do-the-same https://entertainment.ie/movies/movie-news/in-defence-of-top-gun-230153/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gun https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/29/media.filmnews https://archive.org/details/operationhollywo00robb/page/180/mode/2up https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/25-years-later-remembering-how-top-gun-changed-americas-feelings-about-war/2011/08/15/gIQAU6qJgJ_story.html https://uccfilmwriters.weebly.com/home/top-gun-a-look-at-film-as-a-product-of-dominant-political-ideology-complete-with-cheap-deals-on-fighter-jets https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/4/4/top-gun-or-prop-gun-the-entertaining-face-of-american-propaganda https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/top-gun-infomercial-for-america/619013/ https://www.avclub.com/top-gun-is-the-sleekest-horniest-recruitment-ad-of-the-1843324418 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices