its been 30 years since Iron Eagle came out and it followed Air Force brat Doug Masters helped retired Air Force pilot Col. Charles "Chappy" Sinclair on a rescue mission of their own in pair of borrowed F-16s to rescue his father, Col. Ted Masters who was shot down and taken prisoner in a middle eastern nation.
share17th of January to be exact, but yeah, Iron Eagle's always been a great film, a real treasure. I remember watching it for the first time when I was very young, when my family rented it on vhs from our local video store. Iron Eagle always had a different kind of quality to it that made it stand out, a really nice and positive tone that I've only seen in a few movies. It's a genuine and sincere movie, held together by a great story and a nice performance by Jason Gedrick as the hero, Doug Masters (who reminds me a lot of Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker with his infectious never-say-die attitude and likeability).
The soundtrack is cool, which gives the film a nice 80s kick, with some solid rock themes especially Adrenalin's Road of the Gypsy, Queen's One Vision and Rainey Haines' Old Enough to Rock N Roll. The scene where Masters has a race through a canyon against a guy on a motorbike, is in my opinion one of the best aerial scenes captured on film - the editing and choreography is first rate, it's a really exciting sequence. The end battle scenes are great, and I love the heroes sneaking around the air force base to the anthem "we're not gonna take it!".
I think Iron Eagle always suffered from being compared to fellow fighter jet film Top Gun (which also came out in 86), but Iron Eagle I think is a much different type of film. For one, I think with the hero trying to rescue his dad and having a Goonies type group to hang out in, it's more kind of a universal tale than TG is, something that any age group can watch especially younger people. It's a really endearing and underrated movie. Happy Anniversary to an awesome film!
There's only one man who'd dare give me the raspberry
The Main antagonist of Iron Eagle is Col. Akir Nakesh, the Ministry of Defense played by David Suchet.
shareHe did a great job, as did Louis Gossett Jr as Chappy and Tim Thomerson as Ted Masters.
There's only one man who'd dare give me the raspberry
Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. was the only actor to star in three Iron Eagle sequels, reprised his role as the main protagonist of the franchise, Col. Charles "Chappy" Sinclair. in the first film, he helped Doug on a rescue mission to rescue his father Col. Ted Masters. in Iron Eagle II, he lead a joint American-Soviet strike team to stop a nuclear missile from firing. in Aces: Iron Eagle III, Chappy lead a group of retired pilots in their World War II planes to put an end to the international drug cartel run by former Nazi Captain Kleiss. and finally in Iron Eagle IV, Chappy and Doug run an Iron Eagle Flight School for troubled youths until they discovered a conspiracy by a corrupt military to poison Cuba with Chemical Weapons.
shareI agree with others that this is a greatly underrated film. I enjoy it much more than Top Gun and not just b/c the F-16 has been my favorite fighter since I was a little kid. 😉 Just a very entertaining movie and the only one of the series that I actually own (definitely worth the $5 I spent on the DVD!). Also, it's probably one of the last times we'll actually see real aircraft being photographed in combat maneuvers instead of using CGI planes...
"Courage is being scared to death- and saddling up anyway"
I saw this in a Drive In, I don't know how it works elsewhere but in Australia at the time you would get 2 films for the price of one at a Drive In. Karate Kid 2 was the main feature and I remember sitting there wanting it to end so I could see Iron Eagle! Even at the time as a kid I knew it was far fetched but I loved the planes.
Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.