Synopsis

Cher performs "If I Could Turn Back Time" on the deck of the USS Missouri, backed by her band and surrounded by cheering sailors in white dress uniforms. The performance moves between wide shots of the battleship, close-ups of the crew, and Cher's energetic stage routine around the ship's massive guns. Her revealing black outfit, fishnet styling, and commanding presence turn the naval setting into an unusually provocative concert stage.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed at night in late June 1989 aboard the USS Missouri while the battleship was stationed at the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California.

• The US Navy approved the shoot partly because it hoped the production would help with recruitment at a time when it had little budget for television advertising.

• The ship had special historical importance: the Japanese surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, ending World War II.

• Cher's outfit, designed by Bob Mackie, became the video's defining controversy. Navy personnel expected her to wear a much more conservative jumpsuit, based on the production storyboards.

• Cher's son, Elijah Blue Allman, appears in the band as a guitarist. He was 12 years old when the video was filmed.

• MTV initially refused to air the original version during the daytime and eventually restricted it to broadcasts after 9 p.m. A less revealing alternate version was also prepared for television.

• The sailors' enthusiastic reactions helped give the performance an unusually spontaneous feel, although the shoot was staged as a concert for the camera.

• The controversy turned the video into one of Cher's most recognizable visual statements and helped establish it as a lasting example of late-1980s pop spectacle.