Reaganite Counterterrorism Movies

McKahan Hollywood Counterterrorism in the Reagan Era 1
The Delta Force: Hollywood Counterterrorism in the Reagan Era

In the era from the Iranian Revolution in 1979 to the U.S. bombing of Libya in
1986, U.S. political culture gradually shifted its role from advocate of human rights to a
force for global counterrorism.1 This focal shift was accompanied by a renewal of Cold
War antagonism under Reagan and the framing of revolutionary Arab conflict as Soviet
sponsored as “international terrorism.” The Delta Force and Iron Eagle are action films
produced in the mid-1980s that traverse the Reagan mythos of tough posturing and
rhetoric, proactive and preemptive counterterrorism, while they explore avenues of
militaristic wish-fulfillment in an age of increased covert activity.2 These 1980s
counterterrorist action films are at once artifacts of a political culture, international
runaway production and Hollywood genre filmmaking.
The trend in counterterror action films was symptomatic of: 1) a political culture
kicking the Vietnam syndrome, which compelled a “corrective” resurgence of
conservative American principles of patriotism and military force; 2.) structural changes
in the economy and relations of production in the U.S. film industry leading to the
embracing of externalities, primarily in the form of state subsidization of material and
narrative resources, as well as foreign runaway production – a kind of Hollywood
“outsourcing” of labor and technology through the global military industrial complex and
international co-production funding; 3) at the level of ideology, the signifying practices
of the Real in film production, marketing and distribution emerging in a form of
heightened militaristic topicality, within a cultural mode of storytelling already
commonly recognized as “Reaganite cinema.”3 The formation of the Arab terrorist action
film genre of the 1980s can be better understood through the interrelationship of these
three historical developments.
1
Brown, D. J., & Merrill, R. (1993). Violent Persuasions: The Politics and Imagery of Terrorism. Seattle:
Bay Press.
2
Between Delta Force, Seaspray, Green Berets, Rangers and Navy Seals, Reagan renewed emphasis on
special operations cost the taxpayers about $1.2 billion a year. Murphy, Caryle and Babcock, Charles R.
(1985 , November 29). Army's Covert Role Scrutinized. Washington Post, p. A1.
3
Britton, Andrew. (1986, Winter) “Blissing Out: The Politics of Reaganite Entertainment.” Movie 31/32:
1–42.
This essay explores the historical production of The Delta Force and Iron Eagle
by examining the advance of Reaganite cinema in Hollywood and reconstructing
production history of these films and their positioning within counterterrorism discourses
of the 1980s. By taking an approach which unites production history with an analysis of
international relations and counterterrorism discourse, I hope to initiate a new discussion
of the 1980s counterterrorism action film in relation to ideology, industrial relations and
political culture.
The results of this analysis suggest the need for a fundamental revision of much
scholarly writing on images of Arab terrorism and the Middle East that expands
important developments in film analysis of stereotyping, aesthetic spectacle and
melodramatic suspense to recognize the complex and deliberately constructed process of
the assimilation and encoding of political and religious violence in the Middle East into a
Hollywood ideological vision. Employing various theoretical positions and
methodologies, this study seeks to account for a broader social process and construction
of the Hollywood counterterrorist text. Focusing on the production history of The Delta
Force and Iron Eagle, this essay also outlines the fundamental aspects that promoted the
symbiosis between Hollywood and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the production of
action films in the mid-1980s, which arguably formed a paradigm for subsequent
Pentagon cooperation with Hollywood counterterrorism texts during the first Gulf War,
and thereafter. Through archival documentation and the film itself, production history
and historiography of The Delta Force and Iron Eagle reveals a set of norms and
attitudes of filmmakers and the cultural totality within which such films were produced.
Israel: Special Relationship and National Interest
The post-WWII era has been characterized as one of rapid decolonization and the
withdrawal of Western domination of the “Third World.” However, such a history can
only pass critical analysis if viewed as classical colonial dependency reframed and
rearticulated in terms of western hegemony and its strategic and economic interests. The
notion of an altruistic and beneficent discharge of colonial possessions by the Western
bloc is largely a concealing myth by which historical struggles for empowerment are
obscured, negated and transformed into dichotomies of “freedom” and “terror.” As it can
be demonstrated by the history of nationalist revolutions in Africa, Asia, the Middle East,
Latin America and other emergent nations, freedom has come at a great cost in human,
psychic and material resources, often with parallel, but highly asymmetrical, forms of
domination and counterinsurgency by Western nation states.
The central U.S. Cold War ideologies of the Truman Doctrine and NSC 68, which
included containment of revolutionary influences and the concomitant impudence of the
West as the guardian of the “Free World” led to the recurrent support of non-democratic,
right-wing dictatorships, gross violations of human rights, ecological devastation and
warfare, and an increasing economic stranglehold on developing nations.4 The West has
incessantly propagated a democratic facade, while discrediting and miscalculating the
extent to which oppressed people will struggle for freedom and equality. The fact that a
colony-settler state such as Israel, which in its formative years was established through
the subjugation and displacement of indigenous peoples, could come to be so respected
by the U.S. during the height of the Cold War reveals a legacy of imperialist
frontiersmanship that the WWII effort against Hitler’s fascist project was far from
bringing to an end.
America’s budding support of Israel from the 1950s to the 1970s is commonly
understood in relation to two paradigms: national interests and special relationship. The
paradigm of national interest consisted of a complex of strategic interests and objectives,
which American foreign policy sought to promote in the Middle East, while the paradigm
of special relationship was constituted by American public opinion and a set of cultural
predilections, feelings and attitudes toward Israel, which encouraged sympathy, support
and affection.5 The national interest paradigm is based on a structural-realist view of
international politics, which includes such interests as stabilizing the Arab-Israeli
4
Schmitz, D. F. (1999). Thank God They're on Our Side: The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships,
1921-1965. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
5
Ben-Zvi, Abraham. (1993). The United States and Israel: TheLimits of the Special Relationship (New
York: Columbia University Press, pp.14–26; Ben-Zvi, Abraham. (1998). Decade of Transition:
Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the Origins of the American-Israeli Alliance. New York: Columbia University
Press, pp. 4-5.
conflict, maintaining access to Arab oil and expanding the influence of the U.S., while
containing competitive advances in the Middle East. The special relationship paradigm,
on the other hand, is essentially constructivist, reflecting at its extreme, a messianic
goodwill in American public opinion toward Israel and dedication to its continued
security and existence – to the exclusion of Arab concerns.
During the Truman administration, the special relationship paradigm prompted
the initial recognition of Israel as a state; in the period from Eisenhower to Nixon,
national interest and the Cold War balancing of power increasingly emerged as a
dominant paradigm as Israel came to be seen as a strategic asset. Egyptian leader Nasser
challenged the West with his appeal to Pan-Arab politics across the Middle East, which
threatened to bar access to the oil enjoyed by a small number of dictators under U.S.
influence by suggesting that the wealth should be equitably distributed to the people.
This was irritating to the U.S. elite, who feared that if Nasser were to get control of the
oil supplies, he would have the power to destroy the West.
Without fail, the U.S. dismissed Arab nationalism as manipulated by the Soviets
and regarded Israel as a “political contraceptive” against nationalist, and later, Islamic
upheavals in the region.6 Leading up to the Six Days War of 1967, Nasser, fearing Israeli
plans to attack Syria, called for mobilization Egyptian forces into Sinai and the withdraw
of the U.N. forces, which had been stationed as a buffer between Egypt and Israel after
the 1956 Sinai War. On June 5 1967, Israel waged a swift and preemptive victory against
the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian forces, culminating in the devastation of the Egyptian
air force and Israeli territorial expansions into the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights
and the Sinai.7 The United States saw Arab defeat as a Cold War victory over the Soviet
Union’s advance into the Middle East and unambiguous evidence of Israel’s value as an
ally in the region.8
6
Aruri, Naseer. (1997 Summer). The US and the Arabs: A Woeful History. Arab Studies Quarterly 19 (3):
29-46.
7
Schiff, Z. (1985). A History of the Israeli Army, 1874 to the Present. New York: Macmillan; Neff, D.
(1984). Warriors for Jerusalem : The Six Days that Changed the Middle East. New York: Simon &
Schuster.
8
Van Creveld, M. (1998). The Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force. New
York: Public Affairs.
Moving into the Nixon years, U.S. support of Israel was buttressed by the special
relationship paradigm, but predominantly based on a set of realist strategic objectives: “to
... weaken the position of the Arab radicals, encourage Arab moderates, and assure
Israel’s security.”9 Vis-à-vis the daily reports of a deteriorating U.S. situation in
Vietnam, the triumph of the Israeli army against Communism was an inspiration that
garnered Western admiration and won improved U.S. military and political support for
Israel. In the first three years after 1967, the Israeli military industry quadrupled its
output, with 20,000 new employees between 1968 and 1972. In the same time, the
Ministry of Defense increased its purchase of weapons by 86 percent. The postwar boom
was accelerated by this improved relationship with the U.S. In 1968 President Johnson
had supplied 50 phantom jets to Israel at a time when only close allies such as Britain and
Germany received phantoms. In 1970, the U.S. and Israel signed a master defense
development data exchange agreement, in which Israel was given technical information
to manufacture and maintain military technology developed in the U.S. and to build U.S.
designed military equipment.10
However, a diverse result of the 1967 war was an increase in the formation of
large, well-organized, armed Palestinian guerrilla movements.11 Territorial expansions
led to heightened security risks because of Israel’s repression of the Palestinian
population, which in turn waged low-intensity warfare against Israel both at home and
abroad, as demonstrated in the 1972 attacks ranging from the Lod Airport to the Munich
Olympics. Far from reproaching Israel, the U.S. passively acquiesced in Israel’s
occupation and settlement of territories.12 After a PFLP hijacking in September 1970,
Nixon supported a plan to crush the Palestinians in Jordan and increased military aid to
Israel by $500 million. Israel’s military reprisals against Palestinians could only be more
appealing by the 1970s, when the U.S. had largely flopped its own bankrupt imperial
9
Kissinger, Henry. (1979). White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown, pp. 559–564.
10
Cockburn, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. (1991). Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli
Covert Relationship. New York: HarperCollins.
11
Atherton, Jr., Alfred Leroy. (1990). Oral history interview conducted by Dayton Mak. Georgetown
University, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Washington, DC.
12
Levy, Yagil. (1997). Trial and Error: Israel's Route from War to De-escalation. Albany State University
of New York Press.
project in Indochina.13 Internally, the triumph of Israeli “counterterrorism” was a source

of morale boosting to the U.S. establishment in contending with the internal dissent,
distrust in politicians, and a disturbing scrutiny of its intelligence, military, industrial and
media apparatuses. Externally, Israel has provided a counterrorism model for the U.S.,
especially in military and other security tactics (preemption, occupation, emergency laws
and treatment of enemies) and rationales to justify the legality of such tactics. 14
Runaway Production and Colonial Culture
Motion picture production was embedded in this exchange of national interest and
special relationship. Israel’s interest in attracting U.S. film co-production was prompted
by a mutually sustaining system, in which: 1.) the need to stimulate an ideological culture
that would propagate the “Israeli view” of its legitimacy in Palestine depended on the
development of a sophisticated mass communication system (such as Hollywood had to
offer) and, 2.) the need to stave increasing foreign debt brought about by the constant
necessity of military aide (to sustain a colonial culture) depended on the stimulation of
foreign cash flow via industrial trade investment, and international film co-production
was one promising area for trade and commerce.
In addition to domestic Israeli productions such as state produced newsreels and
documentary films, Hollywood films offered a global medium for positive
representations of Israel. Hasbara (translated variously as public relations, information
or propaganda) has served a central role since Israel’s founding in creating a favorable
image of the state and its policies in the eyes of the public, shapers of public opinion and
world public opinion.15 Motion pictures were particularly prized as a form of “visual
information” (hasbara orith). 16 As early as 1960, the Israeli government sought to
13
Shlaim, A. (1994). War and Peace in the Middle East: A Critique of American policy. New York: Whittle
Books.
14
Hajjar, Lisa. (2005). Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
15
Steinmetz, Sol. (2005). Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms. Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
16
Kalekin-Fishman, Devorah. (2004). Ideology, Policy, and Practice: Education for Immigrants and
Minorities in Israel Today. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
stimulate more foreign film production though a number of enticements. However, these
subsidies and low interest rates usually had strings attached.
Perhaps the most publicized production was Exodus (1960), for which the
government provided substantial financial concessions and other free official services.17
In addition to protests from partisan groups ranging from Zionists to communists,
productions which might come into conflict with vested interests of Israel and Zionist
versions of history would find themselves subject to state controls. 18 During the
production of Exodus, Paul Newman and other actors were followed, advised, and
endlessly reminded of their “responsibility” in representing Israel’s long-guarded
history.19 When Cast a Giant Shadow was shot in Israel in 1966, army commander,
Yitzhak Rabin, demanded script approval, sent military technical advisors and detailed
critiques of the script, and required a review by the military authorities before the film
could being shipped out of the country.20 IDF film contracts state that, “the IDF
spokesman can withdraw permission for filming - without any prior notification -
including in the midst of filming” and that the IDF spokesman and the Defense Ministry,
“are allowed to reject parts of the raw material and/or script and/or the finished
product.”21 Indeed, the series of Hollywood films produced under Israeli assistance, such
as Exodus (1960), Judith (1965), and Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), each with heroic
Israeli soldiers and orientalist Arabs, championed the state of Israel in the eyes of the
United States audiences.22
Although Israel often claimed that it did not censor scripts proposed for
production except in cases that required direct military assistance,23 the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry’s Film Center often judged films under “full cooperation” on
17
Crowther, Bosley. (1960, May 15). Film Cameras over the Holy Land. New York Times, p. X1.
18
Threats Mailed. (1960, May 12). Florence Morning News (South Carolina), p. 1; Hollinger, Hy. (1960,
July 15). Filming of ‘Exodus’ Stirs Israel As Producer Is Beset by Factions. Berkshire Eagle, p. 5.
19
Crowther, Bosley. (1960, May 15) Film Cameras over the Holy Land. New York Times, p. X1; Hyams,
Joe. (1960, June 8). Exodus on Location Stirs Hornets’ Nest. Winnipeg Free Press, p. 47.
20
Shavelson, Melville. (1971). How to Make a Jewish Movie. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
21
Pinto, Goel. (2007, March 07). Under the IDF spotlight. Haaretz.
22
Demon in the Box: Jews, Arabs, Politics, and Culture in the Making of Israeli Television. New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
23
Israeli Cooperation on the Uganda Raid Film Expectedly Careful and Costly. (1976, July 21). Variety, p.
2.
moral and security grounds, and without approval of final versions of scripts, films could
not be screened in Israel and also might be blocked from export. If a film was to be
recognized as local production and qualify for subsidies granted by the Israeli
Government, the script had to be approved by the Film Committee, an officially
appointed body, which could reject scripts on the basis that they present the Israeli
“viewpoint” in “unfair terms.”24 In addition, the government could influence the
endorsement of loans to filmmakers, refuse to facilitate shooting of footage at various
sites, withhold the normal rebate of 25 to 50 percent on the entertainment tax, or
otherwise create difficulties for producers attempting to shoot films. Producers often
found themselves forced to change dialogue and scenes to appease the Film Committee
and Israeli Defense objections.25
Israel is perhaps the one of the few “democracies” in which the military has
played such a central and enduring social, economic and political role and this centrality
has been characterized by a cognitive militarism: “by modes of thought and action in
which security considerations are preeminent.”26 While cognitive militarism stood as a
common crossroads in the Israeli and the U.S. special relationship as it pertained to
international relations, it was somewhat of a cultural barrier when it came to exchanges in
industrial relations. As Hollywood executives often put it, “The Israelis are trained for
shooting in wars, not for shooting motion pictures,”27 a statement which reflected not
only a lack of technical expertise, but also the ingrained militarism of a colonial culture.
One of the earliest associations with Israeli “film production” was related in an incident
of 1948, in which Israel bought (through a front company) four British Royal Air Force
planes, needed to strengthen their position against Arabs in Palestine. When British
authorities refused their export, the Israelis set up a “film production unit,” claiming the
planes were “props,” and in the midst of a “scene,” smuggled the planes away to Israel.28
24
Israel scoffs at Seidelman slant on film. (1974, January 16). Variety, 3.
25
Blair, Granger. (1965, Jan 17). Can There Be a Sympathetic Nazi? New York Times, p. X9.
26
Lomsky-Feder, Edna and Ben-Ari, Eyal. (1999). The Military and Militarism in Israeli Society. Albany
State University of New York Press.
27
Massis, Alex. (1977, May 11). Israel - After Ten Years. Variety, p. 460.
28
Exploit in Britain Recalled. (1969, December 30). New York Times, pg. 3.
Hollywood filmmakers often compared Israeli film crews to “a platoon of

Marines,” since nearly all of the workers and extras were enlisted in the Israeli Army.29
During the production of Exodus, members of the army were assigned to the film cast and
crew. The assignment of Israeli military to film crews meant that production could often
be halted in the midst of Israel’s protracted conflict with neighboring countries; such was
especially the case during the Arab-Israeli wars in the late 1960s and 1970s, when Israeli
transportation, cast and technicians could be called to duty and pulled off the set on a
moment’s notice.30 The Yom Kippur War of 1973 saw countless disruptions in
production and foreign producers became increasingly reticent to launch ventures in
Israel due to such inevitable interruptions produced by a state constantly defending its
colonialist framework of annexation and hostilities through defensive maneuvers.31
In addition to such ideological special relations, Hollywood location shooting in
Israel cannot be isolated from the mutually beneficial economic national interests
intrinsic to the initial acceleration of runaway production beginning in the early 1950s.
Whereas in July 1953, 27 films were being produced in Hollywood, 48 were being shot
in Italy and 13 in Mexico.32 Although foreign locations offered exotic spectacle that
could challenge the emerging television threat and reflected the emergence of neo-realist
aesthetics in the post-WWII era, the onset of runaway production was by and large
hastened by increasing U.S. production costs and the shift from major studio to
independent production. Rather than renting Hollywood back lots and soundstages,
independents sought better financial conditions for production and foreign locations
29
Koegle, Cary (1970, December 5). Israeli Films Move Up. Daily Courier, p. E-1; Sophia Stars in ‘Gates
of Galilee’ (1966, February 23). El Paso Herald Post, p. 2; Actor Finds No Desire for Excellence in
Hollywood: Richard Boone Plans Film-Making in Israel. (1970, December 20). Ada (Oklahoma) Sunday
News, p. 6.
30
War Halts Film. (1973, October 21). The Robesonian, p. 7; Werba, Hank. (1974, March 20). Yom
Kippur War Added Peril for Libella’s TV Locationer. Variety, p. 33; Lapid, J. (1974, January 9). Israeli
cinema brushes off war. Variety, p. 5.
31
Lapid, J. (1974, May 8). Israel's Yom Kippur war woes; but its film showmen carry on. Variety, p. 236.
32
Through the Loophole (1953, July 06). Time, p. 81-82; This trend continued into the 1960s. In 1962, 21
of the 38 Hollywood films were being shot abroad: The Runaways. (1962, September 14). Time, p. 53.
seemed to promise cheap non-unionized labor (anywhere from 20% to 50% below U.S.
wages), readymade sets, tax shelters and foreign subsidies.33
In addition, the major studios were putting to work blocked foreign currency that
could not be repatriated because of protective foreign fiscal regulations that limited the
revenue from exhibition that could be returned to Hollywood. As for the stars, many
were exploiting loopholes in the 1951 U.S. tax law, which gave exemption to any U.S.
citizen who spent 17 out of 18 consecutive months working abroad. Gene Kelly was in
working Germany and England, Clark Gable in Africa, Gregory Peck in Italy, and Kirk
Douglas in Israel.34
From Israel’s perspective, one big production such as Exodus could have an
immense promotional role, bringing in millions of dollars and stimulating future
production. In the next decade, Israel would become ever more proactive in encouraging
run-away production. The Israeli Film Center began offering filmmakers government-
backed loans up to 50 percent of production costs at four percent annual interest in order
to encourage foreign production in Israel. Non-Israeli currency used for filming purposes
was entitled to government financial incentives at the rate of 29% premium. Film and
equipment could be imported duty free.35 Nonetheless, initial location shooting in the
new nation of Israel lagged behind Britain, France, Italy and Mexico; Israel was severely
limited due to its inadequate production facilities.
Although movie theaters had been opened in Jerusalem as early as in 1908 and in
Tel Aviv in 1914, by 1949 there was nearly no feature film production in Israel and only
plans for a studio to be constructed at Herzlia outside of Tel Aviv.36 The Herzlia project
33
Schumach, Murray (1960, August 21). Producer Praises the West Coast As Best Place to Make Films.
New York Times, p. X7; Rosendorf, N.M. (2007, March). ‘Hollywood In Madrid’: American Film
Producers and the Franco Regime, 1950–1970. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 27(1): 79-
80; Rosendorf, N.M. (2000). The Life and Times of Samuel Bronston, Builder of “Hollywood in Madrid”:
A Study in the International Scope and Influence of American Popular Culture, Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard
University.
34
Through the Loophole (1953, July 06). Time, p. 81-82
35
Schwartz, E. (1974). Cine scenes: a view of filmmaking in Israel. FMN 7:10.
36
Shohat, Ella. (1989). Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation. Austin: University of
Texas Press; Oren, Tasha G. (2004). Demon in the Box: Jews, Arabs, Politics, and Culture in the Making of
Israeli Television. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press; Mayer, Arthur L. (1949, October 23).
Reflection on the Movie Scene in Israel. New York Times, p. X5.
was backed by a $600,000 investment funded by US companies and the American

