Iron Eagle
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| Iron Eagle | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sidney J. Furie |
| Produced by | Ron Samuels, Joe Wizan, Lou Lenart, Kevin Elders |
| Written by | Kevin Elders, Sidney J. Furie |
| Starring | Louis Gosset, Jr. and Jason Gedrick |
| Music by | Basil Poledouris |
| Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
| Editing by | George Grenville |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 17, 1986 |
| Running time | 117 Minutes |
| Country | USA / Canada |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Iron Eagle II |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Iron Eagle is a 1986 action film about a teenage boy named Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick) who steals an American F-16 fighter jet to rescue his father (Tim Thomerson), a prisoner of war being held in an unidentified rogue Middle Eastern country. The film also stars Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr. as Col. Charles 'Chappy' Sinclair and features the hit songs "One Vision" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" as part of its soundtrack.
Iron Eagle was released in the same year as another popular aviation-based action film, Top Gun, thus forcing a shift in release dates as to avoid competition at the box office with each other. The film was followed by three sequels: Iron Eagle II. Aces: Iron Eagle III and Iron Eagle IV.
[edit] Trivia / Movie Mistakes
The delta-winged hostile aircraft featured in the movie are identified as MiG-23s, but are actually IAI Kfirs, a Dassault Mirage variant flown by the Israeli Air Force. In the second film, F-4 Phantoms were used in the role of MIG 29s. All aircraft used in the making of the two first films are Israeli craft and were filmed with the help of the IAF.
The US Air Force has a long-standing policy about not cooperating on any film involving the theft of an aircraft. Consequently, they filmmakers turned to the Israeli Air Force for the necessary aerial sequences.
The "BA" markings on the F-16's rudder does not exist in real life; this letter designation was used on the F-4 Phantom.
The movie is known for having some of the most unrealistic prop explosions in history. When the enemy Kfirs explode you can clearly see wooden parts of a mock-up model splintering for example. When an F-16 explodes, you can see clearly they are using the explosion of the Kfirs instead. The capabilities of the F-16 as depicted in the film are also unrealistc - for example, Doug uses the F-16's 20mm Vulcan cannon to blow up a whole host of large targets including a control tower building which erupts into a massive fireball, something that wouldn't happen in real life from mere bullets. (Note - 20mm cannons fire explosive shells, not bullets of solid metal - but the shells would be unable to destroy a structure such as a control tower.) In a scene toward the end of the movie Doug creates a wall of flame across a runway using the "Hades Bomb," a completely fictional weapon that does not exist in the U.S. Air Force inventory. He also fires an AGM-65 Maverick missile while on the ground, which is not possible in real life - the F-16's weapon system is inhibited by a pressure sensor in the nosegear.
Numerous continuity errors are also present including constantly changing weapon loadouts on the F-16's and the aircraft type switching between single seat F-16A models and two-seat F-16B models within the same flight sequence.
Despite the errors the movie remains a cult classic among action movie and aerial-combat fans.
