MovieChat Forums > Iron Eagle (1986) Discussion > Marketing 101

Marketing 101

posted 12 years ago by kungfuflygirl
3 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this the other day. One fortunate treasure from the past that I unearthed from a bunch of VHS tapes at a bookstore.

I swear I think this film was subsidized by the U.S. government as a military recruitment tool.

It's also high on propaganda. The message is: America is #1, we kick a$$, Top Gun, big guns, American foreign policy = Mess with us? We'll just handle the diplomacy situation with air strikes. I guess things were less complicated back then?

It's also a marketing vehicle for that that now-extinct Walkman. What a fantastic way to advertise something using product-placement. The Walkman was the pilot's magic ring. Music off? can't hit the targets. Music on? Aim is deadly accurate. (Great soundtrack btw - ex. Queen's One Vision)

This movie is gold! It's an 80's culture time capsule.

I had seen it as a kid but I never recognized all of its selling points, so to speak.

I doubt we will ever see a film like this today. It would be squelched from the start. Imagine how many people it could potentially anger?

IMO, great 80's nostalgia.

[–] brifitz1980 12 years ago

Ironically the US military wouldn't give the filmmakers help during production. They backed out when they saw the the script called for a major plot point being the theft of a US fighter aircraft. The areal scenes were filmed with the Israeli Air-Force or scale models.

[–] Hendry_William_French 12 years ago

Great post. You made a lot of excellent points. This film is infused with that special, unique 80s vibe, the same one present in all the movies from that era that I grew up on like Spaceballs, E.T., Flight of the Navigator etc.

This movie was just a kids fantasy picture, not meant to be taken seriuosly or be accurate to any extent. The character of Doug Masters is basically a derivative of Luke Skywalker (80s movies were always trying to reinvent star wars in smaller scale/different scenearios), holding the same ideals, and even the father angle in explored.

If you watch something like Top Gun (which gets all the attention over this) you might be pleasantly surprised with this movie. It presents likeable, fun characters and is less excessive/ugly/up its own ass than that movie.

This film is a real 80s cinema classic. It deserved a lot more credit. Gedrick and Gossett Jr were terrific. Even Styles from Teen Wolf is great. The flight choreography for the scene where he races knotcher in the Cessna is just amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrRdy4BAYp0

[–] brifitz1980 12 years ago

I just re-watched it and noticed two fairly obvious product placements that I can't believe I never noticed before.

In the beginning of the movie Doug wears a shirt that says "Cessna" which is the company that manufactured the propeller driven aircraft used in the race scene.

Chappy wears a baseball cap that says "Pennzoil" in some scenes.

Another product placement that I had previously noticed was Honda. Doug's little brother talks about riding a Honda motor scooter to meet up with them later and Knotcher's motorcycle is also a Honda.