September 1st, 1997
Jamie and Patrick are looking phat. Belt buckles? Large. Jeans? Dusty. Mountain Dew? X-treme. They are trying out stylez in their tween years and let’s just say, it’s working. Their dad had one word of advice for them as they navigate this crazy thing we call life: “Bad things? Again?” With that he swept his arm in the general direction of the sky and called it ‘nature’s movie.’ Despite this being wrong (Nature’s movie is their imagination) they ventured forth and found themselves at the local hot air balloon park (or ‘loon park, as the kids say). Soon they are up in the air, free as a couple of dope looking birds feeling the wind blowing through their hair. Just when it seems they are about to reach a profound personal and professional moment of clarity a small airplane buzzes right by their ‘loon, nearly tossing them right out of the ‘loon basket (or ‘lasket, as the kids say). “What thuuuuu?” Jamie says, while Patrick shakes his fist at their tormeters. “Those must be the high school boyfriends of those girls we were scoping in the other ‘lasket”, Patrick says, pointing to the neighboring ‘lasket that happened to be carrying a couple of bodacious babes. Patrick and Jamie would have tried to explain that they actually already had girlfriends in the Niagara Falls area, but the pilot was long gone, having already accomplished his mission. “We look like fools,” Jamie says, ripping his shirt clean off. “Au contraire,” Patrick says and quickly reminds Jamie of the last time they were buzzed by a couple of hot dogging pilots. “Oh right, we rulez-ed those foolz,” Jamie says, pulling out a very cool phrase he coined. With that their eyes glaze over and they enter a patented Twin Memory. That’s right! We are entering the hazard sector and checking out the classic Top Gun rip-off (kind of) Iron Eagle. We decided to pair that with a very strange Stephen Baldwin flick called Bitter Harvest. So we’re going to have a very normal time watching this very normal double feature. Let’s go!
Iron Eagle (1986) – BMeTric: 40.7; Notability: 45
StreetCreditReport.com – BMeTric: top 4.4%; Notability: top 4.8%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 10.3%; Higher BMeT: Howard the Duck, Troll, King Kong Lives, Maximum Overdrive, Raw Deal, Solarbabies, Firewalker, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Sorority House Massacre, Club Paradise, Iron Eagle; Higher Notability: Howard the Duck, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, The Golden Child, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Invaders from Mars, A Fine Mess, Ratboy, Raw Deal, Solarbabies, Club Paradise, Armed and Dangerous, The Clan of the Cave Bear; Lower RT: 8 Million Ways to Die, Solarbabies, King Kong Lives, Band of the Hand, American Anthem, Sorority House Massacre, Deadtime Stories, Nobody’s Fool, Firewalker, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Armed and Dangerous, TerrorVision, Dangerously Close, Club Paradise, Quicksilver, Howard the Duck, Tai-Pan, Maximum Overdrive, The Delta Force, Soul Man, and 3 more; Notes: Obviously the most interesting one is Soul Man (which played an astonishing 58 times, and the New York Times highlighted as “fast and funny” … no words). Anyways, I’m joking. I will say Band of the Hand is very weird looking (played 18 times), and the highest I looked at was The Golden Child (playing 92 times). I think mostly I was surprised to see how many times something like Solarbabies (21) or American Anthem (30) were played. This played more like Golden Child at a crazy 91 times, probably as a cheap action flick to play on HBO or USA. Premiered primetime, channel 11, on November 20, 1991. And that’s right! It was doing the Home Video Special! It played November 20, 1990, and then November 22 and 23, 1991, but otherwise not at all until 1993. Kind of weird, because it definitely shows that that strat predated Home Alone.
Leonard Maltin – 1.5 stars – Dum-dum comic-book movie about an 18-year-old who commandeers an F-16 fighter jet and flies to the Middle East (playing rock music on his Walkman all the way) in order to save his dad, who’s been taken prisoner. Full of jingoistic ideals, dubious ethics, and people who die and miraculously come back to life. Not boring, just stupid. Followed by three sequels.
(Fun fact: the first three films received the same grade by Leonard. It is dum-dum indeed, and for the record, Louis Gosset Jr. isn’t a zombie at the end, he just has a dumb twist ending where his noble and inspiring deal was instead a noble and inspiring not-death.)
Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S2CdOrSJ-8/
(Already love the soundtrack. And I’m loving this guy’s ‘tude. Whatever, I already love this movie. Screw it. Also Suchet, bam, love it. They are using that “Academy Award Winner” status for Gosset Jr. for all it’s worth too.)
