Iron Eagle

Infobox Film
name = Iron Eagle


caption = Promotional movie poster for the film
director = Sidney J. Furie
producer = Ron Samuels, Joe Wizan, Lou Lenart, Kevin Elders
writer = Kevin Elders, Sidney J. Furie
narrator =
starring = Louis Gossett, Jr. and Jason Gedrick
music = Basil Poledouris
cinematography = Adam Greenberg
editing = George Grenville
distributor = TriStar Pictures
released = January 17, 1986
runtime = 117 Minutes
country = USA / Canada
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Iron Eagle II"
website =
amg_id = 1:25383
imdb_id = 0091278

"Iron Eagle" is a 1986 action film about a teenage boy named Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick) who commandeers two American F-16 fighter jets, embarking on a heroic rescue mission to save his father (Tim Thomerson), a prisoner of war being held in a hostile, unnamed Middle-Eastern nation. The film also stars Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr. as Col. Charles 'Chappy' Sinclair and features the hit songs "One Vision" (by Queen) and "We're Not Gonna Take It" (by Twisted Sister) as part of its soundtrack. A young Shawnee Smith appears as one of Doug's friends.

The US Air Force has a long-standing policy about not cooperating on any film involving the theft of an aircraft. Consequently, the film-makers turned to the Israeli Air Force for the necessary aerial sequences. 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 (The US Navy and US Marine Corps used to use Kfirs as adversary aircraft, simulating Soviet aircraft).

"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", "" and "Iron Eagle IV".

The movie holds cult classic status among action movie and aerial-combat fans.

Heavy metal band Dio recorded the song "Hide in the Rainbow" for the movie.

Soundtrack

*King Kobra - "Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)"
*Eric Martin - "These Are the Good Times"
*Katrina & the Waves - "Maniac House"
*George Clinton - "Intense"
*Dio - "Hide in the Rainbow"
* Helix - "It's Too Late"
*Adrenalin - "Road of the Gypsy"
*Urgent - "Love Can Make You Cry"
*The Jon Butcher Axis - "The Raging Firce"
*Queen - "One Vision"
*The Spencer Davis Group - "Gimme Some Lovin'"
*Rainey Hanes - "Old Enough to Rock and Roll"
*James Brown - "There Was a Time"
*Eric Martin - "Eyes of the World"

In Popular Culture

The film was referenced on an episode of Family Guy In Movin' Out (Brian's Song), Brian reveals the plot for his novel (entitled "Faster Than the Speed of Love") which turns out to be identical to the plot of this film, which Brian had never heard of.

External links

*imdb title|id= 0091278

Box Office Leaders USA
before = Out of Africa
date = January 19
date2 = January 26
year = 1986
after = The Color Purple