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Red Dawn

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For other uses, see Red dawn (disambiguation).
Red Dawn
Directed byJohn Milius
Written byJohn Milius
Kevin Reynolds
Produced bySidney Beckerman
Buzz Feitshans
StarringPatrick Swayze
Charlie Sheen
Lea Thompson
Jennifer Grey
C. Thomas Howell
Brad Savage
Darren Dalton
CinematographyRic Waite
Edited byThom Noble
Music byBasil Poledouris
Distributed byMGM/UA Entertainment Co.
Release date
August 10, 1984 (1984-08-10)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish, Russian, Spanish
Budget$4.2 million
Box office$40 million

Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed and co-written by John Milius and written by Kevin Reynolds. The film is set in an alternate timeline during the mid-1980s, and deals with an invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union and its Central American allies. However, the onset of World War III is merely in the background of the plot and not fully elaborated upon. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist their foreign occupiers through guerrilla warfare and call themselves the Wolverines, after their high school mascot.

Movie data

  • Red Dawn was the 20th highest grossing film of 1984, opening on 10 August 1984 in 1822 theatres and taking in $8,230,381 on its first weekend. Its box office gross is $38,376,497. [1]
  • Red Dawn was the first movie in film history to be released in the US with a Motion Picture Association of America PG-13 rating.[2]
  • At the time it was released, Red Dawn was considered the most violent film by the Guinness Book of Records and The National Coalition on Television Violence, with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute.[3]
  • National Review Online has named the film #15 in its list of 'The Best Conservative Movies'.[4]

Plot summary

Approximate map of the events described in the movie.
Blue: The United States and its allies Canada, the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China;
Red: The Soviet Union and its allies;
Green: The neutral countries of Western Europe.
The red dots indicate several key locations such as Washington, D.C.; Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri and Beijing, China that have been obliterated by nuclear bombs.

The film begins on a September morning in the small Colorado town of Calumet. A local high school teacher pauses mid sentence when he sees paratroopers landing in a field outside the school. These troops, who are Russian Airborne Troops, promptly open fire on the teacher when he goes out to confront them. Pandemonium follows as students flee amid gunfire from the troops.

In downtown Calumet, several fires rage. Cuban and Soviet troops are battling local American forces while simultaneously attempting to restore order after a hasty occupation of the town. Shortly thereafter, Colonel Bella, a Cuban officer, instructs the KGB to go to the local sporting goods store and obtain the paperwork of citizens who own firearms as likely sources of trouble. A resistance subsequently makes extensive use of captured Soviet weapons and supplies for greater effectiveness.

Jed and Matt learn that their father has now been captured and is being held in a Soviet "reeducation" camp. They speak to him through the fence of the camp. Mr. Eckert orders his two sons to abandon him there, but urges that they "avenge" him. In response, the Wolverines mount strikes on invading forces, and persuade others to do the same. At one point they find a downed United States Air Force pilot, Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner (Powers Boothe).

The resistance, led by Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze), his brother Matt (Charlie Sheen), and their friends Robert (C. Thomas Howell), Danny (Brad Savage), Daryl (Darren Dalton), and Aardvark (Doug Toby) begin an armed resistance against the occupation forces—calling themselves Wolverines after their high school mascot.[2] Later, an old couple who are long-time friends of the Eckerts, inform them that they are behind enemy lines, in "Occupied America." The Wolverines learn that Robert's father has been executed by the Soviets for aiding the guerrillas. The couple charge them with the care of their two teenage granddaughters, Toni (Jennifer Grey) and Erica (Lea Thompson). Lane Smith plays the mayor, and father of Daryl, who tries to appease the occupation authorities, willing to sell out whoever and whatever he must to accomplish his goal. The occupation commander, Colonel Bella, uses the mayor but has no respect for him whatsoever.

Tanner informs them that several key locations such as Washington, D.C. and Omaha, Nebraska have been obliterated, that America's Strategic Air Command has been crippled in a surprise attack by undercover Cuban saboteurs, and that the parachutists they encountered were among those released from fake commercial airliners. This was done in order to seize key positions in preparation for subsequent massive assaults via Mexico and Alaska. Half of America has been taken over, but American counterattacks have halted Soviet progress, and the lines have stabilized. Both sides fear to continue the use of nuclear weapons, and the city of Denver is under a brutal, Stalingrad-like siege. With the exception of an equally hard-pressed Britain and China, the United States stands alone. The Colonel then assists the Wolverines in organizing raids against the Soviets. Soon after, in a visit to the front lines, Tanner and Aardvark are killed in the midst of a battle between Soviet T-72 and American M1 tanks.

As the result of escalating attacks, Soviet commanders now view the Wolverines as a serious threat. Initially, they try reprisal tactics, executing groups of civilians following every Wolverine attack, in hopes of intimidating the local population and compelling the Wolverines to surrender or at least desist from further attacks. However, the tactic backfires, and civilians lend increasing support to the resistance. Following this rise in popular support, the Soviets decide to stop reprisals and focus on hunting down the Wolverines themselves. A Red Army counterinsurgency expert, Colonel Strelnikov, arrives in Calumet and lectures the Soviet and Cuban troops on the new tactics that will be used.

