[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Red Dawn Review (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/27/2004 5:32:47 AM EDT
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I see Red Dawn listed on movie lists on this forum so I finally saw it. By any standard it is terrible. Even if you rank it with other 'B' movies, it doesn't stack up. Charlie Sheen and the guy who played the shot down American colonel have some real talent, but there was nothing to work with. This movie had a lousy, unbelievable story, poorly written, and directed - there was as little talent behind the camera as in front. Red Dawn does not deserve to be on any list with good movies such as Blackhawk Down or Dr. Strangelove. |
Purely as a work of art, I'd have to agree. The movie IS exceptional, however, by the very fact that it was even made. Try making that movie today. |
+1 Great movie! |
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I'll give the guy a little slack. If a person didn't grow up during the cold war (late 40's to the mid 70's) and watches Red Dawn they have no frame of reference in which to place it, so they view it as entertainment. If you haven't heard air raid sirens going off, or didn't do "duck and cover drills" in school, or didn't know where the nuclear fallout shelters were in the schools and public building or didn't know of at least one person that had a bomb shelter in their yard then you really didn't live during the Cold War. I don't count the time period after about 1977 as part of the "Cold War" era as by the late 70's most schools had stopped doing duck and cover drills, the air raid sirens were silenced, a lot of the fallout shelters had been turned into storage space, the supplies had been thrown away and the radio / TV public service announcements changed from nuclear bomb / missile warning to national emergincies. 
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+2 
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You must be young. If I were only 16 or so, Red Dawn might not mean much to me either. If you were around in the `80's, you'd know how the whole cold war kinda lurked in the background. There was a faint but present feeling that we could all die in a flash at any second. The Soviets were our enemy. Among other things, it was the first movie in a LONG time that painted private gun owners in a positive light. It also played on the new found national pride and patriotism that President Reagan fostered. Guess you had to be there.... ETA - Good points KA3B - I graduated HS in 1979, in Aberdeen. Md. We had civil defense drills up through the mid `70's. But as close to ground zero as we probably were (DC and APG, etc.) we knew we'd be gaseous instantly if "it" ever happened. |
... That's the key, and similar to HEAT, it truely has a lot to do with being of an "ARFCOM cult" fame. |
Oh Yeah. Awesome flick. Murphy Brown even looks good with a shotgun  BTW: Just picked up Red Dawn on DVD at Wallyworld for 9 bucks. |
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I wish I was anywhere close to 16. However, I was born in the 50's and lived through most of the cold war. Also, Heat is excellent in every way. It is one of my all time favorites. |
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Hi all, New here. I saw that thread too about war movies and was going to add Red Dawn. The Cold War threat might be over but the messages are as pertinent as ever. The invasion, "re-education" camps, collaborators, the sheeple that would not or could not resist, and the Wolverines ('nuff said). I remember being a little spooked by that movie when I first saw it as it didn't seem entirely impossible that it couldn't happen. Still not so sure especially with a generation more worried about MTV and gay rights and body piercing than anything important. Just substitute liberals and their increasingly ultra leftist ideologies for the Russians and you have the same story. When the Chinese do eventually invade, we'll be told not to resist but to welcome the cultural diversity of the invaders or some shit, that it's good for you- Or maybe I just read too much into it. Anyway a cool movie in my opinionhy.gif |
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I'm sure we can pick out "unrealistic" scenes in BHD as well but it we all know that movies are that - movies. I graduated HS in '81 and so I saw it with memories of the cold war as well. I thought it was quite a movie feat for it's time. Maybe this is why I am also the type that likes to see movies made in black and white still in B&W - not colorized. I like to see them in the context of when they were made. |
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As a cinematic masterpiece it does fall short. Very few cult movies come close to that mark. I would hazard that Quentin Tarantino movies are the few cultish type movies that are cinematic masterpieces. Including Kill Bill ll. Just saw it, really enjoyed it. But it was important in showing positive images of gun ownership and national pride. With a Cold War gone hot as a background it was a good movie for the 1980's. And passable, IMHO, 20yrs later. |
+1 Exactly what I was going to say... to compare a movie that is that old to a new one just isn't reasonable... Yea, lots of the tactics and depections are not realistic but then again neither is any of the Rambo series or Preditor! I still have them all on DVD.... WOLVERINES!!! |
do me a favor and pick up a sports almanac and bring it back with ya for me, ok |
Now why would you possibly want a sports almanac from the past. Now if is was from the future... 
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+1 Criticizing this movie because it's unrealistic is like criticizing E.T. because it's unrealistic. Realism wasn't important to me when I saw these movies as a kid. (Note: I'm referring to the real version of E.T. here, not the crappy version with walkie talkies instead of guns.) |
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I loved Red Dawn, I was about the same age as the Wolverines, lived in Colorado and had guns. I imagined a scenario like this as very likely. Some Favorite Scenes: 1) Collect the 4473's 2) Avenge Me! 3) The Spider hole ambush. The movie I am not big on is "Heat". Great action scenes, but the movie was too slow for me. I will give it another shot someday. |
| I first saw that movie when I was 16 or 17, am now 23. I truly beleive every American child should see that movie before they turn 13. I was once watching that when a 30 something year old came up behind me and said "You fu%@ers should have seen this when you were old enough to know what the cold war was about. It was great!" |
| "It's your first time , aint it?" "That means you gotta drink!" As one of heros pull out a knife and starts front to back and cuts everything inbetween(including bladder ) then takes out his canteen cup , filling it up with lung, large intestine, small intestine, bladder fluid(urine)oh and blood he hands a very young C. Thomas Howell the cup and says "here ya go " C. Thomas takes it and says " what's it taste like? " Charlie Sheen says "it's kinda like when you have a bloody nose" Ol' C. Thomas takes it and gulps down his very first cup of lime disease and says " it's not so bad....it ain't so bad" . And the rest is history . Well can anybody guess how many times I've seen that movie? I lost count by the time I was 16. Remember going to the theater with my Dad to see it. We lived in Wyoming at the time which geographically looked EXACTLY like where they were supposed to be , I believe South Dakota. Which borders Wyo. The Russians were still a very real threat especially since Cheyenne had a nuclear missle base . And still do I think. Anyway after that movie, yeah I was a kid, I started learning as much as I could about survival and all that. It will go down in my memory as one of the most influential movies of my life. That and "Apocolypse Now" Ha ha ha . Take care. Coondog |