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:

High School | Invasion | Concentration Camp | Helicopter | Warfare

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

Also Known As:

Alba rossa (Italy) [it]
Amanecer rojo (Spain) [es]
Amanhecer Violento (Portugal) [pt]
Czerwony swit (Poland) [pl]
Die rote Flut (West Germany) [de]
I kokkini avgi (Greece) [el]
Invazia rosie (Romania) [ro]
Kizil safak (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
L'aube rouge (Canada: French title) [fr]
Punainen aamunkoitto (Finland) [fi]
Röd gryning (Sweden) [sv]
Red Dawn - punainen vaara (Finland) [fi]
Te jong om te sterven (Netherlands) [nl]

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:

Charlie Sheen's feature film debut.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Robert is sawing the barrel off his shotgun, the sound does not match his motion.

Quotes:

Jed Eckert: [having killed Colonel Strelnikov, who has mortally wounded Jed and Matt] You can rest now. Just hang on, Mattie. It's okay... Daddy'll be here soon. Come on, Mattie. I'll hold you as long as I can... You can lean on me, Mattie... I'm so tired...
[He and Matt die in each other's arms]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Trip & Sloan (2007)

It's Only A Movie...

I saw this movie when I was in college in Colorado Springs, Colorado when it came out in 1984. Many people dismiss this movie at best as either a teen fantasy or at worse as a right-wing maniac's delusional vision of the future. Yes, it is a teen movie, but there's a bit more to it than that. I'm basically writing this for those of you who either weren't born or too young to remember those days. I grew up in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Anything mildly patriotic was regarded in bad taste. So when John Millius and his friends decided to make this patriotic teen movie about resistance fighters fighting invaders from the Evil Empire, he was just tapping into the frustration that many people (including myself) felt at that time. The scene I remember most vividly is the one when Patrick Swazye shoots the young Russian political officer in the Chevy Blazer. The audience consisted mostly of guys from nearby Fort Collins and Peterson AFB, and they gave this scene a standing ovation. In this post 11 September world, it's hard to imagine a time when, during the Cold War, flying the flag or loving your native land made many people think you were either a Nazi or a member of the John Birch Society. Now this film isn't "Seven Days in May" or "Fail-Safe." It's just a movie that was made at a time after we had lost a war and many in the world regarded the USA as a paper tiger. That's all.