Random Film of the Week: Red Dawn

At the helm: John Milius
The players: Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Grey
The year: 1984

Ah, the 80's. They were a simpler time. A time where cell phones weighed more than a brick. A time where music quality was based on how many boops and beeps there were in the chorus. And of course a time when them commies were still gunning for our glorious, excessive way of life.

There was always a concern in the times of the iron curtain, where we Americans feared a full-on Communist takeover. What could we do to defend ourselves from the scourge of the Reds. If only there were some kind of instructional film, no, inspirational rally call the likes of the all to important "duck and cover" films of the 50's.

Well, John Milius gave us such a film, and not a moment too soon, because we all know the 80's was the high point of the Soviet Union, and who knew when they were going to strike.

Red Dawn is the Breakfast Club of war films. Of course the Breakfast Club wasn't released yet so I guess you could say the Breakfast Club was the Red Dawn of teenage angst movies, but I digress. Red Dawn teaches us that the good 'ole youth of America has the power to lay down a can of whoop ass on an invading communist force.

The film opens with Russian paratroopers touching down on the soil of a high school football field in Colorado. The vicious commies immediately kill the one and only black guy in the whole movie, and begin shooting up the high school. A scenario I doubt we'll ever see again.

A group of youths loot a local gun store and seek shelter in the mountains where they wait until the firing stops. After some angsty moments a few of the boys venture back into town to see what has transpired and the sight is ghastly. This fair Colorado town has become mini-Russia, complete with "friendship" centers, barbed wire, and propaganda theaters. Oh what those Ruskies can do in a month.

After a brutally sentimental heart to heart with their captured father the boys return to the mountains to pursue a promise they made to "AVENGE HIM!!!"

What follows is a number of highly coordinated guerrilla tactics carried out by about 7 teenagers against a massive communist coalition which, judging from the casualties inflicted on them, is amazing that they found the U.S. on a map. These teenagers fight under the moniker of the "Wolverines", always taking the time to carefully inscribe there insignia on just about anything amazingly without ever being seen.

The 80's dystopian world is a glimpse of a world that could be, a world where a seventeen year old class president can wipe out a platoon of trained soldiers. It gives me hope to watch this film as I chant aloud. America! Fuck Yeah!

I leave you with a scene showing how we can become more of a man by injesting the blood of what we kill. Enjoy!