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==Plot summary==
==Plot summary==
The film begins on a September morning in the small town of [[Calumet, Colorado|Calumet]], [[Colorado]]. A local high school teacher pauses mid sentence when he sees [[paratrooper]]s 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.
The film begins on a September morning in the small town of [[Calumet, Colorado|Calumet]], [[Colorado]]. A local high school teacher pauses mid sentence when he sees [[paratrooper]]s landing in a field outside the school. These troops, who are [[Russian Airborne Troops| Soviet Airborne Forces]], promptly open fire on the teacher when he goes out to confront them. Pandemonium follows as the Soviets randomly kill the students and fire RPGs at escaping vehicles and into the school building itself.


In downtown Calumet, several fires rage. [[Military of Cuba#Army|Cuban]] and [[Red Army|Soviet troops]] are trying to impose 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 ATF Form 4473 paperwork of citizens who own firearms as likely sources of trouble. The resistance subsequently makes extensive use of captured Soviet weapons for greater effectiveness.
In downtown Calumet, several fires rage. [[Military of Cuba#Army|Cuban]] and [[Red Army|Soviet troops]] are trying to impose 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 ATF Form 4473 paperwork of citizens who own firearms as likely sources of trouble. The resistance subsequently makes extensive use of captured Soviet weapons for greater effectiveness.

Revision as of 16:41, 9 April 2010

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 by John Milius and co-written by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. The film is set in an alternate 1980s in which the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union and its Central American allies. However, the onset of World War III is merely in the background and not fully elaborated. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, calling themselves Wolverines, after their high school mascot.

Plot summary

The film begins on a September morning in the small town of Calumet, Colorado. A local high school teacher pauses mid sentence when he sees paratroopers landing in a field outside the school. These troops, who are Soviet Airborne Forces, promptly open fire on the teacher when he goes out to confront them. Pandemonium follows as the Soviets randomly kill the students and fire RPGs at escaping vehicles and into the school building itself.

In downtown Calumet, several fires rage. Cuban and Soviet troops are trying to impose 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 ATF Form 4473 paperwork of citizens who own firearms as likely sources of trouble. The resistance subsequently makes extensive use of captured Soviet weapons for greater effectiveness.

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.[1] Later, an old couple who are long-time friends of the Eckerts, inform them that they are behind enemy lines, in "Occupied America." The couple charge them with the care of their two teenage granddaughters, Toni (Jennifer Grey) and Erica (Lea Thompson). Daryl's father, the mayor (Lane Smith), tries to appease the occupation authorities.

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 to "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. "How'd you get yourself shot down, Colonel?" asks Jed. "Hell, it was five to one; I got four!" the pilot replies.

Tanner informs them that several key locations such as Washington, D.C., Kansas City, 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. The colonel then assists the Wolverines in organizing raids against the Soviets. Soon after, in a visit to the front line, Tanner is killed in a tank battle between two Soviet T-62s and one US M1 Abrams. They also lose Aardvark during the fight.

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 make their hunt more focused on the Wolverines themselves.

Using threats of torturing and killing his parents, KGB intelligence officers force Daryl to swallow a tracking device, 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.

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, guerrillas - 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 from a story by Reynolds. The original story, called Ten Soldiers, was more akin to Lord of the Flies, the classic novel about the aggressive nature of man, than to the action film it eventually became. Some of the changes included a shift in focus from conflict within the group to 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.

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 train yard, and a building near downtown, which was repainted with the name of "Calumet, Colorado", are still there today. 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 them were 15 Soviet armored vehicles (including a ZSU-23-4 mobile antiaircraft gun, several T-72 main battle tanks, and various BMP, BMD, and BTR armored personnel carriers), several Yakovlev Yak-38 vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and three Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships (improvised from Aérospatiale Pumas). Soldier Of Fortune reported that the movie's 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".

Reception

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.[2] It was the first film to be released in the US with a Motion Picture Association of America PG-13 rating.[1]

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]

References in the movie

  • The movie being shown to Americans prisoners at the Russian camp near Calumet is Aleksandr Nevskiy (1938).[5] It is also playing (for free) in the town cinema across from the drugstore.[6]
  • One of the radio announcements is "John has a long mustache", which is the same message the French resistance gets before D-Day in The Longest Day (1962).[7]

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 Captain 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."[10]

Remake

Main article: Red Dawn (2010 film)

See also

References

  1. ^ 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)
  2. ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1984&p=.htm,
  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.blockbuster.com/browse/catalog/movieDetails/28577
  6. ^ http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9404E5DD1438F933A2575BC0A962948260
  7. ^ http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/MUSTACHE
  8. ^ http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/710/
  9. ^ http://montrosepress.com/articles/2010/01/05/news/doc4b429cb30ce1d546616580.txt
  10. ^ "Red Dawn Imitated Art". USA Today. 2003-12-17.
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