Associates of Israel Film Studio. Opened in 1952, the Herzlia studio offered a lab and
sound stage; equipment was shipped from the U.S. Although Hollywood advisers served
on the production committee and some studios were enticed to shoot in Israel (since
roughly half a million dollars of Hollywood cash was frozen in Israel), no projects came
to fruition until the 1950s.37
The earliest U.S. feature film produced in Israel in 1952, The Juggler starring
Kirk Douglas, was at the outset to be shot completely in Israel, but after examining the
region and making arrangements with the Israelis, the film’s director, Edward Dmytryk,
concluded that he could only shoot exteriors there (about 40 percent of the film) and
would have to return to Columbia Pictures’ lot for interiors.38 Indeed, early location
shooting in Israel predominantly exploited exteriors and most often, only for Hollywood
films with some direct narrative depiction of Israel. Exodus (1960), Cast a Giant Shadow
(1966) and Judith (1966) were films about the founding years of Israel; the majority of
location production in Israel in the 1950s and 1960s consisted of biblical epics (Salome,
1952; Ben Hur (1959) A Story of David, 1960; The Bible, 1966), which took advantage of
authentic “Holy Land” scenery for background shots.39 Other than background
photography, interiors and other footage was primarily shot on Hollywood studio lots.
Between 1960 and 1975 only five major U.S. motion pictures were shot in
Israel.40 Israel lacked skilled technicians, since there were initially no formal professional
standards followed or taught.41 Even by the 1970s, the Israeli film industry had
developed little, the technical quality of the Israeli feature film was extremely sloppy,
there was a lack of proper equipment and facilities and the industry still depended on the
37
First Film Studio Started in Israel. (July 4, 1949). New York Times, p. 9.
38
Pryor, Thomas M. (1951, November 22). Paramount Plans Film on Sandburg. New York Times, p. 54;
Pryor, Thomas M. (1952, August 17). Hollywood Communiqué. New York Times, pg. X5; Pryor, Thomas
M. (1952, September 24). DeMille, Disney Lauded for Work. New York Times, p. 40; Schmidt, Dana
Adams. (1952, November 23). Charting the Trail of ‘The Juggler’ in Israel. New York Times, p. X5.
39
Parsons, Louella. (1958, September 18). Movies Discover another Child. Cedar Rapids Gazette, p. 17;
Channel Swim. (1961, March 23). Valley Independent, p. 13; Thompson, Howard. $25,000,000 Film on
Bible Planned. (1961, July 22). New York Times, p. 13.
40
Massis, A. (1975, June). Film and the videotape production facilities in Israel. Millimeter 3(6): 31.
41
skilled supervision of U.S. and European filmmakers.42 When Richard Harris was
shooting Bloomfield in 1971, a one shot called for a crane, but there were no camera
cranes in Israel. Since it would have been costly to bring one in from Europe, they
refurbished one found in junkyard – the same rusty crane that had been used for Exodus
in 1960.43
Locations in Israel continued to be used for direct narrative depiction of Israeli
history or biblical themed productions (The Story of Jacob and Joseph, 1974; Moses the
Lawgiver, 1974; The Story of David, 1976; The Passover Plot, 1976; Jesus, 1979), but
the types of genre and narrative settings shot in Israel began to expand by the mid-1970s.
A western entitled Madron was shot in 1970 in the Negev Desert, which filmmakers saw
as strongly resembling the U.S. Southwest and a good substitute for Arizona and
Mexico.44 The project began with a producer, a lawyer, a director and a script and no
financing, so the filmmakers decided to take advantage of Israeli funding. Israeli actors
wore wigs, breechclouts and headbands while playing menacing Apaches.45
Following the production of Madron, Israel planned to lure more filmmakers of
Westerns away from Italy and Spain. Under the direction of Sarco Westerns
International and Hollywood production designer Fernando Carrere, a western town,
“Sarcoville,” would be built outside Tel Aviv and employed for film productions.46 The
$250,000 western town would include the requisite livery, stables, jail and saloons.47 The
first director to take advantage of the new Western set was Norman Jewison, whose film
Billy Two Hats was shot at Sarcoville, while his other production Jesus Christ Superstar
42
43
Kleiner, Dick. (1972, January 3). Harris film shot in Israel. Bucks County Courier Times, p. 17.
44
The Big Red One (1980) mistakenly has been deemed to be first Hollywood film shot in Israel whose
story is unrelated to the country itself. For instance, Fainaru, E. (1978, August 2). Israel shakes off biblical
image with Big Red One's locationing. Variety, p. 31.
45
Koegle, Cary (1970, December 5). Israeli Films Move Up. Daily Courier, p. E-1; Zucker, Martin. (1970,
July 12). Announcing, the Israeli Indians. Showtime, 4; Movie has odd history. (1970, June 13). Progress-
Bulletin (Pomona, California), p. A6.
46
Ricardo Montalban Says Hurt By Mexican-American Drives. (1971, July 12). Anderson Daily Bulletin,
p. 20.
47
O’Brian, Jack. (1973, March 17). The Voice of Broadway. San Antonio Light, p. 37; Cheatham, Thomas.
(1972, December 10). Cowboys and Indians Ride in Israel-Made Western. Bridgeport Sunday Post, p. E10;
At 56 Gregory Peck Still Enjoys Making Westerns. (1972, November 19). Abilene Reporter-News, p. 2B.
was being shot simultaneously in other parts of Israel. Although early reports suggested
that Billy Two Hats would be filmed in Yugoslavia in the spring of 1972,48 a United Artist
press release stated that Israel was selected instead because of the desolate locale needed
for Billy Two Hats.
It didn’t hurt that Israel also offered incentives such as a 20 percent subsidy of the
cost, tax-exempt status, cheap labor, and war insurance, in the event that hostilities
should erupt in the midst of the regular Israeli jet raids on Syria.49 Extras could be shared
between Jewison’s two productions.50 And even if the producers ran into difficulties of
transporting props such as Winchester rifles and Colt 45s through heightened airport
security and finding Israeli extras that could ride horse back, Israel offered a variety of
sets, good climate and convenient geographical locations at low cost. In an era of
ballooning Hollywood budgets, Jewison could shoot a western with Gregory Peck for a
mere $1.1 million. The construction of Sarcoville set off a boom in the Israeli industry,
with over 25 films being produced there in 1971.51 Noah Films soon followed suit by
bringing in art director Piero Marchi to design an entire Mexican village a few miles from
Eilat in the southern desert.52 Israel was looking forward to two more Westerns and other
ensuing multimillion dollar foreign film productions.
By the mid-1970s, Israel desperately needed an industry with a cash flow to stave
its $3 billion foreign (largely military expenditure) debt, and motion picture production
was again seen as one potential field.53 The Film Center ran ads in the trade papers
promising, “lower costs, diversity of scenery, ideal climate, technical equipment,
production know how, bountiful talent and financial incentives.”54 Especially attractive
to Israeli private and government sectors were “shoot-em ups” with promise of fast
48
Western Planned. (1971, October 09). Elyria Chronicle Telegram (Ohio), p. 9.
49
Miller, Alice. (1972, October 24). Israeli Made Westerns. Abilene Reporter-News, p. 6; Israeli Site for
American Western Movie. (1972, August 11). Salina Journal, p. 10; Lancashire, David. (1973, January
14). Billy Two Hats Western Being Filmed On Israel Site. Cumberland Sunday Times, p. 22.
50
Lyons, Leonard (1972, December 28). Lyons Den. San Mateo Times, p. 19.
51
O’Brian, Jack (1972, August 19). The Voice of Broadway. San Antonio Light, p. 7C.
52
Rizzo, E. (1976, March 3). Film production again surges in Israel; shortcomings exist. Variety, p. 40;
Talkin, G. (1979, May). Production Guide to Israel. Millimeter 7: 140-42.
53
Koegle, Cary (1970, December 5). Israeli Films Move Up. Daily Courier, p. E-1.
54
Israel Film Centre. (1977, January 5). Choose Your Film Locations in Israel (Advertisement). Variety, p.
65.
financial returns that could bring outside cash investment and stimulate internal consumer
spending.55 Yoram Golan, director of the Israeli Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s
Film Center, which facilitated government and private cooperation with film producers
explained: “It’s not expensive here, we have no union problems and there is a great
diversity of landscapes in small area with easy access.”56
Although a considerable amount of equipment, costumes and stunt persons still
had to be imported, the basic facilities and processing labs in Israel were growing in
expertise and skilled technicians were in greater abundance.57 By 1975, Israel boasted 25
production companies, two studios (at Herzlia and Berkey Pathe at Givatayin), two color
labs, equipment houses (for renting dollies and cranes), color video to tape facilities, and
direct connection to international satellites.58 Israeli towns, forests and beaches were
frequently being substituted for Sicily, Czechoslovakia, France, North Africa and many
Middle Eastern settings. In 1976, Michael Phillips, Michael Douglas and Paul Mazursky
toured Israel, seriously considering the possibility of making films there.59
Unfortunately, Israel’s cornering of the run-away Western filmmaking was ill-timed
given the impending demise of that genre in the 1970s. However, Israel soon discovered
a new surge in genre storytelling in the 1970s, which had deep continuities with Israel’s
past and future: the counterterrorist action film.
The Political Economy of Entebbe
A series of conflicts and international events involving Israelis and Arabs (and the
implications for the U.S. oil policy) in the 1970s brought the region to center stage not
only in the U.S. news media, but also in Hollywood. A number of literary and filmic
treatments were advanced in the wake of the assaults at the Lod Airport and the Munich
Olympics of 1972 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In 1973, British director John
O’Connor directed The Prisoner in the Middle (1974), in which a U.S. colonel (David
55
Israeli Producer Makes Feature on a Shoestring and Chutzpah. (1976, September 1). Variety, p. 24.
56
Precker, Michael. (1978, August 24). Movies Becoming Big Business in Sunny Israel. Stars and Stripes,
p. 19.
57
Rizzo, E. (1976, March 3). Film production again surges in Israel; shortcomings exist. Variety, p. 40.
58
Lapid, J. (1974, January 9). Israeli cinema brushes off war. Variety, p. 5; Massis, A. (1975, June). Film
and the videotape production facilities in Israel. Millimeter 3(6): 31.
59
Yank Filmmakers Study Israeli Locales. (1976, June 16). Variety, p. 24;
Janssen) parachutes into Jordan to recover a jettisoned U. S. Strategic Air Command

nuclear bomb before it falls into the hands of Arab terrorists; The Prisoner in the Middle
was produced by Buddy Ruskin, creator of “Mod Squad” and shot on location in the
Negev Desert near Eilat, Israel with the assistance of the Israeli army.60 The image of
Israel is glaringly sycophantic.61 The film commences with Arabs firing bazookas at an
Israeli school bus and ends with a reference to the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1974, Otto
Preminger shot Rosebud (1975), in which a group of violent Palestinians take five girls
hostage on a luxury yacht and demand as ransom the termination of American and
European relations with Israel. Rosebud was shot on location in Israel, where Israeli
troops protected the film crew as they photographed north of Haifa – just one kilometer
from the Lebanese border (as a stand-in for scenes set in Lebanon).62
However, the Entebbe incident of the summer of 1976 had the most dramatic
impact on the U.S. adulation of Israel, Israeli counterterrorism and the increased interest
in the production of counterterrorism films in Israel. On July 4, 1976 Israeli troops
landed at Entebbe, Uganda and rescued over one hundred Israeli passengers taken
hostage by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and German
revolutionaries during the hijacking of Air France flight 139. According to one Zionist
historian, “It was a shot in the arm for Americans and Israelis. President Gerald Ford was
well pleased as he broke U.S. diplomatic precedent and congratulated Israel on its
successful mission.”63 To be sure, as Melani McAlister compellingly demonstrates,
Israel’s counterterrorist operations served as an example to U.S. leaders that swift
60
Also known as Sabra Command and Warhead; Nash, Max. (1973, March 18). Top Movie Stuntman
Finds Variety of Excitement. The Robesonian, p. 5B.
61
Producer Ruskin described the appeal of the film’s topic: “With a subject like this, it's bound to be a
success […] we want to show Israelis and Jews in a new light —fighting in the desert and dancing in the
discotheques […] and we want to show that the Arab terrorists of today are like the Mafia in its heyday
[…] we are not portraying the Arab people as bad. Most Arabs don't want anything to do with the
terrorists.” Arab terrorists were played by Bedouin tribesmen, who as director O'Connor explained, “can do
some scenes marvelously – if you tell them to die they lie still for hours.” Lancashire, David. (1973,
January 4). 'Sabra' Focuses on Mideast Fighting. European Stars and Stripes p. 28.
62
Lindsay to Try Movies. (1974, July 17). Post Standard, p. 1. O'Toole Replaces Mitchum. (1974,
September 6). Daily Times-News. (Burlington, North Carolina), p.8. Lewis, Dan. (1975, April 14).
Preminger Film Stars Ex-Mayor. Lima News (Ohio), p. 20.
63
Druks, Herbert. (2001). The Uncertain Alliance: The U.S. and Israel From Kennedy to the Peace
Process. Westport, Conn. Greenwood Press.
military action, instead of negotiation, could prevail in the fight against revolutionary
violence.64 Israel’s Entebbe mission would provide inspiration for U.S.’s own elite Delta
Force and its botched “Operation Eagle Claw” of April 1980.65
Entebbe not only elicited impassioned praise from across the U.S. political
spectrum; it set in motion a series of debates about the U.S. stance on appropriate
counterrorism responses. Hollywood’s participation in this discourse, for both
ideological and political reasons, was instantaneous. The first announcement of
Hollywood to reenact the Entebbe incident came on July 7, 1976, which related that
Universal Studios had developed a story, Raid on Entebbe, while the event was unfolding
over the 4th of July weekend, and intended to have George Roy Hill direct the film.66
MCA-Universal President Sidney Sheinberg asserted, “The mission reads like a movie
script.” Within a week, five other U.S. studios announced intentions to dramatize the
event. 20th Century-Fox was rushing into development a television drama titled Mission
to Uganda, to be produced by Arthur Weingarten with an all star cast (Fox eventually
teamed up with Edgar Scherick Associates and NBC to coproduce the $4 million The
Raid on Entebbe starring Charles Bronson).67
Merv Griffin Productions made known its intention to produce Odyssey of 139
based on the personal experiences of the hostages (coincidentally, Griffin President
Murray Schwartz was aboard the hijacked plane).68 Independent producer Elliott Kastner
disclosed that Erda and Jerry Gershwin would produce Assault on Entebbe, based on a
script written before the event had even occurred. Paramount Studios announced a
64
McAlister, Melani. (2001). Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East,
1945-2000. Berkeley: University of California Press;
65
Operation Eagle Claw was the top-secret mission, which attempted to rescue 52 U.S. citizens taken
hostage at the Tehran embassy in the wake of Iran’s revolution against the Shah’s brutal regime, and its
principle patron, the U.S. It was not generally known (or of particular importance) to most Americans that
Iran’s democratically elected government had been overthrown by the Britain’s MI5 and CIA during a
1953 oil grab and that the Shah was essentially a client dictator. After all, the Iranians were “terrorists.”
See Trahair, Richard C. S. (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations.
Greenwood Press; Kinzer, S. (2003). All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East
Terror. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons.
66
Israeli Rescue Film Due for U. (1976, July 7). Variety, p. 1.
67
Israeli Uganda Raid as 20th-Fox Telespec. (1976, July 14). Variety, p. 51; Entebbe Raid Movie Planned
by NBC & Fox. (1976, August 4). Variety, p. 33.
68
Entebbe Derby. (1976, July 26). Time.
vehicle based on an instant Bantam book, 90 Minutes at Entebbe, by Uri Dan and
William Stevenson, which would be scripted and produced by Paddy Chayefsky and
directed by Sidney Lumet.69 First Artists was preparing its Entebbe picture. International
producers also poured in from Great Britain, South Africa and Europe.70 CBS was
planning a special news documentary for September and CBS Israel’s records division
even proposed a music album honoring the Israeli Defense, called “Thanks to Zahal.”71
Several paperback books materialized instantaneously.72
The Israeli government was quickly inundated with requests from studios for
exclusive cooperation in the production of an Entebbe project, but could only conceive of
supporting one production with the cooperation of the Israeli military, including the
planes, equipment, bases and soldiers that took part in the rescue mission. Joram
Rosenfeld, Israeli Consul for economic affairs in Los Angeles, exclaimed, “The onrush
has been tremendous. Everybody wants exclusive cooperation. The solution is not a
simple one.”73 Although Israeli officials claimed that no studio had an inside track on
exclusive cooperation, it soon became known that Ted Ashley, the chairman of Warner
Bros., had traveled to Israel seeking government cooperation on the project. 74 The
Warner Bros. drama, tentatively titled Operation Jonathan, was budgeted at $10-20
million, and would be directed by Franklin Schaffner and star Steve McQueen as Israeli
Brigadier General Dan Shomron. In early August, Ashley signed an agreement with Ezra
Sassoon, director of the light industries division, and the Israeli Film Center of the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry, for exclusive assistance.75 According to the
competitors, Ashley had used his connections within the Israeli government to win the
69
Par No. 4 For a Uganda Film. (1976, July 14). Variety, p. 4; McFadden, Robert D. (1976, July 26). 6
Film Studios Vie Over Entebbe Raid. New York Times, p. 30.
70
2.
71
Israeli Rescue LP. (1976, July 14). Variety, p. 2.
72
Gregory, Jane. (1977, March 2). The Real Story of Entebbe. Chicago Sun Times.
73
2.
74
WB-Schaffner Pic on Uganda Raid Joins the Crowd. (1976, July 28). Variety, p. 4.
75
WB Tie to Israel for Entebbe Pic. (1976, August 11). Variety, p. 37. Israel Awards Warner Rights for
Film on Raid. (1976, August 13). New York Times, p. 2.
contract over seven other major studios, sweetening the deal by offering to produce six
more Warner Bros. projects in Israel over the three following years.76
As with earlier instances of Israeli official film cooperation, preferential treatment
came at a great price in terms of contractual obligations. Since the Israeli government
would only support one film, it would have to be successful (commercially and
propagandistically). Warner’s completed script had to be approved by the Israelis and
would not contain anything deemed offensive to the state or military.77 One facile
solution would be to acquire rights to Israeli books on the event, employ Israeli
journalists as consultants and have Kenneth Ross (who had collaborated on Day of the
Jackal and Black Sunday) write the script.78 But soon Warner ran up against a wall of
military secrecy when it sought details on the rescue mission and the IDF and, despite
contractual agreements with Warner Bros. that Israel would provide such information and
material, was denied access for security reasons. Israel insisted that it had reserved the
right to withhold certain top secret documents. According to deputy director of the
Israeli Film Center, Moshe Netanel, “Warner Brothers wanted all the documents, lock,
stock and barrel.”79
In addition, NBC had already beat Warner to the draw with its Entebbe film, Raid
on Entebbe. Originally planned as the most expensive telefilm ever made, to be shot in
actual locations, Raid on Entebbe was produced instead in the U.S. during October 1976,
with the Stockton Complex, a California Army National Guard aviation support facility,
standing in for the Ugandan airfield. NBC was able to borrow equipment from the
National Guard that was identical to that employed in the Israeli rescue mission for
$400,000.80 However, to everyone’s surprise, ABC had outstripped them all with a top-
secret production announced only in late October 1976. Within 20 days of the rescue
76
Golam of Israel Doing Raid Pic, Too; ‘Competing’ with U.S. (1976, November 10). Variety, p. 33; Say
Israel Secrecy is Reason Why Warner Drops “Entebbe.” (1976, October 20). Variety, p. 3; 'Entebbe' film
canceled. (1976, October 18). The Advocate (Newark, Ohio), p. 20.
77
2.
78
WB Buys Rights to Israeli Books on Raid. (1976, August 25). Variety, p. 31.
79
‘Entebbe’ film canceled. (1976, October 18). The Advocate (Newark, Ohio), p. 20.
80
Anderson, Jack E. (1977, January 9). NBC Last Up with ‘Entebbe’ Entry. Miami Herald; Carmody,
John. (1977, January 8). A Star Studded Version of Entebbe. Washington Post.
mission, ABC had furtively sent researchers and writers to Israel, conducted interviews
and then shot rapidly on tape at Burbank studios (instead of on film, as NBC did).81
Victory at Entebbe was shot partly in Israel and in other locations (including Stockton for
the Uganda airport).82 ABC would air its teledrama on November 13, 1976; NBC, on
January 9, 1977. In the end, Warner Bros. decided to scrap its project altogether on
October 15, 1976.83 Why risk anymore investment on a troubled motion picture when the
subject seemed to have been thoroughly exhausted on TV?
One persistently truculent voice during the whole Warner Bros. fiasco was that of
Menachem Golan, co-founder of the leading film production company in the Israel. Born
in the small town of Tiberias on May 31, 1929, Golan had been an avid moviegoer in his
childhood. He studied theatre at the Old Vic in London from 1951 to 1955, when he
became a theatre director in Israel, introducing audiences to American plays, at the age of
23.84 In 1960, Golan came to the U.S. as head of the motion picture, radio and television
department of Israeli Embassy and decided to study filmmaking at City College of New
York. Beginning in 1962, Golan worked as a driver, and later, as an assistant to
independent producer Roger Corman.85 Golan then returned to Israel, where he joined up
with his cousin, Yoram Globus, to create Noah Films, Ltd. in 1963.86 His cousin, Globus,
had also grown up in the cinema (he had worked in the family-owned movie house
outside Haifa), and having earned a business degree at Tel Aviv, he would head up the
financial aspects of Noah.87 Noah’s initial output consisted of youth sex and exploitation
films, but the venture would go on to produce three to four films a year for the local
Israeli market, including some of its biggest domestic box office hits.88
81
1st Gander at Uganda via Wolper ‘Entebbe’ for ABC. (October 27, 1976). Variety, p. 55.
82
Simpson, Dean. (1976, Dec. 12-18). The Fresno Bee, p. 3
83
Say Israel Secrecy is Reason Why Warner Drops “Entebbe.” (1976, October 20). Variety, p. 3.
84
Gallagher, John Andrew. (1989). Film Directors on Directing. New York: Praeger; Stanbrook, Alan.
(1986). The Boys From Tiberius. Sight and Sound 55(4): 234-238.
85
Golan & Globus Chronology (1984, February 29). Variety, p. 72; Clarke, Gerald. (1986, January 13).
Bring back the moguls! Time, p. 72.
86
Kass, Carole. (1986, March 2). Big Stars Flocking to Schlock Producer. Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. J-
3.
87
Seligsohn, Leo. (1986, May 4). Cannon Shoots for the Stars. Newsday.
88
Stanbrook, Alan. (1986). The Boys From Tiberius. Sight and Sound 55(4): 234-238; Friedman, Robert.
(1986, July/August). Will Cannon Boom or Bust? American Film 1: 52-59; Fainaru, Edna. (1984, Feb 29).
The cousins were also raised within the ideology of Zionism. Their fathers were
ardent Zionists, who had emigrated from Poland to Palestine in the 1920s and raised their
families near the Syrian border.89 At 19, Golan fought in Israel’s 1948 War of
Independence, first as a radio operator for Moshe Dayan, and later as an air force pilot.
Born Menahem Globus, he changed his last name to “Golan” for “patriotic reasons” (i.e.
to commemorate the capture of Golan Heights in 1967), after Prime minister David Ben
Gurion recommended that Israelis to take Hebrew names.90 Golan would continue to
participate in most of Israel’s subsequent wars and perceive the film world in terms of a
siege mentality, viewing film production as another type of “making war.” When a
Cannon executive in London once requested an extension to his six day allotment to
score a film, Golan contested, “We won a war in six days,” referring to the Six Day War
of 1967, in which Golan had also taken part.91 When discussing the prospect of financial
losses for some high-budgeted Cannon films, Golan quoted former Israeli defense
minister General Sharon, “You attack, you go two steps forward, and you retreat one step
all the time. But you are always one step ahead.”92 Golan’s cousin, Globus, had also
served two years as an army officer in the Israeli Defense Force before studying
business.93
Having played a significant role in both Israel’s film industry and its military
history, Golan was troubled that Warner Bros. should have an exclusive deal to lens the
Entebbe story. Golan had sent a writer from London to Tel Aviv one day after the
Entebbe rescue mission, only to learn that the government had already exclusively
endorsed Warner Bros. According to Golan, “[…] There was considerable resentment
about the choice of a foreign company over an Israeli company for a project to be filmed
Success a Long Time Coming. Variety, p. 41.

