Red Dawn (John Milius related)
roisto
879 Posts
I've watched this a couple of times on DVD. Very wrong, interesting (and, in a way, quite good) at the same time...any of you Americans seen this? Any thoughts?
Comments
WHy should I see it?
"A film depicting the invasion of the United States from the north and south by communist forces from Nicaragua and Russia in the beginning of WWIII and the efforts of partisans from a small mid-western town to turn back the invasion. This film is one of the basis of the beliefs of the citizens militias and patriot groups about the possiblity of a U.N. takeover of the U.S. The movie and the theory of the New World Order proposed by the militias are similar, invasion by a foreign force, a big gun grab, arrest of gun owners, military equipment being moved on railroads, enemy helicopters re-education facilities (concentration camps), and a citizen force that strikes back."
WOLVERINES?!?!??!
Kill the commies!
I don't remember it well, but remember it being mildly entertaining. The Swayze factor does detract a bit though....
Only took $8 million on it's opening weekend. While that was pretty good for '84 the budget of the film was $35 million. When factoring in advertising costs, I'd say they only broke even on the film...Not a success by any means.
Studios/producers always make a profit overseas, on the other hand...
by micheal parenti its a great book about the ties between governement and hollywood.
This is what I was after.
Red Dawn went much further than, say, Top Gun and other 1980's army-recruiting movies. Which is why it is so entertaining.
And that movie wasnt a political statment of ANY kind. A typical 'shoot the bad guys' flick that had two five years olds screaming 'Wolverines'! from days on end.
And that movie wasnt a political statment of ANY kind. A typical 'shoot the bad guys' flick that had two five years olds screaming 'Wolverines'! from days on end.
can't speak for fiscal success, but that was a HUGE movie on the teen market back when I was in high school...I bet the video rentals were through the roof by the end of the 80s.
Me, I never saw it, always thought it looked stupid.
John Milius gets my respect mainly for Apocalypse Now and of course, Big Wednesday.
Milius is way deep and more than a little ironic in sensibilty, but he let himself go to the dark side on this movie in terms of Hollywood gloss and inanity. He knew that the more simplistic its politics, the more audiences would like it. (I think it was marketed badly. One funny piece of trivia is that the trailer had a tank fucking up a McDonalds, but before the movie came out someone went nuts and shot a bunch of people in a McDonalds and they cut the scene from the finished film.)
It's sort of painful to compare this to Big Wednesday, which has a similar seasonal-themed structure and is also about young men coming of age, but is uncomfortably real where this one is largely about escapist heroics. But I watched it again a couple of weeks ago and still dig its tacky, gonzo genius (as opposed to acting like some stuck up dude with a ponytail thinking of it as some sinister right wing plot, which it is not).
Higher body count than Schwarzenegger in Commando? That's impressive...
The 35 Mill wasn't it's Budget... It was it's domestic total gross. Which another site puts at 38.3 Million.
It still ranks in the top 20 for that year. Top 20 of that year? Big deal right? Well, look at the movies it went up against for the year.
1 Beverly Hills Cop Par. $234,760,478
2 Ghostbusters Col. $229,242,989
3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Par. $179,870,271
4 Gremlins WB $148,168,459
5 The Karate Kid Col. $90,815,558
6 Police Academy WB $81,198,894
7 Footloose Par. $80,035,402
8 Romancing the Stone Fox $76,572,238
9 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Par. $76,471,046
10 Splash BV $69,821,334
11 Purple Rain WB $68,392,977
12 Amadeus Orion $51,564,280
13 Tightrope WB $48,143,579
14 The Natural TriS $47,951,979
15 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan WB $45,858,563
16 Revenge of the Nerds Fox $40,874,452 989
17 2010 MGM $40,400,657
18 Breakin' Can. $38,682,707
19 Bachelor Party Fox $38,435,947
20 Red Dawn MGM $38,376,497
Hahaha, Breakin' make some cash....
From what I read awhile back, the budget on Red Dawn was really low.
i saw it incalcualable numbers of time back then.. in the theatre, on video disc (anybody even remember these fuckers??), laser diusc, beta, and it was the first movie i ever had taped off the movie channel free weekend.
i actually watched it on tv about 3 weeks ago.
this is one of the mainstay of movies for guys age 28 - 35. Everyone wanted to be a Wolverine...
Memories...
I remember reading how they were pushing brat pack status on these guys.
Patrick Swayze
C. Thomas Howell
Lea Thompson
Charlie Sheen
Jennifer Grey
The Colonel: All that hate's gonna burn you up, kid.
Robert: It keeps me warm.
straight co-sign.
Hey...
Nobody puts Baby in a corner!!!
"Umm, would you mind waiting by Umm the corner? Thxxx"[/b]
There are a mad amount of classic lines in it.
Any film can be made to seem important/interesting if you spin it a certain way. This is part of a trilogy blah, blah..seasonal themes...darkside of hollywood. Beverly hills cop is a trilogy. The fact is that there is nothing really redeeming about the ideas, the filmaking or the acting in this film. For right wingish macho man type steez, I'll take Dirty Harry (scripted by Milius) over this piece o junk anyday. Hell Conan is more interesting just cause it's got titties and Grace Jones, (I think I am being redundant here).
As far as the political message of the film. Shit could not be clearer. America faces real danger from its mortal enemies the Soviets and......Cuba. Only violent confrontation will make them step back. Of course, The great irony of all this that WE sponsored a real life invasion of Cuba, along with many failed illegal assassination attempts of Castro. What is disturbing is that uncritical viewers would probably miss this point. It is this kind of media that subconsciously works to convince Americans that they are better than other people, surrounded by hatters that would take what is theirs. If you are interested in getting under Milius' political wig, just watch "Hearts of Darkness" and see how he proposed to end Apocalypse Now. Shit was gonna be Rambo.