Red Dawn (1984)

Director:

John Milius

Writers:

John Milius (writer)
Kevin Reynolds (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 August 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

A full scale military invasion by foreign troops begins. Total surprise. Almost total success . . . .

Plot:

It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers bands together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces.

Plot Keywords:

Soviet | High School | Invasion | Student | Wolverine

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Patrick Swayze	...	Jed
C. Thomas Howell	...	Robert
Lea Thompson	...	Erica
Charlie Sheen	...	Matt
Darren Dalton	...	Daryl
Jennifer Grey	...	Toni
Brad Savage	...	Danny
Doug Toby	...	Aardvark
Ben Johnson	...	Mason
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Mr. Eckert
Ron O'Neal	...	Bella
William Smith	...	Strelnikov
Vladek Sheybal	...	Bratchenko
Powers Boothe	...	Andy
Frank McRae	...	Mr. Teasdale

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian | Spanish

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:16 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:Atp | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Johnson Mesa, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Valkyrie Films

Trivia:

"Red Dawn" was the given code name of the military operation in Iraq that captured Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003. John Milius felt honored by that.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: After the attack on the Soviet's regional headquarters near the end of the film, Jed carries a fatally wounded Matt through a snow covered playground, during which to the left of both of them, a shadow of another person on the snow covered ground - possibly a crew member - can be seen walking ahead of them.

Quotes:

Erica: [after colonel dies] I'll never love anybody again!
Robert: If you didnt't love anybody, you wouldn't be here right now...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Trip & Sloan (2007)

Sums up US feelings

Man o man. This movie is great. As a history student its awesome to look back on these types of things and see what the buzz was around the time of the movie's release. The plot is insane, acting over-the-top, but the historical commentary is amazing. People actually believed that such a thing as this was possible in the mid-80s, pre-Gorbachev. This is not "low-level propaganda," its the most obvious pro-American movie I have EVER seen.

On the movie alone, the "film" shouldn't even rate. But as a Cold-War barometer, every interested person should see this to peer into the height of US-Soviet tensions.