Such a frustrating disappointment

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is one of my desert island films, meaning what 10 films would you take with you if you were trapped on a deserted island, which is asking what are the 10 greatest films of all-time, but what 10 films would you most enjoy watching over and over again? John Milius' "Red Dawn" is unquestionably amongst of my ten films. The continental US is invaded by the USSR and an ordinary group of high schoolers find themselves hiding out in the hills from the dirty commies and wage a guerrilla war against the occupying Soviet and Cuban forces. The group adopts their high school mascot, the Wolverines, as their rallying cry, and are led by former football star Patrick Swayze, along with his brother Charlie Sheen, in his film debut, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Grey. The story is an irresistible Cold War era set-up, but it's really writer/director Milus' execution of that story that make this film a classic. The recent remake got just about everything wrong and Mlius hits everything just right. The film sees the teens making the leap from a group of typical kids to a group of freedom fighters, versus the remake where they were a fighting force pretty much from the start. Milius also pushes the Americana elements, which make an incursion by the Russians all the more offensive and angering for the audience, not the least of which is casting iconic western actor Ben Johnson in a supporting role. Most significantly, Milius dials the jingoism up to eleven and that's where this film stands out and really comes to life. All of the American iconography throughout the film is one thing, but when you have an NRA bumper sticker brought to life with a Russian taking a gun out of someones cold dead hand or Patrick Swayze arguing with his brother whether their violent tactics are any different from their enemy, Swayze shouts, "Because ... we live here!" Which brings up the interesting political implications of this film. The Soviets are clearly the bad guys for their unprovoked invasion of the United States, but it's impossible to watch "Red Dawn" without seeing a connection to US occupation and fighting of various "insurgent groups" in the Middle East. The same reasons you feel sympathies for Swayze and his fellow Wolverines for protecting their own because they "live here," it's not hard to see why the insurgency in the Middle East continues nearly 20 years after the initial US invasion of Afghanistan. Well, there are differences in the situations for sure, but regardless, but on a simple human emotional level you can't help but watch "Red Dawn" and on that gut level see the universal human desire to protect your homeland from outsiders. But I digress. As I was saying before, it's the film's unabashed flag waving that make it such a camp classic and something that stands apart from the remake or any other similar alternate history type of films. Americans citizens are rounded up in put in re-education camps. Prisoners are lined up for a firing squad and singing "America the Beautiful" as a final act of patriotic defiance. The film is littered with these type of gonzo moments, which are over-the-top and jingoistic to the point of absurdity (though I'll admit to getting quite caught up in it and quite enjoying it), but it's really the small bits of American iconography throughout the film that give it it's power; the game day football field, the middle America small town, the Teddy Roosevelt statue, Swayze's old west Colt 45, or the Wolverines riding on horseback, all add up to a very "American" band of heroes using what makes America great to preserve and protect those icons. I also need to mention that "Red Dawn" contains my favorite one-scene performance of all time. This is when an actor only appears in one scene in a movie, but gives a startlingly great and memorable performance that impacts the larger film. Examples of this would be Christopher Walker's gold watch scene in "Pulp Fiction" or Henry Jones' devastating inquest scene in "Vertigo." In "Red Dawn" there is one scene where brothers Swayze and Sheen to go a drive-in that's been converted into a POW/re-education camp and are looking for their father, played by legendary and iconoclastic actor Harry Dean Stanton, and the following exchange happens with the characters separated by chainlink fencing:Tom: Boys. Matt: Daddy. Dad. Tom: Don't talk. Don't say anything. Let me look at ya. I knew I was right. I knew it. You're alive. I was tough on both of you. I did things that made you, made you hate me sometimes. You understand now, don't you? Jed: What happened, dad? Why are you here? What'd you do? Tom: Doesn't matter. One way or another, for one reason or another, we're all gone. It's all gone. Remember. Remember when you used to go in the park and play, and I used to put you two on the swings? Both of you were so damn little. Jed: I remember. I remember all of it. Tom: Well, I won't be there to pick you up when you fall now. Both of you have to take care of each other now. Matt: We'll never see you again, dad. Tom: Yes you will. I don't want to hear that, Maddy. Matt: What happened to mom, dad? Where is she? Tom: You can't afford to be crying anymore now. I don't want either one of you to ever cry for me again. Don't ever do it. Not as long as you live. Robert: Where's my dad, Mr. Eckert? Tom: I don't know son. I don't know. You all get going. Get out before they find you. Jed: Dad, I love you. Tom: I know you do, son. I love you too.Tom, Jed, and Robert LeaveTom: Boys! Avenge Me! Avenge Me!You know that scene in "Dirty Harry" where Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan describes the power of the .44 Magnum? John Milius wrote that. Remember the scene in "Jaws" when Robert Shaw, playing Quint the shark hunter, talks about his buddies being eaten alive by sharks during World War II? That was Milius. How about the line in "Apocalypse Now," when Robert Duvall, playing a surf-loving Army colonel, says, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"? Milius again. This is why I love Milius and consider him one of the greatest Hollywood screenwriters. This particular scene stands right alongside Milus' most famous contributions to the silver screen. Stanton makes such a strong impression with this one scene that between his performance and Milius' dialogue, the brothers entire childhood and formulation of their character and who they are is encapsulated is this once moment. The scene gives me chills every time. And as corny as Stanton yelling "Avenge Me!" at the end is, it works within the context of this film. Besides the great Harry Dean Stanton, Milius also cast Ron "Superfly" O'Neal, Frank McRae, Lane Smith, and the vastly underrated Powers Boothe, along with my all-time favorite character actor, William Smith (who also played Conan's dad in Milius' "Conan the Barbarian"), as commander Strelnikov, and interestingly, Smith was not just speaking his Russian dialogue from rote memory, but he is actually fluent in several Russian dialects and European languages. During the Korean War, Smith was actually recruited by the CIA and NSA during his time in the Air Force and worked as a Russian Intercept Interrogator. Also worth noting is the excellent score by Basil Poledouris, who also worked with Milius on his classic score for "Conan the Barbarian." Overall, sure "Red Dawn" is a right-wing paranoid fantasy, but is an incredibly fun one and is storytelling of the first order. FUN FACT! This was the first film to be released in the US with a PG-13 rating. Also, the military operation to capture Saddam Hussein was named Operation Red Dawn and its targets were dubbed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2.

