Tom Cruise surprises marching band after ‘amazing’ ‘Top Gun’ halftime tribute

Tom Cruise is letting members of the Ohio State University Marching Band know their "Top Gun"-themed halftime show took his breath away.

The band, which is known for its spectacular halftime shows, performed an instrumental medley of songs from the 1986 action flick — including Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone," the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" — last month at Ohio Stadium.

The band's musicians treated the crowd to cool visuals as they were playing. At one point, they used their bodies to create the image of a F-14 Tomcat fighter plane on the field. They proceeded to move in formation to depict the plane taking off.

Cruise, who starred as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a trainee at the U.S. Navy’s Fighter Weapons School, in the movie, loved the performance so much that he sent all the musicians special gifts, along with a letter filled with praise.

The band tweeted a video on Tuesday featuring a reading of Cruise's letter. "What a phenomenal performance," Cruise gushed in his note before inviting all the band's members to a screening of the movie's long-awaited sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick," next year.

The video then pans across stacks of shirts emblazoned with the "Top Gun" logo, which Cruise sent along, too.

"Our band got a huge surprise this morning from @TomCruise! Thanks for the shirts and movie screening, Tom, and we’re so thrilled you enjoyed our @TopGunMovie halftime show!" the band captioned the video.

Cruise retweeted the clip and shared his gratitude again. "Thank you for the amazing Top Gun tribute. And good luck at the Rose Bowl!" he wrote.

The release of "Top Gun: Maverick," which reunites Cruise with original co-star Val Kilmer, was delayed multiple times due to the coronavirus pandemic. The movie is now expected to land in May 2022.

Related: