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Patrick Swayze's Forgotten Role
NewsRealBlog.com ^ | September 15, 2009 | Ben Johnson

Posted on 09/15/2009 9:33:52 PM PDT by FrontPageMag.com

1984s politically incorrect Red Dawn
1984’s politically incorrect Red Dawn

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 ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans; Music/Entertainment; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: patrickswayze; powsmias; reddawn; uncommonvalor; wolverines
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To: Reagan Man
"truly horrible"

I tend to agree. I could never get over the implausibility of millions of Russians "sneaking" into the country on planes. When I tried to argue the logistics of millions of foreign soldiers getting into the country without our defense picking it up, a co-worker who liked the film tried to argue with me. A truly laughable movie.

81 posted on 09/16/2009 6:20:02 AM PDT by driftless2 (for long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion)
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To: Bikkuri
どうも
82 posted on 09/16/2009 6:22:56 AM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: Mad Dawgg

Great info. I never knew that movie had such an impact. I only knew it struck home for those of us who were young at the time.


83 posted on 09/16/2009 7:38:49 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: Reagan Man
It was a critical flop.

Of course it was, did you think critics were going to love such a great, anti-communist, pro-Reagan, pro-American film that became a cultural touchstone? Remember back then the Soviet Union could actually get the American left to ban films.

I have never met anyone with your attitude about the film, I have only seen it from the leftist Hollywood critics, what is the truth about you and Red Dawn, there has to be more to your story than you are telling us.

Let me make one guess, you were never the kind of guy to put a "Kill A Commie for Mommy" sticker on your car, or wear an "Airborne: Death from Above" T-shirt, or think about joining the many American patriotic mercenaries that were so active in the Carter and Reagan years fighting communism around the globe, or subscribe to "Soldier of Fortune" or subscribe to any of the survival/military/anti-commie magazines of the time.

Red Dawn is the movie that so many people, males especially, hold dear to their hearts as the film that most represents President Reagan to us.

84 posted on 09/16/2009 7:45:52 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: Big Giant Head; Big Giant Air Head

Red Dawn Ping. :)


85 posted on 09/16/2009 7:55:47 AM PDT by Marie Antoinette (Proud Clinton-hater since 1998.)
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To: driftless2
>>>>>>A truly laughable movie.

Couldn't garee more. LOL

86 posted on 09/16/2009 8:29:33 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: ansel12
Like I told you. There is no accounting for taste. You like Red Dawn, you should have left it at that. Red Dawn is a fictional account with an implausible plot, bad production values, bad acting. Nothing more, nothing less. A truly dumb movie.

I watch movies for entertainment. Movies do not influence the way I think or what I do in my life. I don't get caught up in the cult of personality that seems to drive most liberals and adolescents in recent years.

The fact you're going to such lengths to defend this film indicates you have serious emotional and psychological problems that I can't help you with. Seek immediate help. Then get a life and start growing up.

87 posted on 09/16/2009 8:47:25 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Mad Dawgg
>>>>>>From Wikipedia:

LOL A mouth piece for the left and liberal propaganda machine. I'm not impressed.

88 posted on 09/16/2009 8:52:59 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Reagan Man
"LOL A mouth piece for the left and liberal propaganda machine. I'm not impressed."

Do you despute the facts they present or just the source?

no matter:

Fox News Covers Operation Red Dawn

USA Today covers Operation Red Dawn

Ny Press Covers Operation Red Dawn

Case Knives makes a commemortive Knife for Operation Red Dawn

Ebay Auction of Operation Red Dawn Commemortive Coin

Free Republic Thread on Operation Red Dawn

89 posted on 09/16/2009 9:10:49 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the next one...)
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To: Mad Dawgg; ansel12

See post 89 ;-)


90 posted on 09/16/2009 9:12:51 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the next one...)
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To: Reagan Man

You are just way off base, how you could miss such a living symbol of the Reagan years is beyond me, this is one of those movies that has endured and captures our patriotic spirit of the 1980s when we finally started confronting the Soviet Union.

Americans loved and still love Red Dawn.

You don’t seem to have any of the cultural connection to the passions of the Reagan years.
Seriously, tell us what disturbs you so much about the Reagan/Red Dawn connection that more red blooded conservatives from around the world make.


91 posted on 09/16/2009 9:17:05 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: Mad Dawgg

I take issue with people who go out of their way to make a big deal about a dumb movie.

Btw, JR banned Wikipedia from being referenced on FR years ago. As far as I know, that ban is still in effect.


92 posted on 09/16/2009 9:20:01 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Reagan Man

But it is a REAGAN movie and we love REAGAN.

What were you doing during the 1980s, who were those anti-Red Dawn people that you were with and are still hanging around?


93 posted on 09/16/2009 9:23:14 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

Not only is your rhetoric off the wall, you’re delusional to boot.


94 posted on 09/16/2009 9:23:30 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Reagan Man
"I take issue with people who go out of their way to make a big deal about a dumb movie.

Btw, JR banned Wikipedia from being referenced on FR years ago. As far as I know, that ban is still in effect."

I see, so what is your comment on the other 6 sources? Or do you take issue with Fox News and Free Republic as sources?

BTW I take issue with folks who wish to deny reality, you claimed the movie made no impact on the military but all evidence presented thus far is to the contrary.

Maybe you should consider that its just possible that you are DEAD wrong on this one but if not I hear ACORN is hiring.

95 posted on 09/16/2009 9:25:27 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the next one...)
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To: Reagan Man; Mad Dawgg

From Wikipedia”

” National Review Online has named the film #15 in its list of ‘The Best Conservative Movies’.”

“The Soviet attack outlined in the film was a test case for the US War College with a certain element of plausibility, given the political climate at the time the movie was released.”

From National Review Online; The Best Conservative Movies
“15. Red Dawn (1984): From the safe, familiar environment of a classroom, we watch countless parachutes drop from the sky and into the heart of America. Oh, no: invading Commies! Laugh if you want — many do — but Red Dawn has survived countless more acclaimed films because Father Time has always been our most reliable film critic. The essence of timelessness is more than beauty. It’s also truth, and the truth that America is a place and an idea worth fighting and dying for will not be denied, not under a pile of left-wing critiques or even Red Dawn’s own melodramatic flaws. Released at the midpoint of Reagan’s presidential showdown with the Soviet Union, this story of what was at stake in the Cold War endures.”


96 posted on 09/16/2009 9:30:24 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12; Reagan Man
” National Review Online has named the film #15 in its list of ‘The Best Conservative Movies’.”

That's gonna leave a mark...

97 posted on 09/16/2009 9:33:42 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the next one...)
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To: Mad Dawgg
I don't care what they called the operation that eventually brought down Saddam Hussein.

The film Red Dawn sucked!

Grow up!

98 posted on 09/16/2009 9:34:15 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Mad Dawgg

The same National Review that drooled over the liberal Mitt Romney and supported him for president.

LMAO


99 posted on 09/16/2009 9:37:21 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Reagan Man
"I don't care what they called the operation that eventually brought down Saddam Hussein. The film Red Dawn sucked!"

I take no issue with your opinion of the film.

And if you read back on my posts you will find I never have.

However your position that the film had no impact on the military or that it is not an important film, is the issue. On this you are most definitely wrong!

Case Closed...

100 posted on 09/16/2009 9:38:01 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the next one...)
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