Scene of the Week: Flying the Snake
On January 17th, 1986 the movie Iron Eagle soared into theaters and while I can’t speak for the rest of the world, I know my life was forever changed.
For those of you who don’t know, Iron Eagle is the story of a young man named Doug Masters. Masters has dreams of one day joining the Air Force, but he has barely graduated high school when he finds himself flying with Air Force veteran, Chappy Sinclair, on a daring rescue mission to an unfriendly Middle Eastern country that shot his father Col. Ted Masters’ plane down. They took Col. Masters prisoner and and now are preparing to execute him, unless Doug and Chappy can get there in time.
You may think it is far fetched that a recent high school graduate could embark on such a mission, but if that’s the case you don’t know Doug Masters. Doug was born to fly and our Scene of the Week is proof of that. Doug is challenged by Knotcher, a jerk classmate, to race him on a dangerous course known as The Snake. Knotcher will be on his dirt bike, while Doug will be in his Cessna (and you thought it was cool when you had your own car in high school).
Some details about the scene… look for an appearance by Lamar from the Revenge of the Nerds movies and a cameo by Jan Levinson herself, Melora Hardin. Enjoy the vocal skills of Rainey Haynes and her jammin’ song “Old Enough to Rock and Roll” (for more on the music of Iron Eagle check out our friends over at Pants and Fizz). And also marvel at the DIY way Doug handles the fact that Knotcher and his friends were guilty of attempted murder. We weren’t quite the overly litigious society we would become back in 1986…