Directors – Sidney J. Furie – ( Known For: The Entity; The Ipcress File; My 5 Wives; Little Fauss and Big Halsy; The Appaloosa; The Boys in Company C; Lady Sings the Blues; Iron Eagle II; The Leather Boys; Purple Hearts; The Taking of Beverly Hills; Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York; Night of the Juggler; Hit!; Iron Eagle on the Attack; The Naked Runner; Hollow Point; Rock My World; Doctor Blood’s Coffin; Gable and Lombard; Future BMT: Ladybugs; BMT: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace; Iron Eagle; Notes: Wild career, lots of action which then petered out with a few Dolph Lundgren direct to videos in the 00s. But he also directed episodes of 18 Wheels of Justice. The very meandering IMDb plot synopsis is worth a read. And yeah, its premiere was highlighted in the January 12, 2000 NY Times listing on TNN.)
Writers – Kevin Alyn Elders – ( Known For: Echelon Conspiracy; Iron Eagle II; Future BMT: Aces: Iron Eagle III; BMT: Iron Eagle; Notes: The trailer for Echelon Conspiracy is something else. He also directed Simon Sez which is nuts.)
Sidney J. Furie – ( Known For: The Boys in Company C; Iron Eagle II; Purple Hearts; The Taking of Beverly Hills; The Rage; The Lawyer; Night of Passion; A Dangerous Age; Future BMT: Aces: Iron Eagle III; BMT: Iron Eagle; Notes: He is incredibly old. He was born in 1933 and he was writing on television series in the 50s. Pretty wild that in his 50s he was writing-directing Iron Eagle of all things.)
Actors – Louis Gossett Jr. – ( Known For: An Officer and a Gentleman; The Punisher; Toy Soldiers; The Deep; Enemy Mine; The Principal; Travels with My Aunt; Diggstown; Three Months; The Perfect Game; The Choirboys; A Raisin in the Sun; The Landlord; The Laughing Policeman; Undercover Grandpa; Iron Eagle II; Left Behind III: World at War; Cover; Not to Forget; Finders Keepers; Future BMT: Blue Chips; Firewalker; Daddy’s Little Girls; Why Did I Get Married Too?; Delgo; Aces: Iron Eagle III; A Good Man in Africa; BMT: Jaws 3-D; Iron Eagle; Notes: He won an Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman, and then he starting cashing dem checks. He obviously has an excellent filmography, I just also know he did a ton of garbage in the 90s. More power to him.)
Jason Gedrick – ( Known For: Risky Business; Backdraft; Born on the Fourth of July; Bad Boys; Iron Eagle II; Promised Land; Crossing the Bridge; The Zoo Gang; One Eyed King; War Flowers; Power 98; Massive Retaliation; Future BMT: The Heavenly Kid; Rooftops; BMT: Iron Eagle; Summer Catch; Notes: Incredibly, he’s an actual actor still. Not typical for these types of teen roles. He was in 10 episodes of Dexter.)
David Suchet – ( Known For: Flushed Away; The Bank Job; Executive Decision; Harry and the Hendersons; A Perfect Murder; Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes; Effie Gray; The Missionary; The Falcon and the Snowman; Foolproof; The Little Drummer Girl; Flood; A World Apart; To Kill A Priest; When the Whales Came; Trenchcoat; Sunday; Future BMT: American Assassin; Arthur and the Invisibles; The In-Laws; BMT: Iron Eagle; Wing Commander; Notes: Y’all know David Suchet! … right? Poirot? Whatever, he tends to play bad guys when they need someone vaguely Middle Eastern (which he isn’t. See this film, or Executive Decision), or someone French (which he isn’t. But Poirot is Belgian, which means he can play the French villain in Harry and the Hendersons).)
Budget/Gross – $18 million / Domestic: $24,159,872 (Worldwide: $24,159,872)
(That ain’t bad, and now we see why this film has two crazier sequels.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 20% (1/5)
(Oooooooo, a little synopsis for me? A blatant rip-off of Top Gun, this somehow is even more absurd and imperialistic.)
NY Times Short Review: Conventional but diverting Middle East kidnap-adventure.
Poster – Fred ‘Iron’ Segal
(This is an A+… if it were the cover of a dime store thriller. Ha! C-.)