89
Friedman, Robert. (1986, July/August). Will Cannon Boom or Bust? American Film 1: 52-59.
90
Indie ‘Rebels’ Weather the H’wood Storm. (1984, February 29). Variety, p. 41.
91
Friedman, Robert. (1986, July/August). Will Cannon Boom or Bust? American Film 1: 52-59.
92
Base, Ron. (1986, February 28). Cannon shoots for the stars to cement big-league status. Toronto Star, p.
D6.
93
Thomas, Bob. (1986, February 25). Cannon Works to Upgrade Its Image in Hollywood. Philadelphia
Inquirer, p. D08; Stanbrook, Alan. (1986). The Boys From Tiberius. Sight and Sound 55(4): 234-238.
in Israel”94 However, after Warner Bros. dropped the project, Golan was tapped by the
Israeli Film Center to take over the project. Noah Films put its other productions on the
back burner and threw itself into the preparation of Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa
Yonatan) in October 1976 - scriptwriting, building of sets in Israel and casting Israeli
actors.
With full cooperation of the Israeli government and army, Golan worked closely
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and army personnel and invited families of officers to
serve as consultants. Noah Films would shoot the movie for $2.5 million, employing
four crews simultaneously in Israel and Athens and casting some of the actual officials,
hostages and troops in the film as themselves: sixteen of the Entebbe hostages appeared
as extras in the movie and Defense Minister Shimon Peres reenacted his role in the
crisis.95 Golan incessantly denigrated all other filmic treatments of the Entebbe affair,
claiming that his was the sole survivor of 17 planned ventures: “[...] it is the only one.
The others have been typical Hollywood fantasies.”96 Noah’s publicity onesheets for
Operation Thunderbolt flaunted, “Israelis did it - the Israelis tell it best. This film is being
made with the cooperation of the Israeli Government.”97
Although Operation Thunderbolt was well received at Cannes and nominated for
an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (losing out to Madame Rosa, a
French film about a Holocaust survivor, directed by Israeli filmmaker Moshé Mizrahi),
U.S. distributors largely ignored the film - perhaps an indication of their disdain for
Israel’s non-cooperation with Warner Bros. and Golan’s relentless gloating.98
Nonetheless, the achievements of Operation Thunderbolt were fourfold: it brought Israeli
cinema to international regard, promoted international co-production in Israel, made
Golan and Globus a force to be reckoned with, and instigated a trend of counterterrorist
94
Golam of Israel Doing Raid Pic, Too; ‘Competing’ with U.S. (1976, November 10). Variety, p. 33.
95
Tali. (1976, December 15). Tel Aviv. Variety; Operation Thunderbolt (1977, January 16). Variety;
Gallagher, John Andrew. (1989). Film Directors on Directing. New York: Praeger.
96
Gregory, Jane. (1977, March 2). The Real Story of Entebbe. Chicago Sun Times.
97
Operation Thunderbolt publicity onesheet. (1976, November 24). Variety, p. 20.
98
Lazarus, Charles. (1977, July 27). Co-Prods. Up in Israel, Aided by its Currency Devaluations. Variety,
p. 4.
action films stretching into late the 1980s.99 During the interim of 1978 and 1979, there
was a substantial increase of domestic film production, with 25 Israeli films produced, as
the Israeli government increased its subsidization of the film industry, partially to
stimulate domestic production, but moreover to attract foreign co-productions with its
cheap skilled labor, variety of locations and generous loans. Gad Soen, director of the
Israeli Film Center noted the decisive role that Golan played: Golan was, for all intents
and purposes, “the film industry in Israel.”100
However, the inspiration of Operation Entebbe for many in the Israeli film
industry was more a matter of process than content. Whereas the film’s production values
and success in the international marketplace encouraged domestic production as a whole,
the excitement with such national-heroic politics would be short-lived and eventually
come to be perceived as simplistic, propagandistic, and outdated. This was especially the
case with progressive Israeli film critics and the new wave of Israeli filmmakers, such as
the Young Israeli Cinema (Kajitz), who were inclined to embrace the counter-cultural
and leftist discourses of the late 1960s and 1970s, and were more interested in exploring
political issues and social problems than national mythologies.101 Indeed, the Israeli
media regularly held Golan responsible for the poor quality of the nation’s film
industry.102
Cannon Fodder
As early as 1974, Golan and Globus began to initiate a production enterprise in
the U.S. under AmeriEuro Pictures Corp., recognizing that the U.S. had a greater
exhibition potential with its 15,000 theatres and that Hollywood films had more appeal in
the world market.103 As Golan later saw it, Operation Thunderbolt had firmly established
Noah Films in Israel, but Israel was “too small” of a country and it was now time to move
99
3.
100
Friedman, Jane. (1980, June 29). Israel's 'New Wave' Directors Take Root in a Harsh Climate. New York
Times, p. 15.
101
Avisar, Ilan. (Fall 2005). The National and the Popular in Israeli Cinema. Shofar 24 (1): 125;
Bachmann, G. (1978). Young Israelis. Sight and Sound 47(2): 83-4.
102
Fainaru, Edna. (1984, Feb 29). Success a Long Time Coming. Variety, p. 41.
103
Cassyd, S. (1974, February 11). Two Israeli filmmakers to produce feature films for U.S. market. Box
Office, p. 6; Cassyd, S. (1974, May 6). Globus, Golan firms planning expansion. Box Office, p. 8.
his business to Hollywood: “There aren’t enough theaters to cover the costs of making
movies. We had to sell them outside the country.”104 Indeed, the rate of inflation and
economic conditions in the late 1970s made it impossible to recover money on films only
distributed in the Israeli home market.105 However, Hollywood not only provided a
platform for breaking into international film distribution; with the turn toward national-
heroic politics in U.S. during the late 1970s, Hollywood promised a more fertile ground
than Israel for the marketing and reception of Golan’s hawkish action films.106
Cannon Fodder
Golan and Globus moved to Hollywood in 1979. The two initially had limited
capital due to regulations following a currency crisis in Israel, which barred them from
taking money out of their native country.107 However, Golan and Globus soon looked
into Cannon Group of New York, a minor production company that held distribution of
some 60 films, most of which were drive-in and exploitation movies, such as Happy
Hooker Goes to Washington, Blood Legacy and Cauldron of Blood. 108 They struck a deal
with Cannon, whereby they would sell Cannon movies in Europe’s ancillary video
market, and in return, earn a 20 percent sales commission in company shares. Having
earned $1 million in commissions, the two bought controlling shares of Cannon (37
percent of its stock) for $350,000.109
Within the next five years, Golan and Globus transformed the Cannon film library
into a cash cow, in time churning out their own inexpensively produced sex and violence
films for foreign markets, and finally, serialized “schlock,” such as Breakin’, Death
Wish, The Exterminator, and Missing in Action. Whereas Cannon’s profits in 1980
104
3.
105
Not Everybody Optimistic Over Rosy Future for Israeli Films. (1978, December 27). Variety.
106
Avisar, Ilan. (Fall 2005). The National and the Popular in Israeli Cinema. Shofar 24(1): 125.
107
3; Hunter, Steven. (1986, March 2). Cannon Films Finally Gets Respect. Baltimore Sun.
108
Lipper, Hal. (1986, April 13). Movie Midas. St. Petersburg Times.
109
Ansen, David. (1986, August 11). Hollywood's New Go-Go Boys. Newsweek p. 54; Kass, Carole.
(1986, March 2). Big Stars Flocking to Schlock Producer. Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. J-3; Bernstein,
Aaron. (1985, April 15). The Kings of Schlock Shoot for the Big Time. Business Week, p. 121; Stanbrook,
Alan. (1986). The Boys From Tiberius. Sight and Sound 55(4): 234.
amounted to $8,000, by 1986 Cannon revenues were estimated at nearly $150 million.
Cannon stock raised from around 20 cents in 1979 to $7.25 in 1983 to $38 a share by
1986.110 However, Cannon’s on-paper “success” was largely owing to questionable
accounting practices including the frequent overestimation of film revenues and bizarre
amortization of film costs; by the late 1980s the company would be the object of SEC
inquiry and injunction.111
What success Cannon did have was derived from a formula of financing
productions that Golan and Globus had mastered back in Israel: by exploiting contacts in
Europe and Israel, they would pre-license 50 percent of their films’ theatrical and
ancillary rights before production, thus minimizing the risks of film financing.112
Whereas Hollywood studios generally rented films to foreign exhibitors and then divided
the revenues from ticket sales, Golan and Globus would contract their movies for a flat
fee to foreign exhibitors, (typically, about $2 million was raised per film from foreign
sales), then would turn the contracts over to Credit Lyonnais as collateral for loans;
Golan and Globus would also make individual arrangements with videocassette
distributors, pay cable and syndicated television. 113
Cannon would then cut every corner (including using non-union labor, hazardous
working conditions, deferred cast salaries, runaway production and overseas film
printing) to punch out pictures for under $5 million a piece, at a time when average
industry productions ran at $10-$15 million. 114 For instance, their 1984 breakdance film,
110
Is the go-go gone? This prolific duo finds itself in hot water. (1987, April). Life, p. 102; Pouschine,
Tatiana. (1986, September 8). Now you see it... Forbes, p. 35; Lipper, Hal. (1986, April 13). Movie Midas.
St. Petersburg Times.
111
Cannon Settles S.E.C. Case. (1987, November 10). New York Times.
112
3; Bernstein, Aaron. (1985, April 15). The Kings of Schlock Shoot for the Big Time. Business Week, p.
121; Seligsohn, Leo. (1986, May 4). Cannon Shoots for the Stars. Newsday.
113
Globus Holds the Fort at Mifed while Golan Helms Pic in Israel. (1985, October 16). Variety, p. 411. Is
the go-go gone? This prolific duo finds itself in hot water. (1987, April). Life, p. 102; Carr, Jay. (1985, May
18). Golan Strives for the Heights. Boston Globe, p. 25. Rehfeld, Barry. (1983, December). Cannon
Fathers. Film Comment 19: 20-4
114
Base, Ron. (1986, February 28). Cannon Shoots for the Stars to Cement Big-league Status. Toronto
Star, p. D6; Lipper, Hal. (1986, April 13). Movie Midas. St. Petersburg Times; Robbins, Jim. (1983, Oct
12). N.Y. IA locals say Cannon's anti-union; Golan defends pacts. Variety, p. 3.
Breakin’, was shot for only $1.5 million, but grossed approximately $40 million.115
Missing in Action (1985) was shot for $3 million and took in $28 million.116 In 1985, for
$70 million Cannon made 18 films.117 Because Cannon accumulated substantial capital
from pre-licensing, they might profit even before a U.S. release, and if a film bombed,
they claimed to just about break even.118
By the mid-1980s, Cannon was cutting more lucrative deals with network and
cable television. It was working with networks to produce television mini-series.119 It
was making a $100 million pact with Viacom’s Showtime, Movie Channel and Heron
Communications, giving the pay cable and video company exclusive video and television
rights to Cannon films.120 Cannon also had been buying up theatrical circuits, which
would free the company from its dependency upon the major distributors and guarantee
exhibition of its schlock - by means of resurrecting vertical integration.121 In Great
Britain, it bought the Star, Lew Grade’s Classic and Screen Entertainment Ltd. chains (39
percent of all the movie theaters in the UK) for roughly $300 million;122 In Italy, the 53
theater Gaumont chain, for $11 million; In the U.S., the 425 theater Commonwealth
chain for $24.5 million;123 In West Germany, 50 percent control of Scotia International
Filmverleih. 124 Theatre acquisition also allowed Cannon to turn frozen currency into
115
Clarke, Gerald. (1986, January 13). Bring back the moguls! Time, p. 72; Bernstein, Aaron. (1985, April
15). The Kings of Schlock Shoot for the Big Time. Business Week, p. 121.
116
Hurley, Sandra. (1986, May 4). Golan and Globus. Newsday.
117
The Boys from Tiberias. (1986, June 30). Forbes, p. 10.
118
Clarke, Gerald. (1986, January 13). Bring back the moguls! Time, p. 72; Ansen, David. (1986, August
11). Hollywood's New Go-Go Boys. Newsweek p. 54; Bernstein, Aaron. (1985, April 15). The Kings of
Schlock Shoot for the Big Time. Business Week, p. 121.
119
After making money on schlock, Cannon trying for respectability. (1986, January 22). Houston
Chronicle, p. 4.
120
Ryan, Desmond. (1986, April 11). Film Studio Signs Stars to Improve Reputation. Lexington Herald-
Leader, p. D8; Farley, Ellen. (1986, June 16). What Do Sly, Al, and Whoopi Have in Common? Business
Week, p. 114; Seligsohn, Leo. (1986, May 4). Cannon Shoots for the Stars. Newsday.
121
Guback, Thomas. (1987, Spring). The Evolution of the Motion Picture Theater Business in the 1980s.
Journal of Communication 37(2): 72.
122
Farley, Ellen. (1986, June 16). What Do Sly, Al, and Whoopi Have in Common? Business Week, p. 114;
Watkins, Roger. (1986, January 8). Cannon Weather Negative Slurs in Parliament. Variety, p. 101.
123
The Boys from Tiberias. (1986, June 30). Forbes, p. 10; Pitman, Jack. (1985, August 14). Cannon on
Brit. Theater Chain Binge. Variety, p. 5.
124
WB Deal for Superman IV. (1985, July 31). Variety, p. 28; Ansen, David. (1986, August 11).
Hollywood's New Go-Go Boys. Newsweek p. 54; Stanbrook, Alan. (1986). The Boys From Tiberius. Sight
and Sound 55(4): 234-238.
exhibition chains; rather than repatriate U.S. dollars stashed in Netherland Antilles tax
havens and pay U.S. taxes, Cannon bought theatre chains in abroad, such as the 32
cinemas of Rank-Tuschinski in Holland. 125 By 1986, Cannon controlled over 3,300
cinemas in England, Holland, Italy and Germany.126 Such theatre exposure would in turn
increase the marketability of Cannon films in ancillary markets such as cable TV and
videocassettes.127 Cannon’s pre-licensing and distribution system was facilitated by its
dealing with mostly action films, the type of B-film fare for which the ancillary market
and off-peak exhibition had an insatiable craving.128
Reaganite Cinema
It was, after all, a period coterminous with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan,
when the Hollywood action genre saw a renaissance of social conservatism and racism,
perhaps motivated by a perceived resurgence of patriotism in the U.S. populace, but
moreover by the Reaganite revival of anti-Communist militarism.129 The move to the
right was one of the political elite, not the masses; cultural industries were waging class
war against the people.130 Augured by the spectacles of the late 1970s (Star Wars, Rocky)
and early 1980s (Indiana Jones), Reaganite cinema was characterized by regression to
infantile fantasy, hyperbolic fears of fascism and nuclear holocaust, the restoration of the
father and the fetishism of military technology and special effects.131
Andrew Britton’s seminal essay, “Blissing Out: The Politics of Reaganite
Entertainment,” describes the central tendencies of Reaganite cinema in terms of wish-
fulfillment as a fictional structure that validates itself as natural and inevitable through
125
Yule, Andrew. (1987). Hollywood a Go-Go. Sphere Books: London, p. 75-76. Golan & Globus
Chronology (1984, February 29). Variety, p. 72.
126
Base, Ron. (1986, February 28). Cannon Shoots for the Stars to Cement Big-league Status. Toronto
Star, p. D6.
127
Farley, Ellen. (1986, June 16). What Do Sly, Al, and Whoopi Have in Common? Business Week, p. 114.
128
Ansen, David. (1986, August 11). Hollywood's New Go-Go Boys. Newsweek p. 54; Verniere, James.
(1986, February 16). “Schlock” Film Paying Tab for Quality. Boston Herald; Bernstein, Aaron. (1985,
April 15). The Kings of Schlock Shoot for the Big Time. Business Week, p. 121.
129
Kellner, Douglas. (1991, Spring). Film, Politics, and Ideology: Reflections on Hollywood Film in the
Age of Reagan. Velvet Light Trap 27:9-24.
130
Nelson, C., and George, H. (1995). White racism and “The Cosby show”: a critique. The Black Scholar
25(2): 60.
131
Wood, Robin. (1986). Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan. Columbia University Press, New York.
the viewer’s appropriate “choral support” of the feelings evoked, thus impeding the
viewer’s ability to refer to anything outside the text.132 Reaganite cinema appealed to the
needs and desires produced by real historical conditions (the Manichean weltanschauung
accompanied by political upheaval, a national recession and the restoration of Cold War
ideology), but resolved such tensions in reactionary terms of “make-believe” and
“entertainment,” reaffirming viewers through a series of metaphors of disavowal. On the
one hand, Reaganite cinema harkened a bygone age of patriarchy, family values and
global prestige. On the other, it looked forward to military technocracy, a real star wars
and global empire: “the discourse of a computerized Victoriana [which] offers both an
escape from the real and an accommodation with it.”133
Britton likens the Reaganite cinema to a comic strip version of reality, in which
traditional Gothic notions of an “evil” produced and reified by culture and in persistent
dialectical relation to “good” is reduced to a metaphysical presence which antedates
human existence and takes possession of individuals. Evil becomes an externalized force
that invades and penetrates an idyllic goodness - the infallible America and its righteous,
unassailable institutions. “Good” is the naturalized role of the U.S. defending the free
world via technological militarism; evil is the anxiety of technology placed in the hands
of some foreign entity.
In investigating reactionary allusions of E.T. and Superman, Britton seemed to
flinch at fully contemplating a central development in Reaganite cinema - its increasing
topicality:
To dramatise the politics of the new right seriously would be to run the
risk, under present conditions, either of exposing their incoherence or of
stimulating the very anxieties which it is the film’s function to lay to
rest.134
132
Britton, “Blissing Out,” 1–42.
133
9.
134
9.
Yet, Britton somewhat underestimated the potential of a chauvinistic Hollywood cinema,

