Remembering Iron Eagle (1986)

October 1, 2016, at 4:51 p.m.

With Jerry Bruckhiemer and Tom Cruise on deck for a long awaited sequel to Top Gun, it was time to go back revisit another great 80’s action flick. There were many fighter pilot movies released in the 1980s. Let’s face it, if you were a child of the 80’s, being a fighter pilot was just about as cool as it could get. Top Gun, Flight of the Intruder, BAT 21, and Iron Eagle all came to theaters then, just to name a few.

At the peak of the Cold War between the USSR and The United States there was plenty of room for awesome pro-American action propaganda films. Many a MIG-21 were blasted out of the sky during Hollywood’s halcyon days of aerial combat.

Iron Eagle Throwback Review

Iron Eagle (1986) starred Jason Gedrick as the teenage fighter pilot Doug Masters and Louis Gossett, Jr. as his tough-as-nails mentor and wingman, Col. Charles “Chappy” Sinclair. Directed by Sidney J. Furie and rounded out by a cast of no-one in particular, the movie is a textbook version of an 80’s action flick.

Propelled by the musical score of Basil Poledouris, Iron Eagle also featured a great hard rock and heavy metal soundtrack. Metal icons of the 80s, Queen and Ronny James Dio both lent tracks to the movie and those scenes are some of the most iconic in the film.

Need some proof that Freddie Mercury was the most macho, bad ass, homosexual guy ever? Watch to end to hear the infamous, “Give me the fried chicken,” lyric.

Here is a HD clip from the actual scene in which “One Vision” was used.

It is difficult not to draw comparisons between Iron Eagle and Top Gun. The most striking difference is the believability of the plot. Whereas Top Gun was set in San Diego, California and had a quasi-realistic story around a young combat ACE (Maverick, Tom Cruise), Iron Eagle went after a more sophomoric audience.

In the film, Doug Master’s father is illegally shot down behind enemy lines and the US military will not aid in his rescue. Doug, in all of his high school rebelliousness, devises a plan (with Chappie) to fly straight into the heart of enemy territory and rescue his father. A fun idea, but logistically so far-fetched it can be a tough pill to swallow.

Final Thoughts

Setting aside the ridiculous notion that two F16 fighter jets, fully armed and loaded, could fly half way around the world and into battle, Iron Eagle is tremendously fun movie to watch. It has some amazing stunt plane sequences, typical 80’s montages and an ultra-happy ending.