Using threats of torture and killing his parents, KGB intelligence officers force Daryl to carry a tracking device in his backpack, then release him to rejoin the guerrillas. Spetsnaz commandos are sent into the mountains following these tracking signals to eliminate the resistance, but the commandos are ambushed and killed by the Wolverines. After the Wolverines discover that their pursuers are carrying man-portable radio triangulation tracking equipment, and trace the source of the signal to their friend, he confesses his role and pleads for mercy. He is executed along with a captured commando.

The Wolverines are weakened, however, by the attacks and other events, and their morale erodes as the war of attrition takes its toll on their numbers. Even though the civilians are increasingly resistant to Soviet rule, the occupation forces are pushing the resistance to the breaking point. The remaining Wolverines are ambushed by three Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships and Robert and Toni are killed, leaving the group reduced to Jed, Matt, Danny, and Erica.

Determined to save at least some of their number, Jed and Matt stage an attack on the Soviet headquarters in Calumet to distract the troops while Danny and Erica escape to liberated territory. The ploy works and Danny and Erica manage to escape. However, Jed and Matt are both fatally injured during their assault, but not before killing Colonel Strelnikov and numerous Soviet soldiers in the process. Colonel Bella almost executes the two, but upon seeing their helplessness, relents and allows them to live out their last moments alone. In a letter written to his wife, Colonel Bella indicates he no longer believes in the Soviet cause, and that he will resign his commission in the Cuban military and return home.

The film's epilogue, narrated by Erica, suggests that the United States successfully repels the invasion some time later; a plaque is displayed with "Partisan Rock" in the background, a rock which throughout the film has been a recurring motif as each dead comrade's name has been inscribed upon it by a member of the Wolverines. The plaque reads:

"... In the early days of World War 3, guerillas - mostly children - placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation should not perish from the earth."

Cast

Development

The script for Red Dawn was written by John Milius and Kevin Reynolds (director of The Beast, Waterworld, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) from a story by Reynolds. The original screenplay, called Ten Soldiers, was more akin to Lord of the Flies, the classic novel (and later two films) about the aggressive nature of man, than to the action film it eventually became. Some of the changes made to Ten Soldiers included a shift in focus from the conflict within the group of teens to the conflict between the teens and their oppressors, and the acceleration of the ages of some of the characters from early teens to high school age and beyond. John Milius was inspired to a degree by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, basing the tactics of the Wolverines on those of the mujahideen in fighting the occupying Soviet and Cuban armies.[citation needed]

The movie was filmed in and around the town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Many of the buildings and structures which appeared in the film, including a historic Fred Harvey Company hotel adjacent to the train depot, the Las Vegas train yard, and a building near downtown, which was repainted with the name of "Calumet, Colorado", where the movie was set, are still there today as they appeared in the film. An old Safeway grocery store was converted to a sound stage and used for several scenes in the movie.

Before starting work on the movie, the cast underwent a realistic intensive eight-week military training course. During that time, production crews designed and built special combat vehicles in Newhall, California. Among their "army" were 15 Soviet armored vehicles (including a ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" mobile antiaircraft gun, several T-72 main battle tanks, and various BMP, BMD and BTR armored personnel carriers), several Yak-38 "Forger" vertical take-off and landing Soviet Naval aircraft (the Soviet Navy flag is clearly visible on the side of the air intake), and three Mi-24 "Hind-A" helicopter gunships (improvised from Aérospatiale Pumas). Soldier Of Fortune magazine reported that the movie's Soviet T-72 tank was such a precise replica that "while it was being carted around Los Angeles, two CIA officers followed it to the studio and wanted to know where it had come from".

Five of the 36 parachutists who took part in the invasion scene early in the film were injured when high winds blew them as far as one mile off target. Parachutist Jim Fisher, wearing a Soviet paratrooper uniform including full Soviet insignia and including an AKM Assault Rifle, landed in a tree and found himself calling out to local rescuers including armed citizens and police: "Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! I am not a Russian soldier!"[citation needed]

The original theatrical trailer for the film featured a shot of enemy soldiers eating at a McDonald's, which was cut from the film, most likely because of a real life San Ysidro McDonald's massacre that took place three weeks before the premiere.

Cold War

The movie was released during the Cold War. The Soviet attack outlined in the film was a test case for the U.S. Army War College with a certain element of plausibility, given the political climate at the time the movie was released.[5]

Operation Red Dawn

Main article: Operation Red Dawn

The operation to capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was named Operation Red Dawn and its targets were dubbed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. Army Capt. Geoffrey McMurray, who named the mission, said the naming "was so fitting because it was a patriotic, pro-American movie." Milius approved of the naming: "I was deeply flattered and honored. It's nice to have a lasting legacy."[6]

Remake

Main article: Red Dawn (2010 film)

See also

References

  1. ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1984&p=.htm,
  2. ^ a b Fernandez, Jay A. (2008-07-09). "'Red Dawn' redo lands director, scribe; MGM will remake the 1984 action drama". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Red Dawn Condemned As Rife With Violence". The New York Times. 1984-09-04.
  4. ^ Miller, John (February 23, 2009). "The Best Conservative Movies". National Review Online. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/trivia
  6. ^ "Red Dawn Imitated Art". USA Today. 2003-12-17.

External links

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