Description: 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!
Amazon.com: Truly ridiculous but somehow moving, this right-wing paranoid fantasy by John Milius (The Wind and the Lion) from 1984 concerns a Soviet takeover of the United States and a band of ragtag adolescents who metamorphose into freedom fighters. One can laugh at the notion of Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Russians having worked out a master plan to invade America, but Milius's account of how such a grim day affects a small Western town really does get under one's skin. The cast--most of whom were not yet stars (Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey had probably never heard of a script called Dirty Dancing at the time)--are quite persuasive as nice kids who come to recognize the tragedy of their lost innocence through fierce, uncompromising struggle. Powers Boothe is very good as a pilot who briefly comes to their aid, and Harry Dean Stanton is stirring as a solid working man and father who represents the virtues his sons are fighting for. The DVD release includes production notes, the original theatrical trailer, trivia, scene access, and an optional widescreen presentation. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - The Russians Are Not Coming... They're Here!!!
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... ... Read More
Rating: - A Great Cult Movie
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 ... Read More
Rating: - Yes, I have to Admit ...
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 ... Read More
Rating: - RED DAWN - rocks!
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
Rating: - Possibly the greatest 80's movie ever
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.
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