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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 13487
Released: February 4, 1998 |
| Our Price: $2.12 |
| Used Price: $1.97 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Red Dawn opens with one of the most shocking scenes ever filmed; on a peaceful morning, through the windows of a high school classroom, students see paratroopers land on the varsity football field: the invasion of the United States has begun! As their town is overrun by foreign nationals, eight teenagers escape to the mountains. Taking the name of their high school football team, the Wolverines, they wage unremitting guerrilla warfare in defense of their parents, their friends and their country. Powerful, chilling and absolutely gripping, this outstanding film features some of today's most popular stars, including Patrick Swayze (Ghost), Charlie Sheen (Platoon), C. Thomas Howell (The Hitcher), Lea Thompson ("Caroline in the City"), Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing) and veteran actor Harry Dean Stanton (Alien). When it comes to thrilling entertainment, Red Dawn wins the war with a vengeance!
Description of Red Dawn:
The Ronald Reagan 1980s were all about going back to the future--rewriting the past to better suit Reagan's upbeat vision of the present. So, Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo (a psychotic, shell-shocked Vietnam vet in the original film, transformed into a flag-waving hero in the sequel) was able to go back to Southeast Asia and "correct" history by decisively (and single-handedly) winning that messy ol' war on behalf of America. Red Dawn is a paranoid cold-war cautionary tale that presents us not with a rosy alternative past, but with an ominous vision of the future, metaphorically plopping a piece of Russian-occupied Afghanistan into America's back yard. In this celebration of the Second Amendment, storm troopers from the Evil Empire descend upon the inadequately defended United States and hold America hostage. Stealthily avoiding the invaders, a motley group of red-blooded, small-town, gun-toting teenagers go underground to form the Wolverines, a guerilla resistance squad dedicated to making those Russkies rue the day they parachuted onto U.S. soil. It's a darn good thing those kids had the right to keep and bear arms, huh! Written and directed by macho filmmaker John Milius, the self-described "Zen fascist" who also cowrote Apocalypse Now, as well as the horrifying shark story Robert Shaw tells in Jaws. The cast includes Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey (a few years before she and Swayze took up Dirty Dancing), Charlie Sheen, Powers Boothe, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ben Johnson. Red Dawn was a commercial success, although audiences invariably split into two camps, finding it either patriotic or appalling. Whatever your verdict, the film remains a telling reflection of its era. --Jim Emerson
Red Dawn Reviews:
The Russians Are Not Coming... They're Here!!! 
2008-08-17 - You have to admit, it's a great premise. What would America look like and do if war was conducted on our own soil instead of across an ocean? But instead of going the conventional way of showing you anything and everything about it, director John Milius decided to give this depressing scenario a view from a bunch of high school kids. We don't even know the full extent of the attack until the middle of the movie. Interesting concept sure, but what looks good on paper almost never works when fully attempted.
First off, with the exception of a young Charlie Sheen, the acting is bad... as in pathetic. Patrick Swayze is a guy you wouldn't expect this from, but he's one of the worst offenders. Then there's the plausibility of the Wolverine story. Sure, it's possible that a band of high schoolers could take on the Commies in small groups, but it wouldn't last for as long as it did. But it's Hollywood, so I give some leeway here. And there's probably a reason connecting with pride or something, but why didn't they just head towards "Free America" and help mount bigger and better attacks from there? At least they could fight on the borders, and receive supplies from the Americans. But instead, it's not until most of them are dead (more on that later), that they decide it would be better to not do everything independently.
Then there's the plausibility of the whole Russian invasion. Now, I'm far from an expert, but wouldn't it be almost impossible for the Russians to launch that big of an attack, so coordinated, so problem-free, so quickly, without a huge retaliation? I'm just saying. It was pretty hard to do it back in the 80s, and word to the wise for those doing the rumored remake, it's impossible to do it today.