wherein the Real could be referenced topically in concert with wish-fulfillment and
psychic displacement. As the U.S. increasingly saw itself the victim of the monstrous
Other in an age of terror, a reactionary cinema would reference a series of international
incidents with topical and visual realism, while reinventing simplistic and preferred
narrative outcomes to complex geopolitical issues. In fact, at the height of Reaganite
hegemony, the echo chamber of print journalism and broadcast media succeeded in
concretizing rightwing discourses in forms of misremembered nostalgia and forms
“acting out” against an imagined other, and while patronizingly indexing (but
increasingly marginalizing) competing national discourses, it ultimately privileged a toxic
form of militaristic patriotism.
Visions of militaristic patriotism became far more topical from First Blood (1982)
to Top Gun (1986) and could be assured box office success.135 The patriotic and
militaristic action film, such as Red Dawn, Uncommon Valor, Missing in Action, Rocky
IV, Rambo II, and Invasion U.S.A., became a leading genre of the 1980s.136 Most of these
films contained the fundamental qualities of Reaganite cinema: regression to infantile
fantasy (covert rescue missions of imaginary POW’s in Vietnam, Russia or the Middle
East or revenge fantasies), hyperbolic fears of fascism and nuclear holocaust (Third
World and Soviet invaders with nuclear bombs), the restoration of the father (idealized
patriotic soldiers and homoerotic bonding), and the fetishism of special effects
(spectacular pyrotechnics and military technofetishism).
The progression from metaphoric to topical was a prolonged process that began
with the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but flourished significantly in the period from
Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983 to
the bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya in 1986.137 The “evil empire” was, of
course, the Soviet Union, which according to the Sterling thesis was the vanguard of a
135
Tomasulo, Frank P. (1982 Fall). Mr. Jones Goes to Washington: Myth and Religion in Raiders of the
Lost Ark. Quarterly Review of Film Studies 7(4): 331-40; Edelman, Rob. (1986). Top Gun. Cinéaste 15(1):
41–42; Fry, Carol and Kemp, Christopher. (1996, October). Rambo Agonistes. Literature-Film Quarterly
24(4):367.
136
Hellinger, Daniel and Brooks, Dennis R. Judd. (1991). The Democratic Façade. Pacific Grove,
California: Cole Publishing Company.
broad conspiracy of “international terrorism,” actively funding and stirring up proxy

terror around the world.138 Despite Sterling’s dubious thesis, informed by rightwing
publications and CIA blowback sources, and The Terror Network’s negative scholarly
reviews,139 it was a fashionable among the Reagan administration intelligentsia in the
early 1980s and much touted in the pages of the New York Times.140 CIA director,
William Casey, described Sterling’s book to CIA intelligence officers: “I paid $13.95 for
this and it told me more than you bastards whom I pay $50,000 a year.”141
A number of intellectuals from psychoanalyst Glen Gabbard to film critic Peter
Biskind saw Reaganite ideology as an embodiment of the “paranoid style” in U.S.
politics: “the existence of a vast, insidious, preternaturally effective international
conspiratorial network designed to perpetrate acts of the most fiendish character,”
according to Richard Hofstadter’s classic 1965 essay.142 Whereas the last peak of
paranoid ideology had flourished in the anti-Soviet McCarthyism of 1950s, the 1980s
return of the paranoid was characterized by Arab, Asian and Russian stereotypes and
fears of invasion. Strongly reminiscent of fascist popular culture of 1930s Nazism,
topical Reaganite texts obsessed over the distrust of liberal government, “stab-in-the-
back” theories of Vietnam and an erwachen (“wake-up call”) to rural America in the
form of Ubermensch outsider-heroes. Industry experts were beginning to recognize an
alarming trend in subject matter and when asked what films studios want, were most
137
Reagan, Ronald. (2000). Speech before the National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983. In J.
F. Watts and Fred L. Israel (Eds), Presidential Documents. New York: Routledge, pp. 365-368; Reagan’s
incessant belligerence towards Libya was in part inspired by the Rambo series. Wimmer, Adi. (1992).
Recyclings of the Frontier Myth in Vietnam War Films of the 1980s. In Walter Grünzweig, Roberta
Maierhofer and Adolf Wimmer (Eds.), Constructing the Eighties: Versions of an American Decade.
Tubingen, Germany: Gunter Narr Verlag, p. 113.
138
Sterling, Claire. (1981). The Terror Network. New York: Reader’s Digest Press.
139
Ege, Konrad. (1982, Summer - Autumn). The Terror What? Journal of Palestine Studies 11(4): 122-127;
Stohl, Michael. (1983, April). The International Network of Terrorism. Journal of Peace Research 20(1):
87-94.
140
Herman, Edward S. (1998, May). All the News Fit to Print, Part II. Z magazine. Retrieved May 19,
2007, from http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/AllNewsFit_Herman2.html; Sterling, Claire.
(1981, March 1). Terrorism: Tracing the International Network. New York Times, p. SM4.
141
Woodward, Bob. (1987). Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. Headline Press, pp. 125-127.
142
Quoted in Beale, Lewis. (1986, January 5). Attention, Latent Paranoids: Hollywood Is Out To Get You.
Chicago Tribune, p. 4.
likely to reply, “Chauvinism […] right wing movies wherein America rewrites its own
history.”143
Reaganite ideology was founded upon the trauma. Thus, the formulation of 1980s
Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. identities might help us to understand and even resolve
political conflicts – from the “War on Terror” to the Israeli-Palestine conflict – that arise
from traumatic events. Berger furnishes examples of Israeli (medieval pogroms,
Holocaust, Arab aggression), Palestinian (Crusades, Zionist aggression) and U.S.
(Vietnam, 9/11) traumas, making the case that through transference and acting out, Israel
fights Communist/Nazi/Palestine and Palestinians fight U.S./European
imperialism/Israelis. 144 In this way, “conflicts continue in the present and often
compound the effects of past traumas.”145 Berger suggests that trauma studies and
psychoanalysis, especially theories articulated by LaCapra, can be another productive
approach to understanding political violence between the Western and Middle Eastern
society in Reaganite ideology.
LaCapra’s Writing History, Writing Trauma is concerned with the interpretation
of historical traumas, such as the Holocaust, and trauma’s lasting consequences.146 In the
case of unmastered trauma, the victim is often “haunted” by the original event and caught
up in its compulsive repetition. LaCapra, drawing concepts from psychoanalysis and
applying them to historical studies, describes two forms of remembering traumatic
events: “acting out” (melancholy) and “working through” (mourning). He argues that the
remembrance of traumatic events that are “charged with emotion and value” is likely to
involve “transference,” or “the tendency to repeat or reenact performatively in one’s own
discourse or relations processes active in the object of study.”147 Working through, on the
143
Walker, Beverly. (1986, January 26). '86 Trends Uncertainty Hangs Heavy in Hollywood. San
Francisco Chronicle.
144
Berger, James. (2003, Jan-Feb). A war of ghosts: Trauma theories, traumatic histories, and the Middle
East. Tikkun, 18(1): 72
145
Berger, James. (2003, Jan-Feb). A war of ghosts: Trauma theories, traumatic histories, and the Middle
East. Tikkun, 18(1): 75
146
LaCapra, Dominick. (2001). Writing History, Writing Trauma, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press).
147
Press), p. 36.
other hand, is a process in which a person seeks to gain “critical distance on a