Tagline(s) – Break the sound barrier. Break the speed barrier. (F… but actually a nonsensical C-)
(Oh, so you didn’t want to write out the thousand words that are actually on the poster? I don’t even know where this one comes from, but it’s miles better than the poster’s “tagline.” Because I’m a professional I have to give this an F because it’s not the tagline I see.)
Keyword(s) – daddio
Top 10: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Godfather (1972), Scarface (1983), 12 Angry Men (1957), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Dead Poets Society (1989), Citizen Kane (1941), The Game (1997), Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Future BMT: 79.0 Daddy Day Camp (2007), 58.9 Jury Duty (1995), 57.4 The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990), 57.0 Ghost Dad (1990), 50.8 Getting Even with Dad (1994), 50.5 Sleepwalkers (1992), 49.2 My Girl 2 (1994), 46.4 Daddy Day Care (2003), 44.6 Man of the House (1995), 41.6 My Baby’s Daddy (2004), 41.6 Speed Zone (1989), 41.3 Club Paradise (1986), 38.8 Fled (1996), 38.3 My Father the Hero (1994), 37.9 Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), 36.9 Desperate Hours (1990), 35.8 Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), 35.7 I Got the Hook Up (1998), 34.7 Leviathan (1989), 34.3 Spring Break (1983)
BMT: Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), Troll 2 (1990), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Cool as Ice (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), Poltergeist III (1988), Shanghai Surprise (1986), Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), The Lawnmower Man (1992), Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988), Fire Birds (1990), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Virtuosity (1995), Double Impact (1991), Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), Navy Seals (1990), Iron Eagle (1986), Rambo III (1988), High School High (1996), Ernest Goes to Jail (1990), Clifford (1994), Man Trouble (1992), Universal Soldier (1992), Days of Thunder (1990), No Mercy (1986), The Postman (1997), Eraser (1996), Hackers (1995), Rising Sun (1993), Lock Up (1989), Magic in the Water (1995), The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
Best Options (Action): 41.6 Speed Zone (1989), 41.0 Iron Eagle (1986), 38.8 Fled (1996), 36.9 Desperate Hours (1990), 27.9 Krull (1983), 25.7 Any Which Way You Can (1980), 25.7 The Cowboy Way (1994), 24.6 A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994), 24.5 A Fine Mess (1986), 20.8 Kickboxer (1989), 18.5 Stick (1985), 12.1 Only the Strong (1993), 8.0 Let It Ride (1989)
(Hellllllll yeah. Love to see it. We’ll hit up a bunch of these in the future. Krull in particular is a weird but very fun film I would like to revisit at some point.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 18) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Tim Thomerson is No. 4 billed in Iron Eagle and No. 5 billed in Rhinestone, which also stars Sylvester Stallone (No. 1 billed) who is in The Expendables 3 (No. 1 billed) which also stars Jason Statham (No. 2 billed) who is in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (No. 1 billed) which also stars Leelee Sobieski (No. 3 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 1 billed) => (4 + 5) + (1 + 1) + (2 + 1) + (3 + 1) = 18. If we were to watch American Dreamz we can get the HoE Number down to 15.
Notes – During the Snake Scene, in which Doug Masters races his Cessna 150 against a motorcycle-riding Knotcher, the pilot of the Cessna 150 Aerobat was renowned aerobatic pilot Art Scholl. He was killed later that year when his Pitts S-2 camera plane crashed while filming in-cockpit footage for the flat spin sequence in Top Gun (1986).
The character of Colonel Charles “Chappy” Sinclair was inspired by the real life U.S. Air Force General Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr. General Chappie James was a member of the famed all-black Tuskegee Airmen, and also flew fighter jets in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He later became the first black four-star General in U.S. history.
In some scenes, some of the ordinance carried on the F-16s was real, rather than props. At one point during filming the Israeli Air Force (IAF) was called upon to carry out a strike against terrorist targets in Lebanon. A ground controller saw a pair of IAF F-16s already in the air with the required load-out, and vectored them toward the target. They were halfway to the target when someone realized the aircraft that had been ordered to attack were attached to the film shoot, and that the planes were emblazoned with American markings and insignia. They were recalled from the strike in time to avoid an international incident.
This film was originally intended to be released in the summer of 1986, but the release was pushed up to January to avoid competition and confusion with Top Gun (1986).
Morgan Freeman auditioned for the role of Chappy Sinclair.
Bad Movie Twins 