Movielogr
Red Dawn (1989)
Directed by Jorge Fons
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
On October 2, 1968, a student uprising descends into violence after the Mexican government begins to use lethal force against the protesters.
Length 96 minutes
Actors
María Rojo | Héctor Bonilla | Jorge Fegán | Bruno Bichir | Demián Bichir | Ademar Arau | Marta Aura | Eduardo Palomo | Carlos Cardán | Paloma Robles | Simón Guevara | Leonor Bonilla | Roberto Sosa Sr. | Rafael Pérez | Santiago Nuñez | Alberto Pedret | Teresa Mondragon | Blas García | Baltazar Oviedo | Armando González | Fernando Ibarra | Sergio Sánchez
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/16/2007 | TV | DVD | Owned | 4 stars |
| (Average) 4 stars |
Viewing Notes
This review originally appeared on PopSyndicate.com in the DVD section. This was for the Collector’s Edition DVD release.
The Cold War is fun all over again.
Before everyone was crazy for Swayze, before Charlie Sheen was young with a gun, before Lea Thompson went back to the future, before Jennifer Grey hacked her nose off and before C. Thomas Howell was…howelling, there was RED DAWN.
It was 1984 and I was four years old. The Cold War was near its peak patriotic fervor and director John Milius decided to take on a patriotic, fearmongering project that would shock liberal Hollywood. At the time, America had legitimate fear of being invaded with a constant build up of weaponry and antagonism. Despite Hollywood’s supposed strident peaceful attitude, Russians were frequently used as the bad guys on TV shows and in movies, but you always knew the Americans would win. RED DAWN exposed every fear American citizens have ever had because we have never been invaded.
Apparently sometime during the late Seventies or early Eighties, the United Soviet Socialist Republic and Cuba found time to hold Communist hands, build a joint army, and invade America. RED DAWN is the story of a group of teenagers in Calumet, Colorado, defending their hometown from the Red Menace. Over the course of several months, this group of ragtag teenagers evolves from freaked out to fearless, becoming a band of nigh-unstoppable guerilla fighters.
Like FINAL FANTASY, only the teenagers could save us. The entirety of the central cast was young and inexperienced except for Swayze and Powers Boothe and although it showed on screen through awkward timing and forced emotions, somehow it doesn’t matter. Rather, their naivete rams home the dangerous position of any young soldier sent off to war.
Extras abound for the special edition. The first disc has a carnage counter that adds up all the deaths, something that would be perfect for a season of Fox’s 24. The second disc has about an hour and a half of featurettes detailing the production of the movie, from building the invading Army, to experiencing frostbite and on to destroying the real town of Las Vegas, New Mexico for filming. Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Lea Thompson all make appearances throughout the featurettes, while Jennifer Grey is inexplicably nowhere to be found. Unfortunately there are no commentaries, which would have made it one of the better re-release collections to be produced.
RED DAWN is a parable and that is exactly what makes the release of the DVD a bit suspicious. Why wasn’t this DVD released in 2004 for the 20th anniversary? Maybe I’m reading too much into a poorly timed business decision, but has this DVD only been re-released now because of the quagmire that is the Iraq War? The parallels are there: the United States teams up with Britain (and an assortment of others) to invade Iraq, where oft-young guerilla fighters head to the hills and strike back at our soldiers whilst propaganda is spread via leaflets and posters through the towns. Have we become the USSR?
No comments yet. Log in and be the first!