problem.”148 Working through is not a panacea toward traumatic closure, but it certainly
does enable one to distinguish between the experience that overwhelmed him/her and
his/her present life.
Žižek posits that embodiments of “evil” are really the symptoms of western
military excess and acting out.149 One key ideological structural excess was the
overidentification with the military power system via a cinema that repeatedly fails to
recognize that terrorism is not the remnant of some barbaric past, but the necessary
outcome of western power itself. As power generates its own excess, it has to annihilate
this excess in the domain of secret operations. Žižek calls the “war on terror” a form of
acting out; it functions as an act whose true aim is to lull us into the falsely secure
conviction that nothing has really changed. Abstraction is inscribed into a very real
situation and terrorism is simply a counterpoint to this warfare. Instead of acting out, one
should seek direct confrontation with obscene racist fantasies, such as counterterrorism
discourses circulated in the public space.
The Delta Force
Following Operation Thunderbolt in 1977 and Golan and Globus’ migration to
the U.S. in 1979, Cannon was responsible for dozens of runaway productions in Israel
and frequently encouraged other U.S. filmmakers to shoot there. Because of rampant
inflation in Israel, U.S. film producer could make a film in Israel at a fraction of what it
would cost in the states (e.g. a film at $6 million in that states could be shot for $1.6
million in Israel).150 In most Israeli films of the 1980s, the derogatory portrayal of Arabs
had changed dramatically, yet Golan would continue the traditional Israeli image of the
Arab monster. The Ambassador (1984), shot on location in the occupied West Bank,
portrays the Middle East as a “powder keg ready to explode,” and Robert Mitchum as a
148
Press), p. 133-134.
149
Žižek, Slavoj. (2002). Welcome to the Desert of the Real. New York, Verso.
150
Hollinger, H. (1980, February 20). Israel Inflation Favors Visiting U.S. Filmers, Argues Golan Party.
Variety, p. 28.
U.S. ambassador to Israel, who seeks to resolve tensions between Palestinians and
Israelis. The Ambassador bombed in its theatrical release, but picked up sales on
syndicated, cable and ancillary markets.151 In Hell Squad (1985), a troupe of Las Vegas
showgirls are trained as covert commandoes and assigned to liberate the son of a U.S.
ambassador, who is being held by wicked Palestinian terrorists, who wish to exchange
their hostage for top-secret plans to build an “ultra neutron bomb.”152
However, it was a relationship with rightwing action hero and screenwriter Chuck
Norris that heralded Cannon’s most representative expression of militaristic,
counterterror cinema. Norris, a former Korean War veteran and middle weight world
karate champion, had been a personal trainer to Steve McQueen and worked his way
from file clerk at aerospace and defense conglomerate Northrop to bit parts in action
films.153 In 1983, Norris and director Lance Hool were trying to find a producer for a
Vietnam POW rescue film and joined up with Cannon to make Missing in Action I & II
back to back in the Philippines.154 Based on the popular success of Missing in Action
films, Cannon cut an exclusive six picture deal with Norris.155 The first film, Invasion
U.S.A., a $13 million thriller shot in Atlanta, GA, portrayed a hodgepodge of terrorist
types, ranging from Asian to Arab to Latino, which invade the Florida coastline and
ramble across the state, causing mayhem from the suburbs of Miami to the shopping
malls of Atlanta. Having the leader of the terrorist group, Rostov, coded as Russian is
certainly evocative of the Sterling thesis; the film was inspired by Norris’s reading of
Reader’s Digest tripe about hundreds of terrorists circulating within the U.S.156
151
Cain, Scott. (1986, February 22). Menahem Golan's Heights Hustling Throwback Going for More than
Schlock Value. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, p. L15.
152
Shaheen, J. G. (2001). Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. New York: Olive Branch
Press.
153
Cain, Scott. (1986, March 15). Chuck Norris Takes Aim. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, p. L32;
Sanello, Frank. (1986, November 25). Norris fights to the top. Waterloo Courier, p. C4.
154
Norris, C., & Hyams, J. (1988). The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story. Boston: Little, Brown, p. 160;
Kristof, Nicholas D. (1986, January 22). After Making Money on Schlock, Cannon Trying for
Respectability. Houston Chronicle, p. 4.
155
Norris Prepares for ‘Delta Force’ Role. (1985, July 23). Hollywood Reporter, p. 33, AFI/Mayer Library
Clipping File, USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA.
156
Sherbert, Linda. (1985, July 8). Norris Ready to Invade Theaters Again. Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, p. B1. The Reader’s Digest is a well known platform for pro-military, conservative and
reactionary viewpoints, including writings of Claire Sterling and other CIA sources: Heidenry, J. (1993).
Theirs Was the Kingdom: Lila and Dewitt Wallace and the Story of the Reader's Digest. New York: W.W.
Since the beginning of 1985, Norris had been developing a second picture for
Cannon entitled The Delta Force, which purportedly was to portray U.S. counterterrorist
commandos liberating a hijacked tourist bus in Israel.157 Advance reports from Cannes in
early May suggested that the project would team up Norris as ex-CIA agent and Charles
Bronson as a former Green Beret, would be directed by Joseph Zito, and funded by $12
million of a special Wall Street investment package;158 Cannon’s advertisements ad
Cannes advised, “Start building bigger theaters.”159 The following week, similar
announcements were made from the production office of Norris’s’ Invasion U.S.A. in
Atlanta, GA.160
However, fate changed the focal point considerably after Norris witnessed
television coverage of the TWA Flight 847 hijacking from June 14-30, 1985.161 This true
story inspired Norris and Golan set to work on a new script, preparing the story and
working out structure as the TWA hostage situation unfolded from Athens to Rome and
an American military diver, Robert Stethem, was shot and his corpse thrown from the
plane at the Beirut airport.162 As the U.S. Delta Force squad was sent to Cyprus to
prepare for a rescue mission, Norris and Golan waited anxiously for Reagan’s go-
ahead;163 but in the end, Reagan called off the U.S. Delta Force and Israel held
negotiations and released 750 Palestinian and Lebanese political prisoners in exchange
for the release of hostages. Crestfallen, Norris howled to attentive media that the United
Norton.
157
Cain, Scott. (1986, February 22). Menahem Golan's Heights Hustling Throwback Going for More than
Schlock Value. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, p. L15; Silverman, Stephen M. (1985, November 7).
Chuck Norris Pilots Delta to Happy End. New York Post.
158
Bronson, Norris Team Up For Cannon’s ‘Delta Force’ Feature. (1985, May 10), Hollywood Reporter,
pp. 1, 33, AFI/Mayer Library Clipping File, USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA.
159
Armstrong, Douglas D. (1985, May 19). That Blanket over Cannes Is Hype Spread by Wheeling,
Dealing Cannon. Chicago Tribune, p. 12.
160
Cain, Scott. (1985, May 24). Rhodes to show Ònce Upon a Time in the West'. Atlanta Journal and
Constitution, p. P6;
161
Norris, C., & Hyams, J. (1988). The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story. Boston: Little, Brown, p. 169;
Baskett, B. (1986, April 1). Marvin V The Karate Kid. The Telegraph.
162
Guthmann, Edward. (1986, February 16). `The Delta Force' Chuck Norris Kicks Terrorists' Butts in
Beirut. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 19; Lewin, David. (1986, April 19). Hijack Drama with a Twist. The
Advertiser.
163
Strickler, Jeff. (1986, February 20). `Delta Force' gives `what if' view on end to hijacking. Star Tribune;
Kass, Carole. (1986, February 18). Hero to All Norris Likes Beating up Bad Guys, Feels like Wayne.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, B5.
States was getting a “wimpy image” abroad and becoming a “paper tiger” in the Middle
East, because of “our passive approach to terrorism.” Norris suggested that he would
have handled the TWA hijacking by, “send[ing] the Delta Force immediately.” 164
Norris also informed Golan that he planned to go ahead make a movie in which
Delta Force brings the situation to an end though a heroic rescue mission. Golan agreed
with Norris – just as Sylvester Stallone was rewriting Vietnam in a way patriotic
Americans wanted it – so too Norris and Golan would rewrite the TWA hijacking.165
Golan, recognizing the patriotic mood in the U.S. since the 1984 Olympics, assessed a
probable market and target audience for such a Canon production: “I’m convinced the
film will arouse a feeling of total identification and great national pride in American
audiences.”166 Thus, the new screenplay for The Delta Force would be developed as
roughly identical to news media reports of the TWA hijacking, but then the story would
be fictionalized to resolve the hijacking through an aggressive redemption fantasy (an
acting out), replete with covert military attacks on Arab strongholds in Beirut by the
special U.S. army strike force, Delta. For Norris, writing the screenplay would confuse
regressive acting out with more therapeutic forms of traversing fantasy:
There’s a lot of frustration in America. Our government isn’t going to do anything
about terrorism. At least [people] can go to a movie for a couple of hours and see
a positive side to this thing and leave the theatre feeling better than when they
went in there. I think it has a therapeutic effect. I know it did for me. It’s one way
for me to retaliate. The only thing that would have been better would be to have
[the terrorists] in a room alone for 10 minutes, but unfortunately that won’t
happen. I made the movie to do what everyone … would like to have been done.
That’s entertainment. People need to feel this.167
164
Tough guy says U.S. has wimpy image. (1985, July 5). Daily Herald (Chicago), p. 2.
165
Guthmann, Edward. (1986, February 16). `The Delta Force' Chuck Norris Kicks Terrorists' Butts in
Beirut. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 19; Kass, Carole. (1986, February 18). Hero to All Norris Likes
Beating up Bad Guys, Feels like Wayne. Richmond Times-Dispatch, B5; Brooks, David. (1986, February
27). Movie Moguls Shoot to Top. Washington Times; Buzz: Chucking the facts. (1985, August 18). Sunday
Times (London, England).
166
Gelbitz, Itour. (1985, October 8). Delta Force takes aim at terrorists. Hollywood Reporter, p. 10.
167
Brooks, David. (1986, February 27). Movie Moguls Shoot to Top. Washington Times.
Acting as the producer, Golan was not about to let such a film lose its topicality through
delayed production; he was a crass opportunist, who presently had been rushing
Bronson’s vigilante picture, Death Wish III, through production to ensure that the film
would be released by early fall 1985, just in time to cash in on the Bernhard Goetz trial
(Goetz shot four teenagers in New York subway in an act of citizen vigilantism on
December 22, 1984).168 Thus, Golan scuttled the production of The Delta Force from its
initial January 1986 start date, to September 18, 1985 for a Christmas release.169 By the
middle of July, 1985, Israeli producer Ronny Yakov was sent from the Los Angeles
Cannon headquarters back to Tel Aviv to initiate preproduction.170 Norris had also
wrapped the Atlanta, GA production of Invasion U.S.A. and was now prepared to throw
his energies into The Delta Force.171 By the end the next week, Cannon had brought in
James Bruner to lend a hand in scripting the film, and Bruner helped hammer out a draft
by August 15, 1985.172
Casting swiftly followed. Bronson, citing schedule conflicts (but, perhaps, also
being upstaged by Norris in the show), ducked out and Lee Marvin was selected for the
role of former green beret, Col. Nick Alexander.173 Golan himself was to direct the film,
although there was for a short period rumor that Samuel Fuller was helming.174 By mid-
September casting was complete; Robert Forster had signed on as the head Shi’ite
terrorist, Abdul; Golan would select Israeli actors to play the additional hijackers. Bo
Svenson was cast as the TWA pilot, and for transnational appeal, German actress Hanna
168
Golan suggested that Goetz make a brief appearance in the film, but director Winner rejected that idea.
Taylor, Clarke. (1985, May 21). Bronson's Back- That Means Death Wish III. Los Angeles Times.
169
Ellis, Kirk. (1985, August 1). Marvin Signs for ‘Delta Force.’ Hollywood Reporter, p. 4, AFI/Mayer
Library Clipping File, USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA; Cain, Scott. (1985, August 16).
Film Notes. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, p. P12.
170
Israel. (1985, July 23). Hollywood Reporter, p. 36.
171
Norris Prepares for ‘Delta Force’ Role. (1985, July 23). Hollywood Reporter, p. 33, AFI/Mayer Library
Clipping File, USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA.
172
Bruner to ‘Delta Force.’ (1985, July 15). Hollywood Reporter, Delta Force Clippings File, Margaret
Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA; Bruner, Jim and
Golan, Menahem. (1985, August 15). “Delta Force.” Screenplay (Photocopy, Hollywood Scripts, 1993).
Imaginative Representations of the Vietnam War, Connelly Library Special Collections, LaSalle
University, Philadelphia, PA.
173
Ellis, Kirk. (1985, August 1). Marvin Signs for ‘Delta Force.’ Hollywood Reporter, p. 4, AFI/Mayer
Library Clipping File, USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA.
174
Carr, Jay. (1985, September 23). 'Louie Bluie' Premiere at Brattle. Boston Globe, p. 28.
Schygulla would emulate the role of the true-life TWA 727 flight attendant, Uli
Derickson.175 Finally, Joey Bishop, Lainie Kazan, George Kennedy, Martin Balsam, Kim
Delaney, Susan Strasberg, Shelley Winters and Paul Sorvino joined up to participate as
the hostages, an ensemble casting which suggested that The Delta Force would handle its
victimology in terms familiar to the disaster genre.176
Since the narrative realism of The Delta Force screenplay was considerably
shaped by portrayals of the hijacking crisis in U.S. network evening newscast coverage,
which was itself highly chauvinistic, melodramatic and reactive,177 it is not surprising that
the film tends to focus on the plight of hostages and their families and U.S. military
reactions and threats to international terrorism, while scarcely giving any serious
consideration to Shi’ite demands, Lebanese history and political culture, or the actual
functioning of Israeli and U.S. diplomacy during the TWA hijacking affair. Many
reviewers initially referred the beginning of the The Delta Force as “factual” or
“docudrama,” yet the portrayal of events and specific actions of the hijackers and the
hostages in the screenplay are largely conjectural, and furthermore, manipulated toward
acting out obvious sympathies and identifications.
The terrorists are continually qualified as “hurried,” “alarming,” “sweating
profusively,” and cursing in Arabic with no subtitles (although it is known that the TWA
hijackers spoke in German); the elderly men and women are gentle and sympathetic, and
indeed, still traumatized by the Jewish Holocaust of some forty years before; small
children are made to ask their parents why, “Is it better to be Jewish?”178 U.S. servicemen
175
Feature Castings. (1985, Sept. 30). Hollywood Reporter, p. 17; Film Talk. (1985, September 20).
Washington Post; Stark, John. (1986, February 10). Europe's Incandescent Hanna Schygulla Blazes in
Peter The Great. People Weekly, p. 58. Uli Derickson’s real-life story was being made into a television
movie, Hostage Taking of Flight 847, The Uli Derickson Story (1988) with Lindsay Wagner. Canby,
Vincent. (1986, February 23). Don't Mess With Us Celluloid Tigers. New York Times, p. 19; Fuller, Linda
K. Hollywood Holding Us Hostage: Or, Why are Terrorists in the Movies Middle Easterners? In Y. R.
Kamalipour (Ed.), The U.S. Media and The Middle East: Image and Perception. Westport: Greenwood
Press, 187.
176
New York Soundtrack. (1985, August 28). Variety, p. 28; Israel. (1985, September 17). Hollywood
Reporter, p. 26; ‘The Delta Force’ Begins Production. (1985, Sept, 19). Hollywood Reporter, p. 17.
177
Atwater, Tony. (Sum-Fall 1987). Network Evening News Coverage of the TWA Hostage Crisis.
Journalism Quarterly 64(2-3): 520-25.
178
Bruner, Jim and Golan, Menahem. (1985, August 15). “Delta Force.” Screenplay (Photocopy,
Hollywood Scripts, 1993). Imaginative Representations of the Vietnam War, Connelly Library Special
Collections, LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA.
are portrayed as attractive to young women (especially Israeli servicewomen) and kind to
admiring children; the U.S. Delta Force is given an especially heroic portrayal. Such
panegyrics contradict the fact that the real Delta Force had largely been a failure: the
rescue mission in Iran was botched, an experiment at Grenada was a catastrophe after
Cubans quickly spotted parachuters, the storming of a Pan American flight during a
Karachi hijacking failed, and Army Special Operations Forces were presently under
investigation for misuse and laundering of $150 million in government “black” funds.179
Golan admitted that Delta Force did not, “have the kind of glory that we give them in the
movie.”180
In order to show that Delta Force will get the job done this time, the screenplay
is compelled to open with a reenactment of the bungled April 1980 Iranian rescue attempt
of 53 American embassy hostages, in which eight Delta commandoes died in the desert
when a C-130 transport plane collided with the U.S. rescue helicopter. Director Golan,
“wanted to begin Delta Force with the disaster in Iran, because that was the turning point
in America’s policy on terrorism. The American people were furious when they realized
that the U.S. had become completely powerless against fanatics.”181 The scene also
introduces Major Scott McCoy’s (Norris) disenchanted departure from the force (“It’s the
goddamn Vietnam war all over again. Politicians do the planning …while we do the
dying […] because of some assholes in Washington”). The “stab-in-back” mentality is
exploited to establish that in Delta Force’s next terrorist challenge, McCoy will come out
of retirement to defend “his boys” from bureaucratic vacillation and wrangling.
Norris and Golan suggested in many interviews that the U.S. should adopt Israel’s
approach to counterterrorism.182 In the screenplay, Delta Force lands in Israel and meets
179
Huneter, Stephen. (1986, February 14). Delta Force Raid Seems More Like a Fraternity Party.
Baltimore Sun; ‘Black’ Funds; Elite Army Troops Face Charges. (Dec 2, 1985). Time, p. 41; Brummer,
Alex. (1986, September 9). Delta Fails to Flex Its Anti-Terror Muscle / US Special Operations Force
Problems. Guardian.
180
Guthmann, Edward. (1986, February 16). Chuck Norris kicks terrorist’s butts in Beirut. San Francisco
Examiner Chronicle, pp. 19, 28.
181
“Delta Force: Press Kit.” Production Notes. Cannon Publicity Department. 1986. Special Collections,
USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA.
182
Millar, Jeff. (1986, February 14). Norris Goes Up Against Terrorists in `Delta Force.' Houston
Chronicle, p. 1; Meisels, Andrew. (1985, Oct 13). Rewriting a Nightmare. New York Daily News.
Raffi Amir of Mossad. In an Israeli army mess hall, Col. Nick Alexander (Marvin) tells
the Israeli commandoes, “You people have had a hell of a lot of experience with this kind
of thing.” After providing the Delta Force commandoes with weapons from a Mossad
research and development lab and several Isreali commandoes to aide in the rescue, Raffi
tells them, “I wish I was going with you.” Alexander replies, “You guys had your chance.
It’s time we had ours.”183
For technical assistance, military equipment and logistics, Golan collaborated
closely with the Israeli government and received full cooperation from the Israeli
Ministry of Defense, including Yitzhak Rabin’s and Ariel Sharon’s assistance. For these
services, Cannon would pay nearly $175,000 and make a generous contribution to the
Association of the Soldier.184 Israeli intelligence offered advice on aspects of the
screenplay.185 The Israeli Air Force would provide sophisticated airpower, such as
Hercules transport aircraft and GH-53 helicopters, which were decorated with U.S. flags
and the Delta Force logo.186 The IDF would loan out Colt firearms and mini Uzzi
machineguns for the Delta Force characters; the Shi’ite characters would be equipped
with Kalashnikov AK47s, Czech V2 rifles, mortars and RPG anti-tank rockets
confiscated by Israelis during active service in Lebanon. 187 Among the 40 extras
recruited to play Delta Force commandoes were Israeli Special Services counterterrorism
officers.
After noticing Cannon’s publicity for the film prior to production in late August
1985, Don Baruch of U.S. Department of Defense Public Affairs office commented to the
San Francisco Chronicle that no one from Cannon had contacted him about technical
assistance and that the Pentagon would most likely not be able to cooperate, due to the
agency’s secrecy: “It will have to be fictionalized and based on conjecture.” As another
183
Bruner, Jim and Golan, Menahem. (1985, August 15). “Delta Force.” Screenplay (Photocopy,
Hollywood Scripts, 1993). Imaginative Representations of the Vietnam War, Connelly Library Special
Collections, LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA.
184
Adar, Thiya. (1986, April 18). Twenty Million Dollars in Four Weeks. Yedioth Ahronoth.
185
Meisels, Andrew. (1985, Oct 13). Rewriting a Nightmare. New York Daily News.
186
USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA; Pomerantz, Marcha. (1985, November 22).
Preoccupation. Jerusalem Post.
187
Lewin, David. (1986, April 19). Hijack Drama with a Twist. The Advertiser.
Pentagon source put it, “We don’t get into the who or the what about [Delta Force].”188
However, Cannon ended up recruiting a retired veteran of the U.S. Army special forces,
Capt. Jim Monaghan, as technical adviser. The level of assistance from the Pentagon to
Cannon is not exactly clear, but it appears that Monaghan visited actor Lee Marvin at his
home near Tucson, Arizona and then traveled to Tel Aviv, serving as a liaison, and
eventually providing weapons and leaking secret information about U.S. Delta Force.189
Delta Force would make available “rapid attack vehicles” – heavily armed dune
buggies outfitted with sophisticated radio gear, a grenade launcher and M-60 guns, which
were developed by Chenowth racing products of San Diego for the U.S. Army.
According to Monaghan, the vehicles had never before been seen on film. Also provided
was a specially designed Delta Force reconnaissance motorcycle, with 9mm submachine
guns on the handles, rocket pods mounted on the frame and a special silencing muffler,
with which Chuck Norris could dispatch “terrorists” in the screenplay’s finale.190 But
apparently, having both Israeli and Pentagon assistance proved too much, as respective
officials contradicted one another over the technical “realism” of U.S. special operations
while advising the filmmakers. Israeli counterterror experts ridiculed Monaghan’s advice
and reminded him that the U.S. Delta Force had thus far been a failure. Golan chided
him, “We are Israelis. Don’t teach us how to fight.”191 After three weeks Monaghan left
the set; so much for the “real” Delta Force. Actor Paul Sorvino also left due to “creative
differences” with Golan.192
The film began production on September 18, 1985 and was shot almost
completely in Israel, where Golan and crew could replicate nearly any Middle Eastern
location or ethnic character.193 Budgeted at $8 million, The Delta Force was then the
188
Swertlow, Frank. (1985, August 30). Boston Spensermania. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 77; Swertlow,
Frank. (1985, September 2). Hollywood Freeway. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 40.
189
190
USC Film and Television Library, Los Angeles, CA; Guthmann, Edward. (1986, February 16). Chuck
Norris kicks terrorist’s butts in Beirut. San Francisco Examiner Chronicle, pp. 19, 28.
191
192
Hollywood Soundtrack. (1985, October 2). Variety, p. 22.
193
Meisels, Andrew. (1985, Oct 13). Rewriting a Nightmare. New York Daily News.
largest feature film ever shot on location in Israel. With a 250 member crew and 1000
extras for 10 weeks of production, the film surpassed the historical Exodus production of
1959.194
Golan was still writing the movie as it was being filmed.195 Shooting began
with scenes portraying the opening of the script, the plane and Shi’ite hijacking. Golan
did not think that the Greek government would give him permission to shoot at the
Athens airport, so the opening exterior scenes there were shot guerilla (without
permission). Golan bought a second-hand Boeing 707 aircraft to recreate the TWA
airliner. To avoid pending lawsuits from TWA, who had discovered Golan’s intentions
to recreate the hijacking, the title of the airline in the film was changed to “American
Travelways” (ATW 282) with a logo not unlike that of TWA.196 Ben Gurion airport at
Tel Aviv would stand in for Beirut, while the airport at Jerusalem would be Algiers.197
For over two months, Golan’s ATW, in which exterior and interior scenes hijack scenes
were shot, was parked on a two acre field at Ben Gurion International.
The aircraft was registered in order to allow filmed landings, aerial shots and
takeoffs. On Saturdays, when the airport closed for the Sabbath, the terminal was open to
the film crew, along with the control tower, hangar and several runways. Shooting
interiors in the plane created a claustrophobic sensation, which actress Shelley Winters
described as, “terrifyingly realistic.” Martin Balsam discussed the scene: “We learned
what puts terror in the word terrorism. One thing’s for sure, I’m not looking forward to
the flight home.”198 Golan felt that, “no other setting could have reproduced the
claustrophobic terror of innocent people being trapped by killers in midair.”199 To make
the passengers on the plane appear at all times to be perspiring and in intense horror,
director Golan carried about a water spray gun. It just happened that while Golan and
194
Silverman, Stephen M. (1985, November 7). Chuck Norris Pilots Delta to Happy End. New York Post;
Gelbitz, Itour. (1985, October 8). Delta Force takes aim at terrorists. Hollywood Reporter, p. 10.
195
Ebert, Roger. (1986, February 16). Contracts with Cannon. Chicago Sun-Times, p. 3.
196
197
198
199
crew was shooting the hostage scenes at Tel Aviv in early October, the Achille Lauro, an
Italian shipliner, was hijacked by four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front.
The crew was having a hard time making believe. Winters explained, “It’s difficult to act
like we’re worried about ourselves at a time like this, when other lives may be at
stake.”200 Golan and Globus, already considering a sequel, joked about the Achille Lauro,
“That’s Delta Force II.”201
Completing the recording at the remote section of Ben Gurion/Lod Airport in
mid-October, shooting next turned to sequences with Norris and Marvin and the
commando unit. To simulate the failed Iranian Desert rescue, the sequence was shot in
Palmahim, an Israeli coastal area characterized by its wind swept sand dunes. Over 100
actors and extras were used. Several cranes hoisted clusters of powerful lights into the air
to illuminate the nighttime scene and twenty foot towers were erected to hold five
cameras to film the master shot. Two burning helicopters were also needed for the scene,
so an old wreck was bought and burned to the ground. Another helicopter was blown up
by the special effects crew. For Norris’s counterterrorist showdown, the ancient city of
Jaffa, with its distinctly Middle Eastern character, stood in for Beirut. While filming the
attack and chase scenes with deafening shooting and explosions, the crew traumatized the
normally quiet city. Switchboards were jammed for hours on the first few nights as
anxious residents imagined outbreak of war. In the finale, when the production crew
blew up an abandoned school and illuminated the entire sky with fire, a French
ambassador to Israel, standing on a roof nearby, waved his binoculars, shouting, perhaps
in jest, “Vive la Force Delta!”
Production wrapped on November 26, 1985. Typically, a big-budget film
requires four to six months of post-production work, however, in a feverish pace of 80
days, Delta Force was edited, mixed, scored and marketed for a February 14, 1986
release. “We had a very good team of editors,” Golan explains, “and we knew that with
each day we were losing impact, losing the feeling in the streets about terrorism. We
thought this is a movie that has to do with a momentum, and if it’s not out immediately, it
200
Silverman, Stephen M. (1985, November 7). Chuck Norris Pilots Delta to Happy End. New York Post.
201
Burden , Martin. (1986, February 13). Sgt. Marvin Makes Colonel and Saves the World. New York Post.
will probably turn into just another movie.”202 A week and a half after postproduction was
finished, the film opened in 1700 theaters across North America, again the widest release
of any Cannon feature to date.203 One-sheets for the film portrayed Chuck Norris and Lee
Marvin staring at the reader, unloading their machine gunfire, while helicopters and Delta
Force special operations troops raced across the desert floor after Arabs. The tagline read,
“The Siege…The Ordeal… The Rescue.” Foreign releases were planned for February and
March 1986.204
Critical reaction to the film was wildly negative; some derided the film for
exploiting tragic events for profit. Golan retorted that cashing in means also pleasing
people: “Let me explain to you exploitation films. You call them exploitation films. I call
them crowd-pleasers. People are coming there to release frustrations to sit on the edge of
their seat. I make movies for the mass audience as much as possible.”205 Golan was
looking to cash in on sequels, video sales and a television series. Catching the wave of
licensing, Golan even hoped that The Delta Force would be able to expand into the toy
market. Ever since Rambo became one of the first rated R films with action figures and
cartoon licensing by Coleco, there was a perceived licensing potential for militaristic
action themes and heroes. Golan and Norris were penning licensing deals with Kenner
for a Chuck Norris karate champ and Coleco for The Delta Force action figures.206
According to industry wonk David Leibowitz, such action figures, “exude[d] patriotism
and all that’s right with America.”207
Other film reviewers called The Delta Force, “cinematic moral stench” and
“vomitous” propaganda for continued American support of Israel and rightwing military
agendas.208 Condemnation was brought upon the film by Arab interest groups, who
202
203
Debut Date Set for Cannon’s Force. (1986, February 1). Screen International, p. 8.
204
Cannon to Release Force in 2000 Houses. (1985, December 17). Variety, p.28.
205
Brooks, David. (1986, February 27). Movie Moguls Shoot to Top. Washington Times.
206
Lacter, Mark. (1985, December 9). Reaping Profits from Violence Fad. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 23.
207
Old Toys in New Clothes. (1985, December 16). Newsweek, p. 50.
208
Baltake, Joe. (1986, February 18). Norris and Marvin to the Rescue. Philadelphia Daily News, p. 45;
O'Connor, Bill. (1986, February 20). Cinematic Moral Stench Is Insult. Akron Beacon Journal, p. B4.
objected to its stereotypes and monstrous portrayal of Arabs.209 On February 22, 1986,
while Cannon hosted a black tie party at its new office building, a group of Arab
American demonstrators held a candle-light vigil outside and distributed circulars
protesting Cannon as “Israeli hawks” and The Delta Force as, “cruel anti-Arab
propaganda, fomenting hate, inciting violence.”210 Vision International Productions head,
Richard Haboush, lead the protest, which had spontaneously developed in the Arab
American community. Golan responded that The Delta Force was not an anti-Arab
movie, but an anti-terrorist movie. Attending the black tie party was Tom Bradley,
mayor of Los Angeles; Bradley on the whole ignored the Arab American demonstrators.
Iron Eagle
Whereas The Delta Force was produced by a production company with deep
ideological roots in Zionism and a creative relationship with a U.S. right-wing action
movie star, Iron Eagle evolved from mass entertainment into a superpatriot venture
directly influenced by Texas oil money. Ultimately, both films were shaped by
cooperation with the Israeli Defense Force. The screenplay for Iron Eagle (originally
entitled Junior Eagle) was cowritten by screenwriter Kevin Elders and Canadian director
Sidney Furie. Furie’s hit and miss career had led to considerable critical skepticism
concerning his taste and artistic judgment.211 The story idea was rooted in Furie’s Cold
War Kindertraum, in which a youngster envisions, “stealing a fighter plane and going off
to knock off some bad guys, or some bad country with it.”212 It was to be a Saturday
matinee about a boy, Doug, whose father, Ted Masters, is an Air Force pilot shot down
over a Middle Eastern country and taken hostage. When U.S. politicians appear to be
doing nothing to liberate of his father, the boy joins up with a retired Air force officer,
Chappy, and commandeers U.S. Air Force F-16 jets to rescue his dad. Furie admitted,
209
Haithman, Diane. (1986, February 18). 'Delta Force' Needs To Be Put To Rest. Detroit Free Press, p.
8C.
210
Cannon’s Force Target of Protest. (1986, February 24). Variety, p. 84.
211
Baker, B. (1979, September). Sidney Furie. Film Dope 18:18.
212
“Iron Eagle: Press Kit.” Production Notes. Tri-Star Pictures. 1986. Special Collections, USC Film and
Television Library, Los Angeles, CA.
“…to write and direct this kind of movie, you’ve got to still be part child.”213 Indeed, the
working title and original conception of the script is telling of the wish-fulfillment, make-
believe, infantilization so characteristic of the Reaganite cinema, in which the U.S. is,
“exonerated from the monster that stands in its midst, and the child itself is construed as
the innocent victim of a hideous destiny.”214
The script was conceived during the feel-good, patriotic summer of the 1984 U.S.
Olympiad (which was boycotted by the Soviet Union, Libya and Iran),215 but Iron Eagle
seems to have been inspired by one international event in particular: On December 4,
1983, a U.S. aircraft conducting air strikes on Beirut was shot down by Syrian anti-
aircraft fire; one naval pilot, Mark A. Lange, died, and the other, Robert O. Goodman, Jr.,
ejected and was taken captive, becoming the first U.S. prisoner of war since the end of
the Vietnam conflict. Donald Rumsfeld was dispatched to Syria to conduct negotiations
regarding the ongoing war in Lebanon, but curiously was under explicit orders to avoid
mentioning Goodman’s name in the talks. Consequentially, Goodman was held captive
in Syria for nearly a month before Rev. Jesse Jackson negotiated his release.216
When the affair became publicly known, the Reagan administration faced
political humiliation because of its apparent refusal to lift a finger to secure the release of
Goodman, while Jackson’s successful negotiation was a triumph for the Democrats.
Jackson was criticized for politicizing the mission, since Goodman was from New
Hampshire and Jackson was jockeying for votes in the New Hampshire primaries.
However, Jackson defended his mission to free Goodman: "Private citizens can either sit
on their back and let this war expand and do nothing or can make full use of the tools at
their disposal, under the law, to help end the conflict."217
213
Mann, Roderick. (1986, February 2). Sidney Furie Leads the Cheer for Iron Eagle. Los Angeles Times, p.
14, AFI MAYER Clipping. MP8762, USC.
214
Britton p. 10
215
Although the U.S. complained about the 1984 boycotts, it had just boycotted the 1980 Moscow
Olympiad; Burns, John F. (1984, May 9). Moscow Will Keep Its Team From Los Angeles Olympics. New
York Times, p. A1.
216
Walker, Wyatt T. 1985. Road to Damascus: Journey of Faith. New York: Martin Luther King Fellows
Press; Raines, Howell. (1984, January 4). Jackson Coup And '84 Race; Democrats to Stress Foreign Policy
Issues. New York Times, p. A8.
217
Stanford, Karin L. (1997). Beyond the boundaries: Reverend Jesse Jackson in international affairs.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp. 89-90.
In a bizarre sort of distorted mirror image, Iron Eagle portrays liberal statesmen
as the vacillators and the right-winger Reaganites as men of action. As one character in
the script explains, whereas Carter was ineffectual, “Rea-GUNS … take[s] no shit.”218 Of
course, the villains in Iron Eagle are an amalgam of Ronald Reagan’s comic book
pantheon of “evil enemies of freedom” in the Middle East. The fictional Middle Eastern
location in the script, Il Kharem, has often been assumed to be Libya;219 the timing of the
film’s production and release fell in the middle of Reagan’s saber rattling with Quadaffi
and the recurrent dogfights between U.S. and Libyan jets over international waters from
1981 to 1986.
To risk stating the obvious, Elders and Furie were trying to capitalize on the
contemporary conflict between the Reagan administration and various charismatic
Middle East bureaucrats – exploiting the lowest common denominator in order to
maximize audience appeal.220 Such a crass type of commercial appeal banks on what
Kracauer has called cinematic zeitgeist, in which the popular cinema functions as a voice
of collective political mentality, i.e., "the inner dispositions of broad strata of the
population.”221 Yet, despite such a conscious effort from the beginning to write a “mass
entertainment” screenplay that, “millions of people will want to see,”222 Iron Eagle was
bounced around for several months, as one Hollywood studio after another rejected the
script. The idea that a young boy could actually steal and pilot an F-16 fighter was risible
– and worse – there were no stars attached to the script. Only Joe Wizan, a former
president at 20th Century Fox who had resigned in July 1984 after numerous production
218
Elders, Kevin and Furie, Sidney. (1985, April 16). “The Iron Eagle.” Screenplay, Revised Draft.
University, Philadelphia, PA., p.
219
Thomas, K. (1986, January 17). Iron Eagle. Los Angeles Times, p. 12; Cain, S. (1986, January 17). ‘Iron
Eagle’ more than a bomb - it’s a leaden dud. Atlanta Journal.
220
As one critic put surmised, “This isn’t a movie about people; it’s about pushing the right buttons.”
Fisher, D. (1986, January 17). Iron Eagle. Hollywood Reporter, p. 12, AFI MAYER Clipping. MP8762,
USC.
221
Kracauer, Siegfried. (1974). From Caligari to Hitler: A psychological history of the German film.
Princeton: Princeton University Press
222
Mann, Roderick. (1986, February 2). Sidney Furie Leads the Cheer for Iron Eagle. Los Angeles Times, p.
failures, including the Sylvester Stallone-Dolly Parton vehicle, Rhinestone (Bob Clark,
1984), could be induced help Furie secure financing for Iron Eagle.223
Incidentally, Ron Samuels, a career personal manager turned television producer,
had landed a $100 million production deal to produce films in the summer of 1984.224
Backing Samuels was an anonymous corporation and Ron Samuels Productions would
not provide any details about the deal or who was behind it, until eventually it was
uncovered that the firm was U.S. Equity Corp., a Texas oil consortium, and the deal
provided financing for three features a year, with funding adhering to $5 million per
picture and $25 million per year as a cushion to absorb overruns.225 The president of U.S.
Equity Corp., Max Williams, had met Samuels through a mutual friend, tennis star Chris
Evert Lloyd. After Samuels mentioned his desire to make conservative films with pro-
American sentiments, Williams invited Samuels to Dallas to form a partnership. 226
Samuels explained the enterprise:
The gentleman in Texas is a real quality human being […] and we have an
understanding in that we both believe in doing things you can be proud of
and feel good about. I think we’re living at a time when getting back to
basics and positive American feeling of patriotism are very important.227
Typical of conservative distinctions between countercultural, progressive trends of the
1970s films and the popular blockbusters of the 1980s, Samuels saw a resurgence of
optimism:
223
Harmetz, Aljean. (1984, Jul 10). Production President Resigns At Fox Studios. New York Times, p. C13.
224
Lally, Kevin. (1986, January). Samuels launches Iron Eagle, 1st film for $100 mil. fund. Film Journal
89: 18.
225
Adams, Lorraine. (1985, February 16). FilmDallas Projecting Sooner-than expected growth. Dallas
Morning News, p. B16; Tusher, W. (1985, February 1). Tri-Star to distrib all Samuels pix. Daily Variety; p.
1; Adams, Lorraine. (1986, April 20). Texas film projects get mixed reception. Dallas Morning News, H1.
226
Mathews, Jack. (1985, August 19). Shooting a film in Israel is a scramble. Los Angeles Times, p. A15;
Samuels’ Iron Eagle flies in January. (1985, December 26). Daily Variety, p. 6, AFI MAYER Clipping.
MP8762, USC.
227
Samuels film producing debut, Eagle to be 1st in steady stream (n.d.). Weekly Variety. AMPAS
Clipping. Samuels’ Iron Eagle flies in January. (1985, December 26). Daily Variety, p. 6, AFI MAYER
Clipping. MP8762, USC.
We’ve been so saturated with downers and negative statements […] It

