If you'd like to experience a 90 minute film flashback to the patriotic Reagan 80's, immerse yourself in the silly and so dumb its enjoyable 1986 hit IRON EAGLE.
Made the same year as "Top Gun" and definitely a retread "Top Gun Lite", EAGLE tells the story of young Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick, all 80's Aviators and bravado) a cocky, talented young pilot trainee with more guts than common sense.
When his father Col. Ted Masters (Tim Thomerson who you've seen in a thousand TV shows but never knew his name) is shot down and captured by an unnamed radical Middle Eastern state, official channels want to sit by and wait.
Doug pairs up with retired air force colonel named Chappy (Louis Gossett Jr) to create a daring plan to "borrow" a couple fighters and go get his Dad.
This feels more like one of those classically and consistently "so bad they're good" Cannon Films action flicks of the 80's then a major studio release, but Columbia bet and won on Eagle, which ended up generating numerous sequels of diminishing returns.
Some of the most hilariously goofy aspects of IRON EAGLE:
Doug can't seem to hit any target unless his Walkman sits in his lap in the cockpit and blares immensely forgettable 80's rock songs. With his tunes on, he can't miss. I'm not sure what's worse, the songs or his aim without them.
It's nice to know that a basement full of teenagers can manage to load two fighters with ammunition, missiles and gas without the base having a clue, seems logical.
It's cool to know that a young dude can penetrate a foreign base to rescue his Dad all by himself. Guts and rock music seem to fend off a whole lot of surface to air missiles.
Nearly every plane explosion shows a plane standing totally still and then blowing up since the budget didnt allow the models to actually move when blowing them up.
Poor Gossett does the best he can in his "Officer and A Gentleman-Lite" role, thankfully he has Robbie Rist (Cousin Oliver from the Brady Bunch) in the cast to help him.
David Suchet grew to great fame playing Hercule Poirot in the legendary 90's BBC TV series and he's a great actor. It's just sad to see him pigeon-holed in a one-note role as the Sadaam-Lite, yelling into big sat phones and eventually taking a plane himself to track down our pesky, hard rocking American teen ace.
Beyond silly, yet occasionally still enjoyable thanks to its retro enthusiasm &
passionate patriotism, IRON EAGLE wears its American pride and its B movie roots on its sleeve and gets a C.
Followed in 1988 by Iron Eagle II and then by two more sequels, all of which I have never seen and never will.....
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