10 Most Important And Influential Summer Blockbusters Of All-Time

10. Top Gun

Top Gun might not immediately come to mind when you think of the most influential summer blockbusters ever made, but the legacy of the quintessentially 80s cheese-fest runs a lot deeper than being a slice of shamelessly enjoyable entertainment.

For one thing, it cemented Tom Cruise's transition from rising star to bona-fide leading man, and even after 34 years he still hasn't come down from his perch at the top of Hollywood's A-list, and is still churning out action-packed blockbusters long since confirming his status as one of cinema's biggest icons.

Top Gun was only Tony Scott's second movie as a director, and his signature frenetic camerawork went on to define not only his work but influence a generation of filmmakers, with Michael Bay's style in particular heavily indebted to Scott.

If that wasn't enough, Top Gun marked just the second action movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who went on to become a titan in the industry and synonymous with the genre after being heavily involved in the likes of Bad Boys, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and dozens of other high-profile blockbusters in the decades since Maverick first took to the skies.