The Crazy Similarities Between Magnum, P.I. and the Top Gun Screenplay

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Aloha, and welcome back to the channel.

[00:00:04]Now, admittedly, today's video is a little bit out of left field. However, I think you're going to find this to be quite fascinating.

[00:00:13]As you may be aware, the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun just celebrated its 40th anniversary.

[00:00:20]And as part of the 40th anniversary celebration, Top Gun got a 1-week re-release in theaters across the country. And Mrs. Magnum P.I. fan and I, we couldn't pass up this opportunity to see this classic film in the theaters again.

[00:00:35]Now, as I was watching, I couldn't help but pick up on some things that have me asking myself, were certain aspects of the Top Gun screenplay inspired by Magnum P.I.?

[00:00:48]And in this video, I'm going to present a pretty compelling argument that it was, in fact, partly influenced by Magnum P.I.

[00:00:57]So, without further delay, let's get started.

[00:01:01]It's well documented that the original inspiration for the movie Top Gun came from an article that was written in a California magazine in May of 1983.

[00:01:12]It was about the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School.

[00:01:15]The title of the article was Top Guns.

[00:01:19]Now, Jerry Bruckheimer, he read this article and instantly realized that it had the makings of a great movie.

[00:01:27]Jerry brought the article to Paramount Pictures, and over the course of the next few months, they worked to purchase the rights to the article.

[00:01:36]Upon securing the rights to the article, the writing duo of Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. were brought in to develop a screenplay revolving around the article.

[00:01:48]After some additional meetings with the Department of the Navy, Cash and Epps began writing the Top Gun screenplay sometime towards the latter half of 1983.

[00:01:59]Now, at approximately this same moment in time, there was an episode of Magnum P.I. that aired which was called Home from the Sea.

[00:02:09]In this episode, we learn that Magnum's dad was a United States Navy fighter pilot who was shot down and killed in the Korean War when Magnum was a young boy.

[00:02:20]And when we fast forward to 1986 and the release of Top Gun, we also learn that Maverick's dad was a United States Navy fighter pilot who was shot down and killed in the Vietnam War when Maverick was a young boy.

[00:02:35]It's a huge part of the plot and is referenced throughout the movie.

[00:02:41]Now, going back to Home from the Sea, at the end of the episode, we see Magnum attending his father's funeral.

[00:02:49]And as the bugler begins to play taps, we see little Tommy Magnum stand and salute his fallen father.

[00:02:56]And as he's doing so, we can see that he's now wearing his dad's Rolex watch, which he has now inherited.

[00:03:05]From this point on, this is the watch that Magnum will wear for the rest of the series, a constant reminder of his father's sacrifice.

[00:03:13]If you haven't seen this episode of Magnum P.I., do yourself a favor and watch it. It will definitely tug on the old heartstrings. It's without a doubt a top 10 episode.

[00:03:27]Now, here's where things start to get interesting.

[00:03:31]That watch that I was just referencing, the watch that Tom inherited from his United States Navy fighter pilot dad, take a look at Tom Iceman Kazansky's left wrist and you will see that he is wearing the exact same Rolex GMT Master model 1675 that Tom inherited and wore for the next five seasons of Magnum P.I.

[00:04:01]Very interesting.

[00:04:03]But wait, there's more.

[00:04:08]Tom Iceman Kazansky also wore the exact same Ray-Ban Aviator Shooter Sunglasses that Magnum could be seen wearing throughout all eight seasons of Magnum.

[00:04:22]Now, granted, Magnum he wore a few different sunglasses throughout the show. He would bounce back and forth between Ray-Ban and Vuarnet sunglasses.

[00:04:33]So, I know what you're thinking. This is just all one big coincidence.

[00:04:39]Not so fast.

[00:04:42]Earlier in this video, I referenced the two writers that wrote the screenplay for Top Gun, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr.