seems like people in films want to make some positive statements again,
so that you leave the theatre feeling better about your life.228
Contrary to Canon films, the U.S. Equity partnership would authorize productions under
the guidelines that films would avoid exploitation and qualify for PG and PG-13
ratings.229 With the U.S. Equity partnership in place, Samuels set about the objective of
making overt conservative patriotic films, and for the first project, he would seek a script
that would please Williams, thus guaranteeing future financing. After reviewing over
300 scripts, and a number of false starts including plans to shoot an original screenplay
“A Love Beyond” by Ray Cuneff about a genetically engineered couple,230 Samuels
received the script for Iron Eagle from Joe Wizan. He read it and found just the story he
had been looking for. To Samuels, it was “like an old John Wayne western updated and
put in jets. It’s Americana, it’s patriotic, it’s positive, it’s saying let’s go out there and do
something.”231 Within 48 hours, Samuels began working on securing locations and
seeking the cooperation of the military.
At first, Samuels and Furie sought assistance from the Philippines when it became
clear that the film did not stand a chance of getting cooperation from the U.S. Air Force.
Furie claimed, “Our government wouldn’t think of it because of the horrendous fuel costs
and the time involved. And we couldn’t interrupt military schedules,”232 but the Pentagon
rejection was really provoked by Iron Eagle’s far-fetched plotline; one Air Force officer
called it, “a little off the wall.”233 Moreover, the Pentagon had long declined assistance to
productions that portrayed the theft of military machinery. The Philippines, on the other
228
Lally, Kevin. (1986 January). Samuels launches Iron Eagle, 1st film for $100 mil. fund. Film Journal
89: 18.
229
Tusher, W. (1984, July 16). Tex. oil consortium puts $100 mil film prod’n fund in escrow for Ron
Samuels. Daily Variety, p. 31.
230
Tusher, W. (1984, July 16). Tex. oil consortium puts $100 mil film prod’n fund in escrow for Ron
Samuels. Daily Variety, pp. 1, 31; Tusher, W. (1985, February 1). Tri-Star to distrib all Samuels pix. Daily
Variety; p. 1; Archered, A. (1985, June 10). Just for variety. Daily Variety, p. 3.
231
Lally, Kevin. (1986 January). Samuels launches Iron Eagle, 1st film for $100 mil. fund. Film Journal
89: 18.
232
Israel location for film is scary adventure. (1985, October 16). Tyrone Daily Herald.
233
Halloran, Richard. (1986, August 18). Pentagon; guardians of the screen image. New York Times, p.
A12; McKenna, Pat. (1997, June). Flights camera action. Airman. Retrieved April 26, 2008 from:
<http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0697/index.html>.
hand, was a commonly suggested alternative filming location to Pentagon’s rejects,

including many of the 1980s filmmakers seeking to depict the Vietnam War.234 In fact,
Furie and Elders had just finished shooting a Vietnam film, Purple Hearts, in the
Philippines.235 The Philippines had U.S. military bases dating back to the U.S. conquest
in 1898 and was armed to the teeth with U.S. arms to help dictator Ferdinand Marcos
crush the communist N.P.A. guerilla resistance.236
However, by the end of March 1985, Furie was scouting locations in Israel, where
a fleet of jets would be available.237 Samuels and Furie had met with Lou Lennart, a
WWII pilot who had founded the Israeli Air Force in the late 1940s, to discuss the
script.238 Lennart and Motti Hodd, Air Force commander during the Israeli Six-Day War
of 1967, in turn prevailed upon the Israeli Air Force and after months of negotiations
Israel agreed provide full assistance to the filmmakers, including F-16 fighters bought
from the U.S. and pilots for the film’s aerial sequences.239 Lennart and Hodd were paid
as technical advisers.240
Whereas the Pentagon harbored enduring suspicions of Hollywood in the post-
Vietnam era and was more at liberty to trifle with dogmatic details, a potent mix of
political and economic interests helped Israel to avoid the micromanaging of image and
to look more towards the big picture. For one thing, a Hollywood runaway production
promised to inject about $6 million into the Israeli economy.241 Samuels would return
some of the profits to Israel, by donating money toward an art center or drama school.242
There was also talk of paying for the construction of an Air Force museum.243
Furthermore, fiscal risk to Israel was minimized: the production company would not only
234
Following Apocalypse Now (1979) were Missing in Action (1984), Platoon (1986), Hamburger Hill
(1987) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
235
Mann, Roderick. (1986, February 2). Sidney Furie leads the cheer for Iron Eagle. Los Angeles Times, p.
236
Celoza, Albert F. (1997). Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: the political economy of
authoritarianism. Westport, CT: Praeger.
237
Israel. (1985, March 26). Hollywood Reporter, p. 15.
238
Tel Aviv. (1985, March 26). Hollywood Reporter.
239
Archered, Army. (1985, June 10). Just for Variety. Daily Variety.
240
Mathews, Jack. (1985, August 19). Shooting a film in Israel is a scramble. Los Angeles Times, p. A15.
241
242
243
Wishik, Debra. (1986 February). Aerial Maneuvers. Millimeter 14: 222.
pay for munitions, fuel costs, and pilots for F-16 and Phantom jets,244 but it would also
assume liability for Israeli aircraft, taking out a $1 million deductible insurance policy
from the same New York company that insured the Israeli Air Force.245
On the other hand, as Samuels was hardly unaware, the IDF, currently engaged in
a dirty little war with Lebanon, would receive a massive covert public relations thrust
with respect to its joint counterterrorism policy with the U.S., even if Israeli involvement
would not be expressly identified in the film’s credits.246 The construction of reality
would be carefully managed by the Israeli army special unit, which was detailed to
“help” the filmmakers in portraying military topics. As Israeli Lt. Col. Osnat Mardor
explained:
The idea is to show the world that we do not live on our sword alone. Our
job is to improve the army’s image and that of Israel, too […] We must
first make sure the film won’t harm the army’s or Israel’s image.247
In April of 1985, Furie began to cast the film. Although the role of the mentor, Chappy,
was intended to be a white character, Lou Gossett Jr. was soon cast for the role.248 It was
a shrewd choice, given that Gossett had recently captured the Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor for his performance as Sergeant Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman
(Taylor Hackford, 1982). After the success of An Officer, Gossett was writing a screen
treatment for a sequel named, Foley, which would portray Sergeant Foley training
marines for a covert incursion into Lebanon.249 Gossett was fast becoming a symbolic
embodiment of Reagan’s new multicultural militarism in an age of “color blindness” – a
racial formation in which neo-conservatives echoed the principle of racial equality, but
rearticulated it to mean the establishment of “color-blind” policies by government and
244
Samuels eagle soars at the box office. (1986, January 22). Daily Variety; Deans, Laurie. (1985, August
30). LA Clips: Walters seeks some education in the TV side of show business. The Globe and Mail.
245
246
Hundley, Tom. (1986, February 9). Villainous images: movies, TV stereotype Arabs as the bad guys.
Detroit Free Press, p. A3; Israel location for film is scary adventure. (1985, October 16). Tyrone Daily
Herald.
247
Holy Land welcomes filmmakers. (1986, September 21). The News-Post Leader, p. A8.
248
Archerd, A. (1985, April 26). Just for variety. Daily Variety, p. 3; Box Office (July 1985). AMPAS
Clipping.
249
Parks, Louis B. (1986, January 17). Gossett Actor is flying high after a peculiar post-Oscar lull. Houston
Chronicle, p.1; What Do You Do after you win an Oscar (1986, January 20). Dallas Morning News, p. E1.
other institutions and the reduction of racism to exclusively a problem between

individuals.250
Gossett foregrounded the ideology of “color blindness” in his representational
politics – accepting movie roles that would, “erase unconscious, psychological racism
that still exists in this country.”251 First, his being chosen for the role supposedly had
nothing to do with his being black: “They didn't choose a black actor, they chose an
actor.”252 Second, the choice to play the role was envisioned as a chance to show a black
male in a “positive” role, “with race not being an issue or even mentioned.”253 Third, in
contradistinction to the historical tendency in Hollywood to portray blacks as domestics
and inferiors to whites, Gossett saw his role in the film as that of a surrogate father to a
young white boy in need of regimentation and moral guidance. Gosset saw this as a
“great, beautiful relationship,”254 in which the black man “has a clean unracist mind.”
Gossett speculated the effect of such mentorship on white boys: “[…] when they see
black men [...] they'll look at them as father to the young white generation, [which] will
wipe out a large section of that mental unconscious racism.”255 For Gossett, Iron Eagle
was to be a big career break – an opportunity to play “black hero.”256 Yet, if U.S. black
men were to become father figures to white boys, what would become of the “mental
unconscious racism” toward Middle Eastern men and boys? The racial objectification of
Middle Eastern men as a component of united black and white hegemonic masculine
subjectivity did not even register in Gossett’s politics of representation:
250
Omi, M. and Winant, H. (1994). Racial Formation in the United States, from the 1960s to the 1990s.
New York: Routledge.
251
Louis Gossett, Jr. Sizzles in Two Films. (1986, February 3). Jet 669: 36-38.
252
Cain, Scott. (1985, December 21). On creature discomforts. Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta
Constitution, p. L12.
253
Tatro, Nicolas B. (1985, July 27). Sgt. Foley' has footlight fever. Philadelphia Daily News, p. 17; “Iron
Eagle: Press Kit.” Production Notes. Tri-Star Pictures. 1986. Special Collections, USC Film and Television
Library, Los Angeles, CA.
254
Tatro, Nicolas B. (1985, July 27). Sgt. Foley' has footlight fever. Philadelphia Daily News, p. 17.
255
Louis Gossett, Jr. Sizzles in Two Films. (1986, February 3). Jet 669: 36-38.
256
Janusonis, M. (1986, January 17). Thud goes the dud. Providence Journal; Gelbitz, Itour. (1985, July
23). Lou Gossett plays hero in ‘Iron Eagle.’ Hollywood Reporter, p. 33.
Besides being a father figure and a teacher, Chappy is a real American

hero unwilling to capitulate to foreign terrorists. This movie is going to do
some great stuff for kids and their fathers.257
Not unlike the contemporary black-white cop buddy films in which the black protagonist
is paired with white in the struggle against Othered terrorists, homosexuals and
freethinking women,258 Iron Eagle employs black actors to voice some of the film’s most
reactionary, militaristic and racist affirmations.259 For instance, it is Doug’s black friend
who compares Carter and Reagan, “Mr. Peanut was in charge back then. The guy in the
oval office now don’t take no shit from those gimpy little countries…why you think they
call him Rea-GUNS!!!!”260 In one scene, Gossett opines about Arab terrorist, “maniacs
messin’ with good men”; in another scene, he theologically rationalizes defense
technologies and militarism: “God doesn't give people things he doesn't want them to
use.”261
The selection of Jason Gedrick (out of hundreds of young actors and after six
auditions) to portray Doug Masters was based on his “boyish qualities,” which would
enhance this interracial “color-blind” mentorship.262 Not unlike the chemistry of Star
Wars, Gossett would play the weathered Jedi master to the eager and childish apprentice,
even lecturing Doug about “the touch” (read: the force) while on a bombing raid over
Middle East: “The touch – it’s power you have inside of you.” Critics did not miss this
gesture to the orphaned boy and surrogate father of Star Wars;263 screenwriter Kevin
257
258
Ames, C. (1992, Fall). Restoring the black man’s lethal weapon. Journal of Popular Film and Television
20(3): 52-60; King, N. (1999). Heroes in hard times: cop action movies in the U.S. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
259
Hoberman, J. (1986, February 11). Only Make Believe. Village Voice, p. 56, AFI MAYER Clipping.
MP8762, USC; Taggart, P. (1986, January 17). Implausible fly-boy film takes a quick nose dive. Austin
American-Statesman.
260
Elders, Kevin and Furie, Sidney. (1985, April 16). “The Iron Eagle.” Screenplay, Revised Draft.
University, Philadelphia, PA., p.
261
Boyar, Jay. (1986, January 23). 'Iron Eagle' Is Just A Turkey That's Armed To The Teeth. Orlando
Sentinel, E3.
262
Rivera, Francisco Perez. (1986, April 6). Perfect look lands lead. Sunday Intelligencer / Montgomery
County Record, p. C6.
263
Grahnke, Lon. (1986, January 20). Èagle' bombs as teen fantasy. Chicago Sun-Times, p. 31; Attanasio,
P. (1986, January 20). 'Iron Eagle,' Laying An Egg. Washington Post, C4; Johnson, P. (1986, January 26).
Elders admitted that Iron Eagle was, “like taking Star Wars and putting it on Earth."264
The mentorship concept was further paralleled by studio publicity concerning Gedrick
and Gossett off-camera. Gedrick described Gossett as “another father,” who helped him
prepare for the part and encouraged him to find more depth in his character and his
performance. The two would go to dinner and the gym, riding together in Gossett’s
chauffeured car.265
Once the crew completed photography in Los Angeles on June 7, 1985, it set off
for Israel to begin prepping for shooting in the following weeks.266 Once in Israel,
precautionary measures included compulsory submission of screenplays to Israeli
military officials for review and approval, and after shoots, military review of film rushes
– the grounds being to ensure that secret weapons were not incidentally filmed. Such a
rationale borders on the absurd, seeing that the film producers were showered with perks
including access to top secret areas, and arguably, Israeli secret intelligence. For not only
was the crew allowed to film Israeli pilots in maneuvers in the midst of continuous
combat alerts,267 they were allowed to shoot for six weeks on a top secret desert air base
with sophisticated multimillion-dollar equipment.268 Although the filmmakers had to
keep out of the way and were limited in angles of coverage for fear that high security
aircraft and identifiable areas surrounding the airfield would be visible on film, 269 most of
the crew knew of Israeli air strikes before the bombs fell, because the air raids directly
interrupted the film shoots. One day production was stopped so that jets could be sent to
a “terrorist encampment” in southern Lebanon; faux U.S. Air Force decals had to be
‘Iron Eagle’ takes U.S. tough-guy image to absurd extremes. Arkansas Gazette.
264
265
Yakir, Dan. (1986, February 2). Chicago native has a mission an athletic determination powers Ìron
Eagle' co-star Jason Gedrick. Chicago Sun-Times, p. 8.
266
Archered, A. (1985, June 10). Just for Variety. Daily Variety, p.3; Just for Variety. (1985, June 18).
Daily Variety; Samuels’ Iron Eagle flies in January. (1985, December 26). Daily Variety, p. 6, AFI
MAYER Clipping. MP8762, USC.
267
Adams, Lorraine. (1985, February 16). FilmDallas Projecting Sooner-than expected growth. Dallas
Morning News, p. B16; Mathews, Jack. (1985, August 19). Shooting a film in Israel is a scramble. Los
Angeles Times, p. A15.
268
Daily Variety. (1985, July 11).
269
Wishik, Debra. (1986 February). Aerial Maneuvers. Millimeter 14: 222.
removed from the jets, lest the bombings be mistaken as conducted by the U.S.270 Once
the raid was accomplished, the crew resumed filming.271 On another occasion, production
was halted all day because of a national strike.272 After completing shooting at the air
force base in late July, the crew shot on location at Acre’s Old City, the Old City of
Jerusalem and the Arab quarter in Jaffa.273
Constant military scrutiny coupled with access to state secrets seems to have
increasingly transformed the film’s producers into converts of Israel’s strategic image of
the Middle East, as the crew’s chatter about Israel smacked of Stockholm syndrome
meets schoolboy crush. Samuels gushed that the Israelis, “are the greatest combat fliers
in the world […] they are such great, experienced pilots our government uses them to
teach combat tactics to our Air Force.”274 Samuels was so taken in by the friendliness of
the Israeli army that he intended to return to shoot a romantic film about an American
who falls in love with a woman in the IDF. To Furie, the all-Israel film crew was, “The
best I’ve ever seen.” Louis Gossett Jr. explained his experience in Israel in amorous
terms: “I’m having a love affair with this country”275 Gossett, who was showered with
expensive gifts (including diamonds and land), explained his own public appeal in Israel
as a “combination of Michael Jackson and Sylvester Stallone,” and was considering
moving to Israel.276 Not only was he popular with thousands in this militaristic colonial
state, he was also cheered on the Fourth of July by some 1,500 U.S. soldiers assigned to
uphold Israel’s perimeter at the Sinai.277 The crew returned to the U.S. in late July and
finally wrapped production in mid-October 1985 with plans for January 1986 release.278
270
Planes used in film needed for combat. (1985, August 11). Syracuse Herald American Stars Magazine,
p. 5; Deans, Laurie. (1985, August 30). LA CLIPS. The Globe and Mail (Canada).
271
Dager, Nick. (1986 March). Aerials for The Iron Eagle. American Cinematographer 7: 44-48.
272
273
Gelbitz, Itour. (1985, July 23). Lou Gossett plays hero in ‘Iron Eagle.’ Hollywood Reporter, p. 33.
274
275
Archered, A. (1985, July 11). Just for Variety. Daily Variety, p.3.
276
Parks, Louis B. (1986, January 17). Gossett Actor is flying high after a peculiar post-Oscar lull. Houston
Chronicle, p.1.
277
Tatro, Nicolas B. (1985, July 27). Sgt. Foley' has footlight fever. Philadelphia Daily News, p. 17.
278
Mathews, J. (1985, July 31). ‘Action’ shuts down the set on an Israeli shoot. Los Angeles Times, p.1;
Weekly Variety. (1985, October 16).
The filmmakers were more enthralled by the technophilia of U.S. military

