History Film / HotShots

* SpicyLatina: Ramada. Not Spanish (the actress playing her is half-Italian and half-Greek), but damn close.

* OneOfTheBoys: For a fun game, try to figure out if Kowalski (played by MsFanservice Creator/KristySwanson) is treated as if she was a man at every turn because somehow everyone thinks she is one or because there's some mad gender equality policy at work in the service.

** Near the end of the movie, when Topper's plane is limping back from the mission and Washout is trying to help him land safely, he narrates a litany of system failures. First his landing gear is busted, then the radar goes, then he runs out of fuel, then a wing falls off, and then [[ExaggeratedTrope the other wing falls off]]. What is left of the plane then drops to the deck like a stone. Topper is just fine, of course.

* DeathByAmbulance: Dead Meat survives a plane crash only to be hit by an ambulance. Whether that or the TraumaCongaLine he endured afterward was the cause of his death is uncertain.

%%** ICanSeeMyHouseFromHere
* ImAHumanitarian: Pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnham was accidentally killed by a hunter, and used as a meal for the hunter's family. If it makes you feel any better, Washout didn't have seconds.

%%* LadyInRed: Ramada in her musical scene.
%%* LeaveHimToMe: Mocked.
* LegFocus: Ramada.

* LiteralMetaphor: Topper literally has his father's eyes...as in his dad's eyeballs are encased in a small box he carries.
%%** LockAndLoadMontage: Parodied.

** And Ramada, due partially to being sexually open enough that even Topper is a bit intimidated, stumbling over his own feet or letting out a LoudGulp from one of her flirtatious remarks.

%%** NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Inverted.

-->'''Everybody in barracks:''' ''Eagle River?!''

-->'''Dead Meat:''' I'm in a hospital! What could go wrong?

* AssuranceBackfire: Washout gets a different career as radar operator, assuring Kent that "I'll be your eyes on the ground!" He is suffering from wall-eye vision and can barely see.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Topper's actual first name is Sean, but you won't know that unless you pay attention to his uniform's name tag because absolutely no-one ever uses it[[note]]This is probably because that's how the film's [[Film/TopGun most direct inspiration]], which was (ostensibly) a serious military drama, plays it; even the ''wife'' of one of the pilots refers to him by his call sign there[[/note]].

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Topper's actual first name is Sean, but you won't know that unless you pay attention to his uniform's name tag because absolutely no-one ever uses it.

* {{Narcissist}}: Kent, who is fine with losing Ramada because "as long as I have me, I'll be all right". He's also laughably oblivious about how much trouble Ramada will have getting over him.

* [[ExcitedShowTitle Excited Movie Title!]]

* ICanSeeMyHouseFromHere

* LockAndLoadMontage: Parodied.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Inverted.