[00:04:50]However, I left a few things out about those two individuals that I'm going to cover now.

[00:04:58]As you can clearly see on the left, Jim Cash was a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan.

[00:05:05]And if you were a Detroit Tigers fan in 1983, you were without question a fan of Magnum P.I. And you were definitely watching the show.

[00:05:16]You probably also know that Tom Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan.

[00:05:21]And Jack Epps Jr. was also born in Detroit, Michigan before he moved to California to pursue a career in Hollywood.

[00:05:32]Something else I find interesting about Jack Epps is early on in his career, he worked for a period of time for Orson Welles, who, until his death in 1985, was the voice of Robin Masters.

[00:05:48]So, I definitely think these two were huge fans of the show.

[00:05:54]And in 1983, when they were tapped to write the screenplay for Top Gun, call it what you will, uh they were either inspired by, influenced by, or paying homage to Magnum P.I.

[00:06:13]Not convinced?

[00:06:15]I'll continue.

[00:06:18]Now, in Top Gun, the decision was made to put Goose in a Hawaiian shirt in uh two completely separate scenes.

[00:06:27]And in 1983 through '86, when Top Gun premiered, a Hawaiian shirt was synonymous with one person, and that was Thomas Sullivan Magnum.

[00:06:40]So, I think what they were doing here, they they really wanted people to love Goose to add to the drama uh regarding what would happen later in the in the show.

[00:06:51]So, they were brainstorming and thought, "Okay, what can we do to make people love this naval officer even more?"

[00:06:58]And I think it went back to Magnum.

[00:07:00]They're like, "You know, Magnum, he he was a naval officer that people love, and he wears Hawaiian shirts."

[00:07:09]And you can still get this shirt today, and if you take a look at it, it's almost like it's an Easter egg. They did this on purpose.

[00:07:16]You look on the shirt, right there, there's Waikiki, Diamond Head, Oahu.

[00:07:24]Are you guys starting to believe?

[00:07:28]Now, if you're still on the fence regarding my theory here, I think this is going to seal the deal.

[00:07:35]Go back to 1983. There's an episode of Magnum P.I. called Legacy from a Friend.

[00:07:41]This episode begins with Magnum playing in a sand or beach volleyball tournament.

[00:07:50]And this wasn't the first time that we saw this on Magnum. Magnum played beach or sand volleyball in every single season leading up to this episode.

[00:08:03]And in this episode, they went as far as to bring in Sinjin Smith who at the time was a two-man beach volleyball world champion to play Magnum's partner. And this scene is very very reminiscent to something I'm going to show you here in just a minute.

[00:08:23]Lots of shirtless guys, lots of spikes, lots of high fives, lots of dialogue between the players.

[00:08:31]I think you know what I'm talking about.

[00:08:35]Yep, you guessed it. Fast forward to 1986, Top Gun premieres, and wouldn't you know it, it has a two-man team sand volleyball game in it, which very much mirrors the one that I just showed you in that episode of Magnum P.I.

[00:08:52]Don't believe me? Go back and watch the two and compare them. I think you'll be surprised. And if you ask the average person on the street what they remember from the original Top Gun movie, I would say a large majority of them are going to are going to say this beach volleyball game.

[00:09:09]Now, sadly, Jim Cash has passed away.

[00:09:14]And if my theory here is correct, I I doubt that Jack Epps Jr. would ever admit to it for a lot of reasons.

[00:09:24]But I'd be willing to bet that back in '83 when they started to write this script, they were inspired by, influenced by, or paying homage to Magnum P.I. when they wrote this screenplay.

[00:09:40]What do you think?

[00:09:41]Uh is this all a coincidence? Is this uh possible? Or do you think that I'm spot-on with my theory?

[00:09:50]Comment below. Let me know what you think.

[00:09:54]Hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as I did making it. If you did enjoy this video, please hit that like and subscribe button. And lastly, thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time.

[00:10:08]Aloha.