hardware that upheld Israeli hegemony than any serious sociopolitical reflection of
Middle East realpolitik. Discussions of production and postproduction often turned to
the choreography and montage of F-16 fighter planes in aerial sequences. The film’s
final 10 minute aerial montage sequence, in which Doug and Chappy intercept and shoot
down Middle Eastern MIG’s, was shot over a three week period at the cost of
approximately $1 million.279 Second unit aerial director Jim Gavin and photographer
Frank Holgate were brought to Israel to photograph jets flying at speeds of up to 400
miles. Cameras were placed inside jets, from mounts outside a jet, from a helicopter and
from the ground. Interior over-the-shoulder views and head-on pictures were shot in the
Mohave Desert using a private jet.280 Discourse on the film production privileged access
to military hardware as a window to the real, since miniature special effects photography
would be kept to a minimum: "The majority of the people will recognize (miniatures).
Once you insult them, you've lost them."281 It was not an issue whether or not audiences
might be insulted by ridiculous stereotypes and chauvinistic political views.
Iron Eagle images military flight simulation training as a “game,” thus aligning
itself with the trend of the videogame-ization of war in the late 1980s, which was to
culminate in the cybermilitarism of the First Gulf War,282 and the first cyberpunk general,
Norman Schwarzkopf.283 Critical responses to the video game industry in the 1980s
emphasized the inherent militarism and violence of electronic sadism, in arcade and
home console games, in which the player inflicts destruction with guns, missiles, ships,
aircraft or tanks and identifies mythically, culturally and psychologically with the “forces
of good” and “hero” of the game. Such video games seemed to reflect assumptions
embedded in popular culture: implicit evilness and dehumanization of foreign cultures as
279
Wishik, Debra. (1986, February). Aerial Maneuvers. Millimeter 14: 222.
280
281
282
Hoynes, William. (1992). War as video game. media, activism, and the Gulf War. In C. Peters (Ed.).
Collateral Damage. The ‘New World Order’ at home and abroad. Boston, MA: South End Press, pp. 305-
26.
283
Der Derian, James. (2001). Virtuous War: mapping the military-industrial-media-entertainment
network. Boulder, CO, Westview Press, p. 15.
enemies, the need to preemptively wage technologically mediated warfare without

diplomatic or alternative conflict resolution, and the construction of an obedient and
deindividuated subjectivity that diffused personal responsibility for acts of hatred,
violence and destruction upon other individuals.284 Through awards such as bonus points
and extra men, militaristic video games functioned as ideological apparatuses that
interpellated individuals as subject-gamers of the New World Order.
The exteriorized, two-dimensional experience of such games as Defender, Missile
Command and Space Invaders popularized by Atari was fast being displaced by an ever-
immersive, subjective POV and three-dimensional type of “first person” war gaming, a
by-product of the convergence and synergy of military training simulation R&D and the
consumer videogame marketplace. In Iron Eagle, Doug’s F16 training takes place in a
flight simulator, to which as a military brat, he seems to have daily access. Inside the
simulator, Doug inserts a cassette tape of Queen's “One Mission.” The simulator’s
instrument panel dons radars and red-shaded silhouettes of enemy jets within a realistic
aerospace. As Doug exclaims, "Alright, you bastards!" the film intercuts between
gaze/reaction shots of Doug, his POV of the instrument panel, inserts of Doug’s thumb
pressing the fire button, the resultant (terrible) miniature effects explosions, and an LED
that reads, “Enemy Destroyed.” Doug’s practice in the flight simulator imparts a sadist,
subjective gaze for an imagined, and envious, surrogate teen audience of the film, which
is thus vicariously engaged in the ultimate war “gaming” experience. As Gossett
predicted, “Kids are gonna love it.”285
In the film’s final aerial sequence, the immersive, war-as-game identification
reemerges as Doug maneuvers his F-16 (while the audience gazes subjectively through
the bomber’s crosshairs), shutting out all external sensation with a Walkman blasting the
adrenaline-pumping sounds of King Cobra and Adrenaline. In fact, it becomes readily
284
Toles, T. (1985). Video games and American military ideology. In V. Mosco & J. Wasko, (Eds.). The
critical communications review volume III: Popular culture and media events. Norwood, NJ: Ablex
Publishing Corporation, pp. 207-223
285
Cain, Scott. (1985, December 21). On creature discomforts. Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta
Constitution, p. L12.
apparent that without his tunes, Doug can’t hit enemy targets.286 Thus, aerial warfare is
conflated with not only video gaming, but also cross-promotional music video for 17 hit
songs.287 Not only does music play a structural function in the film, but the music videos
aired on MTV at the time of the film’s release used the film’s aerial footage as a key
component of the music video narrative. Adrenaline’s video for “Road of the Gypsy”
crosscuts between and superimposes shots of the band performing and aerial shots from
the film. The tense musical bridge of the song is reinforced by the most explosive scenes
of jet fights; the last chorus of the music video shows shots of the rescue of Ted Masters
and the end of video shows their return home. Queen’s video for “One Vision” has shots
from the film in split-screen with shots of the band in a recording studio; through the
recording control room window is chroma-keyed aerial combat footage. King Cobra’s
“Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)” video portrays the band members as recruits with Gossett
as their drill sergeant. Their long glam-rock hair is cut and they undergo basic training.
The lead singer is repeatedly portrayed with an American flag in the background and at
the end of the video the whole band is shown in uniform, walking with flight helmets
toward F-16s.
Director Sidney Furie tried to explain the use of music in Iron Eagle strictly in
terms of characterization:
The songs are an integral part of the film because this is a kid who can
only fly to music. Instead of a map that he straps onto his leg in the plane,
he has a special tape set up, and he can only fly and do his precision
moves if he has his music.288
However, it seems more probable that the music in the film was based on the desire for a
hit soundtrack album. The synergism and cross-promotion of music and motion pictures
clearly had long been a major cultural force dating back to the classical Hollywood era, in
which coordinated marketing often exploited the soundtrack album to generate advance
286
Fisher, D. (1986, January 17). Iron Eagle. Hollywood Reporter, p. 12, AFI MAYER Clipping. MP8762,
USC.
287
Blank, E. (1986, January 18). ‘Iron Eagle’ flies like a lead balloon. Pittsburgh Press.
288
interest in a film. However, with the rise of MTV, there evolved a more terse formula:
movie + soundtrack + music video = $$$.289 From Flashdance (1983) to Top Gun (1986),
music video was becoming a major aspect interlocking the selection of film scores and
the power to circulate a film's imagery within a youth target market. Screenwriter Kevin
Elders’s comments belie that there was in fact corporate pressure to get music into the
film, and it was only after watching MTV during writing the screenplay that he hit upon
the idea of Doug flying to rock music in order to work music into the film:
I was taking a shower one morning and asking myself, 'How can we get
music in this film?' I had been watching MTV all the night before, and
then it hit me...the kid flies to music.290
The explosive ideological effect of hypermilitarism, video games and music video
on young audiences became readily apparent during preview screenings of the film.
Responses across the country were so positive that even the producers were astounded
and began to discuss the prospects for a sequel.291 A sneak preview in Torrance, CA went
incredibly well, totaling 87 percent “excellent” or “good” on scorecards and drawing
cheers from the audience.292 85 percent of test audiences in Costa Mesa, CA and
Paramas, NJ rated the film “excellent.”293 Research from Cinema Score, a company that
conducts exit polls on the opening night of a film, showed the film scoring grade “B” (an
80% chance of being liked); the audience was projected to be 65 percent male and 51
percent under 25 years of age. Gossett was projected to draw 31 percent of spectators.294
289
Smith, J. (1998). The Sounds of Commerce: Marketing Popular Film Music. New York: Columbia
University Press.
290
291
Maeder, J. (1986, January 17). And after he levels the third world... New York Daily News; Wuntch, P.
(1986, January 17). ‘Iron Eagle’ never soars. Dallas Morning News; Lyman, R. (1986, January 20). Film:
‘Iron Eagle’ just doesn’t fly. Philadelphia Inquirer.
292
Daily News (1985, December 16). AMPAS Clipping.
293
Hollywood Reporter. (1986, January 8). AMPAS Clipping.
294
HR Jan 24 86
Samuels worked with Tri-Star to distribute Iron Eagle as a negative pickup to

1,200 theatres on January 17, 1986 following its launch at a gala premiere in Dallas’
Anatole Hotel on January 13.295
Young audience loved every minute.296
Samuels also landed the Academy Award winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. for the
part of Chappy Sinclair, the proud Air Force colonel coerced out of an early retirement to
lead one last unbelievable mission. “He's the first real black hero I've had the chance to
portray,” Gossett says about Chappy, the first military figure he's played on screen since
his enormously popular performance as the tough-as-nails drill sergeant in “An Officer
and a Gentleman,” for which he won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. “It's a role with
295
Daily News (1985, December 16). AMPAS Clipping; Hollywood Reporter. (1986, January 8). AMPAS
Clipping; Parks, Louis B. (1986, January 17). Gossett Actor is flying high after a peculiar post-Oscar lull.
Houston Chronicle, p.1.
296
Stevens, D. (1986, January 17). ‘Iron Eagle’: vigilante vengeance. Cincinnati Post.
humor, pathos, and a lot of action,” adds the veteran actor, who segued almost without a
break to the role of Chappy after months of grueling work portraying an alien in the film
“Enemy Mine.” Gossett found the opportunity to play Chappy a challenge not to be
passed over. 3 For the story of a boy becoming a man almost overnight, the part of A
Rounding out the cast of IRON EAGLE are Tim Thomerson as Air Force Colonel Ted
Masters, the unfortunate father imprisoned and sentenced to die in a hostile foreign
country, Caroline Lagerfelt as Doug's strong-willed mother, Bobby Jacoby as Doug's
younger brother Matthew, Kathy Wagner as his kid sister Amy, Melora Hardin as Katie,
his loving, supportive girlfriend, and Jerry Levine, Robbie Rist and Larry B. Scott as
Tony, Milo, and Reggie, other members of the Eagles Flying Club and Doug's best
friends. THE CAST Veteran actor Louis Gossett, Jr. has come a long way since his days
as basketball star and class president at Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School. The
graceful and seemingly ageless Gossett has achieved recognition as one of America's
finest and most versatile actors, winning an Emmy award for his memorable portrayal of
Fiddler in the mega-successful miniseries “Roots” and an Academy Award for his part as
Drill Sergeant Foley in “An Officer and A Gentleman.” Still, the part of Air Force
Colonel Chappy Sinclair offered something new for Gossett. “This time,” he says, “I play
the part of a real hero, which is why I accepted the role.” IRON EAGLE is also important
to Gossett because it offered a positive relationship between blacks and whites, without
race becoming an issue. “I like the part of Chappy because the character's a father figure
for a black man - a hero for a change. The movies have such an impact on children these
days that a positive role like this takes racism and throws it away. It's my pleasant duty to
jump into any role like that.” Jason Gedrick, who stars as Doug Masters, is not sure he's
ready to be identified with the fearless teenage hero. “I don't really consider myself a
hero,” he says. “I'm a strong person, but I don't think I grew up as fast as Doug does.”
Some might beg to differ with the young actor who, in only his third starring feature film
role, is making Hollywood take notice. “I wanted to be able to entertain people,” Jason
says about his decision to become an actor while in high school in Chicago, “but I never
knew that I really could. I knew other people were doing it, and I knew they were no
different than I am, so I felt that I could -- I knew I would, if I -18- persisted. It's
difficult, but when you push yourself, anything can be if achieved.” Veteran television
and film actor Tim Thomerson plays the imprisoned Ted Masters. His screen credits
include “Volunteers,” “uncommon Valor,” “Rhinestone,” and a leading role in “Fade to
Black.” On television, Thomerson was a regular on the series “Quark” and “The
Associates.” He has also appeared in the made-for-television movie “Bare Essence” and
the series “Hill St. Blues” and “Murder She wrote.” Veteran stage actress Caroline
Lagerfelt makes her feature film debut in IRON EAGLE as Doug's mother, Elizabeth
Masters. Lagerfelt most recently appeared on Broadway as Annie in “The Real Thing,”
directed by Mike Nichols, and received an Obie Award for her role in the Off-Broadway
production, “Quartermaine's Terms.” Her other Broadway credits include “Betrayal,”
opposite Roy Scheider, and “Otherwise Engaged” opposite Tom Courtney and Raul Julia.
Larry B. Scott, who plays Doug's pal Reggie, has come into the spotlight in recent years
through his roles in such films as “Revenge of the Nerds,” “The Karate Kid,” and “That
Was Then, This is Now.” His other screen credits include “A Hero Ain't Nothing But a
Sandwich” and “Thieves.” Melora Hardin is another talented actress making her feature
film debut in IRON EAGLE. After numerous roles in high school plays, Hardin broke
into television with important roles in “The Best Times,” ‚ÄúTwo Marriages” and
“Family Tree,” all episodic shows. Shortly after finishing her role in IRON EAGLE, she
was cast by producer Martin Jurow to star opposite Dean Stockwell and Imogene Coca in
the feature film, “Papa was A Preacher,” lensing in Dallas, Texas. - ig - THE
FILMMAKERS The idea for IRON EAGLE had its beginnings in the childhood dreams
of Sidney J. Furie. Furie, as a child, used to fantasize about what it would be like to be an
Air Force pilot flying heroic and dangerous missions in a fighter jet. “IRON EAGLE is
not your everyday event. It's larger than life, the way I hope most terrific movies are. I
don't think it's about ordinary people doing ordinary things,” he says. The best movies,
for Furie, capture the imaginations of an audience and sweep them away, making them
forget about their troubles. To get the most out of one of Furie's films, he believes you
still have to be part child, because, as he says, “Children are pure and not jaded, and
maybe that's what entertainment has to be.” Producer Ron Samuels fell in love with the
strength and idealism of I the main characters in IRON EAGLE. “I think we're living at a
time when getting back to basics and positive American feelings of patriotism are very
important,” he says. I Samuels, one of Hollywood's most successful talent managers and
television producers, makes his feature film debut as producer with IRON EAGLE.
“when I received a phone call from Joe Wizan to read this script,” he recalls, “he thought
it would be a wonderful project for me. I called him fifteen minutes after I finished it and
said 'I'm making this picture.' Thatís how quickly it happened.” IRON EAGLE producer
Joe Wizan has produced and/or executive produced such highly regarded pictures as
“Jeremiah Johnson,” “Audrey Rose,” “The Last American Hero,” “...And Justice For
All,” and “Best Friends.”
the movie is designed and planned. The production company is created and a
production office established. The production is storyboarded and visualized with the
help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget will also be drawn up to cost
the film.
The producer will hire a crew. The nature of the film, and the budget, determine
the size and type of crew used during filmmaking. Many Hollywood blockbusters employ
a cast and crew of thousands while a low-budget, independent film may be made by a
skeleton crew of eight or nine. Typical crew positions include
The director is primarily responsible for the acting in the movie and managing the
creative elements.
The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the
production, among other tasks.
The casting director finds actors for the parts in the script. This normally requires
an audition by the actor. Lead actors are carefully chosen and are often based on the
actor’s reputation or “star power.”
The location manager finds and manages the film locations. Most pictures are
shot in the predictable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally outdoor
sequences will call for filming on location.
The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule.
He or she also reports on behalf of the production office to the studio executives or
financiers of the film.
The director of photography (DP or DOP) or cinematographer creates the
photography of the film. He or she cooperates with the director, director of audiography
(DOA) and AD.
The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets,
costumes and provides makeup & hair styling services.
The production designer creates the look and feel of the production sets and
props, working with the art director to create these elements.
The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production
designer communicate their ideas to the production team.
The production sound mixer manages the audio experience during the production
stage of a film. He or she cooperates with the director, DOP, and AD.
The sound designer creates new sounds and enhances the aural feel of the film
with the help of foley artists.
The composer creates new music for the film.
The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically
for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.
He filmed in Israel, Samuels says, primarily because that fleet of jets was made available
to him. “We could have made this film on a lesser scale,” he says, “but when the deal
came through that we could use the Israeli Air Force, we figured we had to do it. You
don’t get many chances to film with real F-16’s. “ No, and it is not clear why Israel, on
constant combat alert, made its jets available for this movie. Samuels hints that the film’s
anti-terrorist theme may have gone down well with the Israeli government. But somehow,
one hears the shuffling of shekels. Samuels got more than he set out to bargain for,
including F-16’s, Phantoms, and pilots to fly them. He even had Lou Lenard, who
founded Israel’s Air Force, and Motti Hodd, its commander during the Six Day War, on
the payroll as technical advisers. “The Iron Eagle” is costing about $10 million, Samuels
says, a good chunk of which went into insurance for the $30-million jets. “When I started
shopping for the [aircraft] insurance, the best deals we could find had $5-million
deductibles,” he says. “Dump one plane, that’s a movie. . . . We ended up insuring them
through the same New York company that the Israeli Air Force gets its insurance from. “
He says he also plans to return some of the profits from his Israeli-set movies to Israel, by
way of an art center or drama school. “I think we should put something back into that
world,” he says, “because it has done so much for us. “297
That U.S. film was on location at an Israeli air force base from which the filmmakers
rented fighters, munitions and pilots, covering Israeli Air Force markings with U.S. Air
Force insignias. “You don’t get many chances to film with real F-l6s,” explained
producer Ron Samuels of the decision to shoot in dangerous territory. The Globe and
Mail (Canada) August 30, 1985 Friday LA CLIPS Walters seeks some education in the
TV side of show business BYLINE: LAURIE DEANS; GAM
297
“We shot at Israeli helicopter and air force bases a lot of the time because our picture
deals with F-16 fighter planes, which our country sold to Israel. We had placed American
insignias and logos on the fighters to make them look like our own Air Force planes.
He took his picture to Israel when the United States government refused to rent him the
airplanes. “Israel is the only country that would let us go up in F16s,” he explained.
However, the Israelis, embattled in a shooting war, saw the monetary and propaganda
potential of “The Iron Eagle” and agreed to cooperate with Samuels.
“We got lucky with Lou Lennard (sic!), who was with the Israeli Air Force and became
our technical adviser, and with Motti Hodd, who was a commander in the Six-Day War,”
Samuels said. “They prevailed on the Israeli Air Force on our behalf, reminding the
government our film would bring in about $6 million to their economy. It was a good
deal for us because it cost less to shoot over there than it would in this country.”
“The Iron Eagle” budget is some $10 million, but would have cost almost twice that if it
had been made entirely in the United States. All the same, Samuels shot seven weeks in
California and Nevada locations. One snag Samuels hadn’t counted on was insurance.
Each F-16 costs $30 million. One crash and the entire project would have been scuttled.
“I checked all the major insurance companies in this country and none of them would
touch us,” Samuels said. “When I got to Israel I managed to get a $1 million deductible
policy — through a New York-based company. “Of course, no actors or American pilots
flew the F-16s. Our actors were allowed in the planes only when they were on the
ground. And even then, they had to be careful. I sat in an F16 and they made me take
everything out of my pockets. If a pen or a coin, say, fell out of my pocket, it could lodge
in a critical area and cause a crash. “So the planes were flown only by Israelis who are
the greatest combat fliers in the world. I was surprised how young they are. Their average
age is 22 and they’ve seen more combat than any other flyers today. “They are such
great, experienced pilots our government uses them to teach combat tactics to our Air
Force. “In addition to the F-16 squadron, we also used Phantom and Kafir fighters and
helicopters. We had to be diplomatic and stay out of the way when we filmed on airstrips.
“We made a lot of friends in Israel and found some terrific locations that have never been
used before. And one of the most important factors is how much less expensive it is to
film there than it is in the United States.”298
Not only was permission given by the Israeli government to film at a desert airstrip, the
Israeli Air Force cooperated fully, providing F-16 fighter planes and pilots for the aerial
sequences. Foreign unit associate producer and technical adviser Lou Lenart was
instrumental in obtaining this unique one-time cooperation. Lenart, a Hungarian emigre
who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was one of the founders of the Israeli Air Force.
When Iron Eagle producer Ron Samuels and director Sidney Furie asked Lenart if the
script was possible to make into a movie, their brief conversation grew into a four-hour
meeting resulting in an agreement by the filmmakers to pay for the construction of an Air
Force museum and for the plane fuel used during filming. All the aerial scenes were
carefully choreographed including a flight plan, similar to that used in actual missions.
“The preparation for the filming was so intense, the Air Force could have fought a war
with less preparation,” says Lenart. Director of photography Adam Greenberg shares
Lenart’s enthusiasm for the aerial filming. Greenberg, an Israeli now working in the
United States, says initially he didn’t believe the film would get made. However, he
admits the 10-minute aerial sequence, shot over three weeks and costing about $1
million, is well worth the price. Filming in Israel presented its own special difficulties.
For one, the Israelis didn’t want other aircraft or surrounding areas of the airfield visible
in the finished film, limiting the filmmakers’ choices for camera angles. Also, flight times
were limited to those hours when the airstrip and planes weren’t being used by the
military. The producers of Iron Eagle negotiated with the Israeli Air Force for
permission to shoot their film’s climactic aerial sequence on location using real F-16
298
fighter planes. Debra Wishik Aerial Maneuvers p. 222 MILLIMETER/FEBRUARY