Unsettling and effective film that takes the viewer on a disturbing journey with the main characters. It reminded me of Lord of the Flies the way ordinary youth were dealing with extraordinary circumstances. Some of the characters adapted to this survival at all costs better than others. The casting and script was smart for this type of picture. Howell got a taste for killing and hungered for more. Thompson played a hardened woman who was also game for warfare. Swayze was the leader and was conflicted; at the beginning he was gung ho but as the movie wore on his conscious caught up with him. I enjoyed seeing the reaction of war veteran Powers Booth to the characters. To me this film was very thoughtful and did not glorify the violence. It was actually quite disturbing and made me wonder if the better fate was to die or survive such an event.

It is the dawn of World War III. In southwestern America and Colorado, a group of teenagers bands together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces."Red Dawn" is one of those films that becomes legendary in hindsight. With Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson and more before their biggest roles, you cannot help but be impressed by the ensemble cast. But despite that, there is a lot left wanting here. Much of the plot is nonsense. We are given the impression that either a) the Russians control this one city in the middle of the country or b) they have taken over most of the United States overnight. I am not sure which is more hard to believe.The message is also very unclear. Coming from John Milius, there has to be a message. He is a towering personality, with strong opinions. But is this pro-war, anti-war, pro-freedom? We cheer for the Wolverines, but at the same time we see the Cuban (or Mexican?) colonel in a very human way, and at one point the question is bluntly asked -- how are we (Americans) different from them (Russians)? The answers are hard to find.

I re-watched the original version of Red Dawn recently. I'm absolutely baffled by the vitriol this movie engenders among its critics. I've seen it referred to as everything from a racist, jingoistic "Ra, Ra, America" piece of Reagan-era trash propaganda to an allegory for the Afghani insurgency (which is far closer to the truth). The vast majority, I believe, completely missed the point of the movie. Either they never watched it or simply didn't pay attention.To call it a jingoistic bit of Reagan propaganda is a stretch, to say the least because the reason the "Wolverines" take up the insurgency is summed up once in the entire movie: "Because we live here!" That, in a nutshell, is the cry of every partisan, insurgent and guerrilla fighter the world over throughout history. They don't do it for "God, Mom and Apple Pie" or any of that crap. They do it because their home was invaded, their families were butchered and their enemy is relentless.Another jab I've seen is that somehow the movie portrays the Wolverines as super soldiers that never talk about, let alone experience, the horrors of war. So, somehow, Robert's descent into sociopathy, the deaths of Arturo "Aardvark" Mondragon and USAF Lt. Colonel Andrew Tanner, the implication that Toni and Erica were about to be raped (or were) and the eventuality of the war grinding down Jed are all completely and totally ignored.Does the movie involve Commies getting mowed down? Ayep, though I would note that its not front-line troops that the Wolverines usually attack, but troop convoys and rear echelon types....just like what happens in most guerrilla/insurgency campaigns. The one time they attack the Spetsnaz, its a well conceived ambush when the Soviets come blundering into the Wolverines encampment. Somehow, I don't think the critics actually paid attention. Red Dawn isn't a Chuck Norris movie.The other thing is that, unlike in other action movies of the era, the enemies in Red Dawn are not faceless automatons/robots to be blown to kingdom come. Colonel Bella is about as sympathetic an enemy as you can get even though he orders the deaths of the parents of the known Wolverines, minus the Mayor who is Daryl's father. The Soviet Spetsnaz commander Strelnikov is also sympathetic and clear headed. Most tellingly, he says he hates the hypocrisy that warfare produces, that euphemistic language of "containing the enemy" and so forth is a bunch of BS. Again, this is not something a mindless robotic enemy would say in a "Ra, Ra, Ra, USA! USA! USA!" movie. Anyway, for TL;DR - Red Dawn (1984) is a hell of a lot better movie than the then critics, then or even now, give it credit for being. Its a lot more subversive in its message than "Kill Commies for God, Mom and Apple Pie!" as some claim.