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.
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.[1] At one time, 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.[2] National Review Online has named the film #15 in its list of 'The Best Conservative Movies'.[3]
Plot summary
The prologue of the film explains that Communist ideology has taken root in many nations of the world, especially in South America and Central America, due to falling economic conditions and food shortages. The Soviet Union has experienced its worst wheat harvest in 55 years, and invades the former countries of the Warsaw Pact in Eastern Europe such as Poland, where mass rioting has occurred. Previously, West Germany was forced into disarmament when the Greens Party came into power there, and as such was left helpless to the Soviet onslaught. These events cause global disruption and tensions, NATO dissolves with the countries of Europe deciding that "twice in one century was enough." England -- presumably with the rest of the United Kingdom -- chooses to fight, but as could be predicted in such a military mismatch, Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner (Powers Boothe)[4] predicts that "they won't last very long." The United Nations has become a political non-entity and China is fighting on the American side. Lt. Col. Tanner states that the Chinese have suffered 400 million casualties. These were presumably inflicted by a Soviet preemptive strike with strategic nuclear weapons and possibly other Soviet weapons of mass destruction as well—Tanner illustrates the carnage by the burst of flames when he splashes alcohol from his canteen into a campfire.
The film begins when a normal September morning in the small Colorado town of Calumet is unexpectedly interrupted by the surprise appearance of Soviet paratroopers in the empty fields behind the local high school. As the paratroopers begin their attack and rounding up the townspeople, a small group of teenagers escapes in a truck, obtains weapons and supplies from a store, and flees to the nearby mountains where they had previously hunted with their fathers. The Arapaho National Forest becomes their base.
A bumper sticker seen on a truck states a classic gun owner’s creed: "They can have my gun when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers." The shot moves down to a dead man's hand holding an M1911 Colt pistol, which a Soviet paratrooper pries from his hand. As the protagonists flee the initial invasion of Calumet, they stop at a local sporting goods store owned by one of their fathers. He tells them to gather supplies and gives them several rifles, shotguns, and pistols along with boxes of ammunition (the father and his wife are later executed because of the guns missing from the store’s inventory). In a later scene, Colonel Bella, the Cuban officer, instructs the KGB to go to the local sporting goods store and obtain the paperwork of local citizens who own firearms as likely suspects of trouble. The Cuban officer specifically refers to Form 4473, which is the actual BATF form used to record the sale of a firearm by a dealer to a private citizen in the United States, suggesting an inherent danger in laws that require firearm registration in such a situation. Later in the film the Wolverines make extensive use of captured Soviet weapons such as AKMs, RPKs, and RPGs from their first engagement onwards for greater effectiveness.
When they return to find news on what has happened, the boys are given sanctuary for a time on a ranch by an old couple who are long-time friends of their families, and who inform them that they are "40 miles (64 km) behind enemy lines." The couple charge them with the care of their two granddaughters, Toni (Jennifer Grey) and Erica (Lea Thompson) Mason. 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)—who call themselves the Wolverines after their high school mascot,[1]—they begin a armed resistance against the Soviet-allied occupation force.
Jed and Matt learn that their father has now been captured and is being held in a Soviet concentration camp. Mr Eckert orders the two boys to abandon him there, but to "avenge" him. In response, the "Wolverines" mount strikes on invading forces, and persuade others to do the same.
Soon afterward, the Wolverines encounter Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner, a fighter pilot whose plane was shot down in air combat against Soviet planes over the area. 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 combined arms assaults via Mexico and Alaska. Half of America has been taken over, but American counterattacks have halted Soviet progress. the colonel then assists the Wolverines in organizing raids against the Soviets. Soon after, Tanner is killed by fire from a tank battle between an American M1A1 Abrams and a pair of Soviet T-72's. They also lose Aardvark during the fight.
As the result of escalating guerrilla attacks, the Soviet field commanders now view the Wolverines as a serious threat. Initially, the occupiers had tried reprisal terror tactics, executing groups of civilians following every Wolverine attack, in hopes of intimidating the local population and compelling the Wolverines to surrender. However, the tactic backfires, and civilians lend increasing support to the resistance movement. Following a rise in popular support for the Wolverines, the Soviets decide to stop reprisals against civilians and make their hunt more focused on the Wolverines themselves. Spetsnaz commandos are sent into the mountains to eliminate the resistance, but the commandos are ambushed and killed by the Wolverines.
Actor Lane Smith plays the role of the "Vichyite" mayor who tries to appease the occupation authorities. He watches as several of the residents of his town are executed, and later he betrays his own son to the KGB. Using threats of torture, KGB intelligence officer force the young man to swallow a tracking device. Then they release him to rejoin the guerillas. After the Wolverines discover that their pursuers are carrying man-portable radio triangulation equipment, the boy confesses his role and pleads for mercy, but the others execute him.
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 four: Jed, Matt, Danny, and Erica. The survivors realize that they cannot outlast the Soviets, and if they keep fighting, they will all die. Determined to save at least some of their number, Jed and Matt stage a suicide attack on the Soviet regional headquarters to distract the troops while Danny and Erica escape to "Free American" territory. The ploy works, though it is only implied that Jed and Matt die—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.
Cast
This marks one of the three films Swayze and Howell did together; the other two The Outsiders with Dalton as well, and Grandview, U.S.A.. Swayze and Grey went on to appear in Dirty Dancing[5] while Grey and Sheen appeared in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
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; less than 5 years after the capture of the US Embassy in Iran in 1979, which led to the 444 day-long hostage negotiation (and failed rescue attempt Operation Eagle Claw) in 1980 and 1981; only two years after the US invasion of Grenada where US Special Forces and Delta Force members fought against Cuban military forces; and only one year after Ronald Reagan, elected to his second term as President of the United States, announced his prototypical Strategic Defense Initiative Star Wars missile defense system as a military necessity to give America an advantage against nuclear attack. The Soviet attack outlined in the film was a test case for the US War College with a certain element of plausibility, given the political climate at the time the movie was released.[6]
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."[7]
Remake
See also
- Alternate history
- List of nuclear holocaust fiction
- World War III in popular culture
- Culture during the Cold War
- Grey Dawn, an episode of South Park which parodies Red Dawn, with old people instead of communists.
- Freedom Fighters (video game), A video game about a Soviet Invasion of New York City, very similar to Red Dawn.
- World in Conflict, A Video game about a Soviet/Chinese Invasion of America. Red Dawn was the main influence for the game.
- World in Conflict: Soviet Assault,The expansion of the first World in Conflict playing as the Soviets.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, A video game that depicts a full scale Soviet Invasion of The United States.
- Amerika (TV miniseries), A television show about The United States under the rule of the Soviet Union.
- Homefront (video game), an upcoming video game written by John Milius, who wrote and directed Red Dawn, about a North Korean invasion of America.
- Modern Warfare 2, A new trailer has shown Washington D.C as a battle ground.
References
External links