1986
Timing aside, the key to Samuels’ film has been the aerial scenes with U.S.-built F-16
fighters. And those scenes are real. Samuels, who co-produced the film with Joe Wizan,
hired the Israeli Air Force - probably the world’s most experienced dogfight artists - to
fly his movie missions. “We got a package deal, including fuel costs and pilots,” he said,
adding that the eight planes he used were worth about $250 million. “The insurance
policy had a $5 million deductible on the planes.”d. THE SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE Title: Ìron Eagle’ Takes Off at Box Office Date: January 25, 1986
Author: FRANK SWERTLOW Section: DAILY DATEBOOK Page: 34 Column:
HOLLYWOOD FREEWAY Dateline: Hollywood Copyright 1986 San Francisco
Chronicle
However, Israel’s government offers only limited incentives: a $70,000 bank loan and
rock bottom prices on antiterrorism insurance. “Our heart is here, and from a business
point of view, the foreign productions are a natural resource: ideal weather conditions,
high-quality crews and actors and good equipment,” Globus said. Producers say shooting
is about 25 percent cheaper than in Europe or the United States. Crews and actors, who
are not unionized, work for lower rates and a star-quality suite in a luxury hotel goes for
$100 a day compared to $400 in European cities. Industry experts point out that Tunisia
and Morocco, Israel’s toughest competitors in providing Middle East settings, offer free
services such as hotels and transport to attract filmmakers. But despite this edge,
Morocco has produced only 11 foreign movies since 1980, while Tunisia has had seven
foreign productions. ‘ Yoram Golan said foreign productions bring in an average annual
income of $15 million. In addition, they bolster Israel’s local industry, providing work to
Israeli film crews who cannot survive on the 20 or so Hebrew-language movies made
each year. The image of this small country as one plagued by terror attacks and wars may
keep some producers away. However, others are lured by the Israeli army which has a
special unit detailed to help filmmakers, especially those developing military themes.
Since April 1985, the unit has helped 93 productions “The idea is to show the world that
we do not live on our sword alone. Our job is to improve the army’s image and that of
Israel, too,” said Lt. Col. Osnat Mardor, who heads the unit. An F-16 fighter jet was
provided for Lou Gossett’s flying scenes in “Iron Eagle.” But the army declined to help
in the film adaptation of John Le Carre’s “Little Drummer Girl.” Mardor said the subject
matter, which involves a hunt through Europe for a Palestinian guerrilla chieftain by
Israel’s Mossad secret service, was too sensitive. Every producer must submit the rushes
to military censorship in case a secret weapon is filmed by accident. A script must also be
submitted in advance, Mardor said “We must first make sure the film won’t harm the
army’s or Israel’s image,” she said THE {NEWS-POST LEADER, Fn-deri, k. M.).. Sept.
21 1986 A-8 Holy Land welcomes filmmakers
After months of negotiations with the Israeli Ministry of Defense the producers were able
to win permission to film at an Israeli Air Force base in the desert . While the Israelis
were reportedly extremely cooperative, the Middle East is still a battle zone and the
filmmakers faced many restrictions. Understandably, security was extremely tight and the
crew had absolutely no freedom of movement. Added to that was the fact that they were
only allowed to shoot daily maneuvers, none of which lasted longer than 15 minutes.
Budget 7, 500, 00 “would cost 12-15 mill at a major”

On Feb. 1, Variety reported that Samuels Productions had signed a distribution agreement
with New York-based Tri-Star Pictures for a film called The Iron Eagle. Variety said Tri-
Star and Samuels would co-finance the movie. U.S. Equity, Variety also said, was the
financing entity behind Samuels. Variety reports that the budget for The Iron Eagle is
projected at $6 to $8 million and that 10 weeks of filming will begin in Israel in May.
Several people have been talking about starting a larger version of the $2.4 million
FilmDallas Investment Fund begun by Sam Grogg, Richard Kneipper and Joel Williams
III. FilmDallas may be doing just that on its own. FILMDALLAS PROJECTING
SOONER-THANEXPECTED GROWTH The Dallas Morning News February 16, 1985
Author: Lorraine Adams Page: 16b
Originally Ray Cuniff’s “A love Beyond” was to go first, but junior vehicle won
out
Cunneff
DV – feb 1 1985 - Tri star to distrib all Samuels pix

Ten weeks of shoot in Isr. Is schedule to start in early May
Tri-Star and Samuels co finance at 6-8 mill. Property handled as a negative
pickup.
Jeff Saganski prod. Pres. “a real compelling boy’s story with a touch of fantasy”
“Kenny rogers pact”
Samuels termed IE the best material among 300-400 scripts submitted – U.S.
Equity Corp. investment a arm of texas oil consortium (DV July 16, 84)
U.S equity finances 3 features a year, with funding adhering to 5 mill. Level on
each project – 25 mill. a year cushion to absorb overrun. Originally Ray Cuniff’s “A love
Beyond” was to go first, but junior vehicle won out
DV – feb 1 1985 - Tri star to distrib all Samuels pix Ten weeks of shoot in Isr. Is
schedule to start in early May Tri-Star and Samuels co finance at 6-8 mill. Property
handled as a negative pickup. Jeff Saganski prod. Pres. “a real compelling boy’s story
with a touch of fantasy” “Kenny rogers pact” Samuels termed IE the best material
among 300-400 scripts submitted –
Wizan, Samuels and Furie thought they might have something good. Even so,
they were unprepared for the reaction to the first preview. “You always go to those affairs
wondering, `Will anyone really care?’ “ said Furie. “And the people who came to the
preview looked a pretty tough lot to us. But as soon as the planes appeared, they started
cheering. The atmosphere was absolutely electric.” Author: Roderick Mann Section:
SECTION 2 FEATURES Page: 76 Paper: Chicago Sun-Times Title: Longshot Èagle’
soars Date: February 13, 1986
Today’s producers prefer to buy scripts containing elements of proven hits,

juggled around so as to create an illusion of freshness. Kevin Elders is the latest such
“borrower” of other people’s ideas. In “Iron Eagle/’ he’s recycled elements from a string
of blockbusters. From “Blue Thunder,” he’s taken the idea of a state-of-the-art aircraft
stolen by a flying whiz for moral purposes. From “Death Wish,” he’s seized on.the theme
of an ordinary person turned violent avenger when authorities fail to do anything. And
from “WarGames,” he’s lifted the notion of a teen-ager who inadvertently may begin a
third world war. The film emerges as a superficial attempt to* exploit anyone’s worst
fears about our country being a lumbering giant unable to strike back against the assaults
of small nations with terrorist mentalities Crash-Lands as a Film PAGE D4/THE POST-
STANDARD, Tuesday, Jan. 21,1986 Brode at Large
A film distributor should be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market
and potential financial success of the film. Hollywood distributors will adopt a hard-
headed business approach and consider factors such as the film genre, , the historical
success of similar films, the actors who might appear in the film and the potential
directors of the film. All these factors imply a certain appeal of the film to a possible
audience and hence the number of “bums on seats” during the theatrical release. Not all
films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, therefore DVD sales and worldwide
distribution rights need to be taken into account.
++++++++++++
+++++++++
Development
This is the stage where an idea is fleshed out into a viable script. The producer of
the movie will find a story, which may come from books, plays, other films, true stories,
original ideas, etc.
The screenplay is then written over a period of several months, and may be
rewritten several times to improve the dramatization, clarity, structure, characters,
dialogue, and overall style.
If the pitch is successful and the movie is given the “green light”, then financial
backing is offered, typically from a major film studio, film council or independent
investors.
Pre-production
In pre-production, the movie is designed and planned. The production company is
created and a production office established. The production is storyboarded and
visualized with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget will also
be drawn up to cost the film.
The producer will hire a crew. The nature of the film, and the budget, determine
the size and type of crew used during filmmaking. Many Hollywood blockbusters employ
a cast and crew of thousands while a low-budget, independent film may be made by a
skeleton crew of eight or nine. Typical crew positions include
The director is primarily responsible for the acting in the movie and managing the
creative elements.
The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the
production, among other tasks.
The casting director finds actors for the parts in the script. This normally requires
an audition by the actor. Lead actors are carefully chosen and are often based on the
actor’s reputation or “star power.”
The location manager finds and manages the film locations. Most pictures are
shot in the predictable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally outdoor
sequences will call for filming on location.
The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule.
He or she also reports on behalf of the production office to the studio executives or
financiers of the film.
The director of photography (DP or DOP) or cinematographer creates the
photography of the film. He or she cooperates with the director, director of audiography
(DOA) and AD.
The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets,
costumes and provides makeup & hair styling services.
The production designer creates the look and feel of the production sets and
props, working with the art director to create these elements.
The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production
designer communicate their ideas to the production team.
The production sound mixer manages the audio experience during the production
stage of a film. He or she cooperates with the director, DOP, and AD.
The sound designer creates new sounds and enhances the aural feel of the film
with the help of foley artists.
The composer creates new music for the film.

The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically
for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.
Production
In production the movie is created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this
stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills
photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. These are just the most common roles in
filmmaking; the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit a
particular film.
A typical day’s shooting begins with an assistant director following the shooting
schedule for the day. The film set is constructed and the props made ready. The lighting
is rigged and the camera and sound recording equipment are set up. At the same time, the
actors are wardrobed in their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments.
The actors rehearse their scripts and blocking with the director. The picture and
sound crews then rehearse with the actors. Finally, the action is shot in as many takes as
the director wishes.
Each take of a shot follows a slating procedure and is marked on a clapperboard,

which helps the editor keep track of the takes in post-production. The clapperboard
records the scene, take, director, director of photography, date, and name of the film
written on the front, and is displayed for the camera. The clapperboard also serves the
necessary function of providing a marker to sync up the film and the sound take. Sound is
recorded on a separate apparatus from the film and they must be synched up in post-
production.
The director will then decide if the take was acceptable or not. The script
supervisor and the sound and camera teams log the take on their respective report sheets.
Every report sheet records important technical notes on each take.
When shooting is finished for the scene, the director declares a “wrap.” The crew
will “strike,” or dismantle, the set for that scene. The director approves the next day’s
shooting schedule and a daily progress report is sent to the production office. This
includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams. Call sheets are
distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting
day.
For productions using traditional photographic film, the unprocessed negative of

the day’s takes are sent to the film laboratory for processing overnight. Once processed,
they return from the laboratory as dailies or rushes (film positives) and are viewed in the
evening by the director, above the line crew, and, sometimes, the cast. For productions
using digital technologies, shots are downloaded and organized on a computer for display
as dailies.
When the entire film is in the can, or in the completion of the production phase,
the production office normally arranges a wrap party to thank all the cast and crew for
their efforts.
Post-production
Here the film is assembled by the film editor. The modern use of video in the
filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants: one using entirely film, and
the other using a mixture of film and video.
In the film workflow, the original camera film (negative) is developed and copied
to a one-light workprint (positive) for editing with a mechanical editing machine. An
edge code is recorded onto film to locate the position of picture frames. Since the
development of non-linear editing systems such as Avid, Quantel or Final Cut Pro, the
film workflow is used by very few productions.
In the video workflow, the original camera negative is developed and telecined to
video for editing with computer editing software. A timecode is recorded onto video tape
to locate the position of picture frames. Production sound is also synced up to the video
picture frames during this process.
The first job of the film editor is to build a rough cut taken from sequences (or
scenes) based on individual “takes” (shots). The purpose of the rough cut is to select and
order the best shots. The next step is to create a fine cut by getting all the shots to flow
smoothly in a seamless story. Trimming, the process of shortening scenes by a few
minutes, seconds, or even frames, is done during this phase. After the fine cut has been
screened and approved by the director and producer, the picture is “locked,” meaning no
further changes are made. Next, the editor creates a negative cut list (using edge code) or
an edit decision list (using timecode) either manually or automatically. These edit lists
identify the source and the picture frame of each shot in the fine cut.
Once the picture is locked, the film passes out of the hands of the editor to the
sound department to build up the sound track. The voice recordings are synchronised and
the final sound mix is created. The sound mix combines sound effects, background
sounds, ADR, dialogue, walla, and music.
The sound track and picture are combined together, resulting in a low quality
answer print of the movie. There are now two possible workflows to create the high
quality release print depending on the recording medium:
In the film workflow, the cut list that describes the film-based answer print is used
to cut the original colour negative (OCN) and create a colour timed copy called the
colour master positive or interpositive print. For all subsequent steps this effectively
becomes the master copy. The next step is to create a one-light copy called the colour
duplicate negative or internegative. It is from this that many copies of the final theatrical
release print are made. Copying from the internegative is much simpler than copying
from the interpositive directly because it is a one-light process; it also reduces wear-and-
tear on the interpositive print.
In the video workflow, the edit decision list that describes the video-based answer
print is used to edit the original colour tape (OCT) and create a high quality colour master
tape. For all subsequent steps this effectively becomes the master copy. The next step
uses a film recorder to read the colour master tape and copy each video frame directly to
film to create the final theatrical release print.
Finally the film is previewed, normally by the target audience, and any feedback
may result in further shooting or edits to the film.
Distribution
This is the final stage, where the movie is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to
DVD, VCD or VHS (though VHS tapes are less common now that more people own
DVD players). The movie is duplicated as required for theatrical distribution. Press kits,
posters, and other advertising materials are published and the movie is advertised.
The movie will usually be launched with a launch party, press releases, interviews
with the press, showings of the film at a press preview, and/or at film festivals. It is also
common to create a website to accompany the movie. The movie will play at selected
cinemas and the DVD is typically released a few months later. The distribution rights for
the film and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. Any profits are
divided between the distributor and the production company.
Conclusion
The counterterrorist action film of the 1980s evolved out of complex ideological,
cultural, industrial and economic tensions of the Reagan era and has proven to be central
in the construction of a national militarist myth that persists to this very day. The Delta
Force was only one of a series of such films, but it is representative of a central trend that
accelerated a promilitary, counterterrorist visual culture that has effected a tangible
imaginary capable of galvanizing perpetual war in the Middle East during an age of
natural resource scarcity and irreversible, global ecological warfare. The U.S. super-
patriotic film, and its gratifying the desire for an American heroic in which American
elite units rescue the first world through infantile revenge fantasies, hyperbolic fears of
fascism and nuclear holocaust, the restoration of the patriarchy, and the fetishism of
special effects strike at the heart of what theoretical articulations of trauma studies and
psychoanalysis have been telling us about counterterrorism ideology.
I’ve sought to analyze the historical production of The Delta Force as
symptomatic of counterterrorist action film production of the 1980s in terms of specific
political, cultural and economic systems that have encouraged “acting out” as a key
process, especially in regard to the heightened topicality of Reaganite ideological
fixations. My larger research agenda seeks to understand counterterrorist Hollywood as
transference and acting out an Oedipal trauma and how this continues to illuminate the
U.S. neoliberal construct of revolutionary Middle East though patterns of culture,
economy and industrial relations.
U.S. articulation and mediation of the Middle East and “terrorism” obviously has
been characterized more by acting out than working through. Transference places the
“barbaric” Middle East in the position of the punishing father, and the free and
democratic motherland as the object of plenitude and desire. In this way, there is the
confusion between loss and absence in the process of acting out, in which the American
paradise is feared to be lost, and thus, must be regained, despite the fact that the
prelapsarian vision of the free and terror-free motherland never really existed at all.
Therefore, the sense of loss is in truth an absence. In the structural trauma of U.S.
hegemony, the nation is imagined as the absence of an original harmony, compulsive
repetition of counterterrorist discourse and Arab Othering converts absence into loss,
anxiety into fear, and scapegoat into enemy.

Reaganite Counterterrorism Movies

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reaganite Counterterrorism Movies

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reaganite Counterterrorism Movies

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

McKahan Hollywood Counterterrorism in the Reagan Era 1

The Delta Force: Hollywood Counterterrorism in the Reagan Era

project in Indochina.13 Internally, the triumph of Israeli “counterterrorism” was a source

Hollywood filmmakers often compared Israeli film crews to “a platoon of

was backed by a $600,000 investment funded by US companies and the American

Janssen) parachutes into Jordan to recover a jettisoned U. S. Strategic Air Command

Success a Long Time Coming. Variety, p. 41.

Yet, Britton somewhat underestimated the potential of a chauvinistic Hollywood cinema,

broad conspiracy of “international terrorism,” actively funding and stirring up proxy

other hand, is a process in which a person seeks to gain “critical distance on a

We’ve been so saturated with downers and negative statements […] It

hand, was a commonly suggested alternative filming location to Pentagon’s rejects,

other institutions and the reduction of racism to exclusively a problem between

Besides being a father figure and a teacher, Chappy is a real American

The filmmakers were more enthralled by the technophilia of U.S. military

enemies, the need to preemptively wage technologically mediated warfare without

Samuels worked with Tri-Star to distribute Iron Eagle as a negative pickup to

Young audience loved every minute.296

fighter planes. Debra Wishik Aerial Maneuvers p. 222 MILLIMETER/FEBRUARY

Budget 7, 500, 00 “would cost 12-15 mill at a major”

DV – feb 1 1985 - Tri star to distrib all Samuels pix

Today’s producers prefer to buy scripts containing elements of proven hits,

The composer creates new music for the film.

Each take of a shot follows a slating procedure and is marked on a clapperboard,

For productions using traditional photographic film, the unprocessed negative of

You might also like