- 1984’s politically incorrect Red Dawn
Posted on 09/15/2009 9:33:52 PM PDT by FrontPageMag.com
The nation is mourning Patrick Swayze, who passed away yesterday at age 57 after a long fight with pancreatic cancer. Everyone remembers his performances in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, but few if any obituaries will commemorate his role in one of the most politically incorrect films of the last 25 years: Red Dawn.
Leftists have always despised, and still revile, the film. For a quarter-century, the far-Left has claimed Ronald Reagan brainwashed the nation’s youth with this movie. Less than a year ago, David Plotz was so troubled by it that he assailed it in a full article in Slate. “Red Dawn embodies conservative nutterdom in a way few films not made by Mel Gibson have ever managed,” he wrote. “If Ann Coulter made a movie, it would look like Red Dawn. ” (Jonah Goldberg responded on “The Corner.”)
It is fun to remember the libertine Left fretting about its violence. The Guinness Book of World Records, through some reckoning system invented by Enron, named it the most violent film in history. (It was the first film rated “PG-13.”) Its real crimes were two-fold: it showed the Soviets as aggressors promoting an insidious agenda, and it depicted the potentially Orwellian implications of gun control.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsrealblog.com ...
The Reagan administration associated itself with the film; read the rest of the post at NewsRealblog.com.
Lets make some real movies!
better?
The libs are going to turn it into something leftist, you can believe that.
I was in an American National Guard unit that was part of NATO then but we lived in the United States although some of us spent a lot of time in Europe.
Everyone in the military that I knew loved it and in Houston Texas it was popular among the "right" crowd and I always knew it as tied to Reagan.
Red Dawn was a smash hit that grossed well and opened at #1, three weekends out it was still #3.
This is the first time I have ever heard someone try to separate it from President Reagan and our pro military stance back then. Having Red Dawn was like having a Reagan theme movie.
You may see Red Dawn as a sentimental favorite film, I don’t. No one I know does either. There is no reason to separate it from Reagan and for good reason. It was never linked with Reagan. It was a bad movie, with bad production values and bad acting. No revisionism.
No matter how many other roles he has or how many years pass, C. Thomas Howell will for ever be known as the high school kid who made a valiant last against a Russian Helicopter Gunship. After having his horse shot out from under him, he takes a stand and takes on one of the worlds best killing machines armed only with an Ak-47! As he cries, “Wolverines!” The machineguns on the Hind turn him into partisan tartar.
One of the most inspiring yet poignant moments on film!
Did you ever see the film mentioned in the rest of this blog, “Uncommon Valor”? It’s nearly as politically incorrect as “Red Dawn.” And Gene Hackman is great in everything.
I don’t recall. I will definitely keep an eye out for it. I also liked John Waynes “Big Man Jim McClain” or however thats spelled
You bet I love the film and it's total ties to Reagan and Reaganism and Americanism, I had been out of the military for years when I enlisted in that unit because of President Reagan and his war stance, and that movie was all part of the deal back then.
That successful and enduring movie and President Reagan will forever be tied together.
"After earning $8,230,381 in its first weekend, Red Dawn went on to gross $35,866,000 in its initial U.S. release. It was not much of a critical success (its only significant award was a nomination for a Young Artist Award for supporting actor Brad Savage), but it has remained a guilty pleasure for many Reagan-era young conservatives. Years later, "Red Dawn" became the code name for the military operation that captured Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein."
Red Dawn was a foreshadowing of the alternate media to come. The critics went out of their way to smear this movie and discourage movie goers from seeing it. But it came out just at the beginning of the home video boom and was a big hit at the video store.
I always get a kick out of Red Dawn. No, it’s not great filmmaking. But dangit, it’s a boot load of fun to watch.
Besides, it has Harry Dean Stanton in it...and any movie with him in it is worth watching, in my book.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go watch Repo Man and Pretty in Pink again.
Fact is, it was the 20th highest grossing film of 1984. Not too bad. But it was still a bad movie. It wasn't an enduring film for most folks. It was a critical flop.
Amerika. At one point, the entire Senate was gunned down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_(TV_miniseries)
Dont remember it, but might rent it after “V”
even i appreciate this movie... and i was a total lib back then... wasn't Charlie Sheen in this movie? the US invaded by the Soviets... Ronald Reagan definitely comes to mind when i think of this movie...
I never saw Amerika but remember the uproar. Thought it was a strange casting choice to put Kris Kristofferson in as the patriotic leader....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.