Now don't get me wrong, the concept is very intriguing, and works great on paper, but the only problem is that it's extremely depressing. Call me an ever-happy schmo, but watching America being desecrated in such a manner with reeducation camps just doesn't exactly lift my spirits. It's probably not supposed to, but after 2 hours, it just drags you down. Add to the fact that all but 2 main characters die, including Charlie Sheen, in one downer of an ending and some painful scenes, and it's a bit overkill (no pun intended). I also didn't care for the fact that the ending left so many questions unanswered, leaving just a short narration. Here's a question, what ever happened to Patrick Swayze's character?
Now, it may sound like I hate the movie, but I don't. I was entertained and interested, but the movie just falls in so many ways, it's a downer, and again, most of the movie is just depressing. It has some good American values, intriguing concepts, and some interesting character studies. It plays on the fears of the Cold War, and therefore has the most impact for those who fully experienced these 'I Play Chicken With The Train' times. So, in a battle of best Cold War 80's movie, "War Games" still wins hands down. So here's to America, the NRA and The Wolverines!
A Great Cult Movie 
2008-08-08 - Red Dawn joins the ranks of good cult movies. However, what is particularly interesting was its reception when it first came out. When Red Dawn came out, American leftists went ballistic because the movie portrayed their precious Soviet Union and Communist Cuba in a bad light. Those of us who lived during the Seventies and Sixties remember the absolute censorship that liberals had over the media and one of their iron clad rules was that no criticism of Communism, Cuba, or the Soviet Union was to be allowed to be aired. It was the perfect censorship. However, Red Dawn was not the first one; a couple of years prior to this a made for TV movie came out ("Amerika"), which was very, very badly made, but which worked on the same story line. But . . . since it was the first one to violate the Politically Correct restriction, well, the reaction against Red Dawn was nothing compared to the reaction to Amerika---the liberals went into hysterics. Ted Turner, one of Hollywood's limousine Communists (along with Hanoi Jane, Robert Redford and Warren Beatty) actively tried to kill the movie by having specials run at the same time slot for the purpose of indoctrination (read "peace programs" in PC jargon). A book, or film, needs to be made about that time (You think Michael Moore might be interested?).
Yes, I have to Admit ...
2008-07-03 - Is this propaganda by John (Conan the Barbarian) Milius? Of course it is but you have to view it in the context of the times in which the movie was made. After the fall of Saigon in '75 we really looked like a paper tiger. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese were either sent to concentration camps or murdered outright for working with America. We had cut and run and no one really trusted us. Go forward a couple of years and you have hostages in Iran and the Soviet Empire on the march --with surrogates fighting (mostly Cubans and East Germans) in Africa and Central America. They have invaded Afghanistan as a spearhead drive to the straits of Hormuz and the oil lanes of the middle east. They look like an unstoppable colossus. That is the era in which RED DAWN was made. Ronald Reagan had only been in office for a few months and no one could forsee that the Reagan Doctrine (not to contain the USSR, but actually roll back the borders of the Soviet Empire would result in their collapse in a decade. Some wonderful images: a drive-in theatre turned into a re-education camp -- with a nice performance by Harry Dean Stanton. A young cast that would do well in the years ahead: Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey. Solid veterans like Ben Johnson, Powers Boothe, Ron O'Neal and, of course, B-Movie Legend: WILLIAM SMITH. Escapist fare. Change the Russians to mad-dog Islamic nut cases and the story could be today.
RED DAWN - rocks!
2008-05-12 - A no brainer purchase - Hollywood liberals hated it, then and now, but the movie production team persisted. Kudos for this rare "freedom of expression" production.
Mike
Possibly the greatest 80's movie ever
2008-05-05 - Fantastic movie that helps us look back to our fear during the height of cold war tension. Great actors, though often young, great story, great effects, great movie. Thats really all I can say about it. People either love it or hate it, often linking it to America's Second Amendment, but if you can watch it for what it is, a story about high schoolers trying to survive during World War 3 in the early 1980s, I don't see how you can not appreciate it.
