Red Dawn

Wow, Red Dawn. This movie ran constantly on TNT in my childhood, and left an indelible impression on my suggestible self. The hours I spent reenacting the film in my backyard (with a plastic wiffle bat in place of an AK) should attest to how much I liked this film, and its lasting appeal: What red-blooded American boy wouldn't want to go into the woods with a crapload of guns and all your best friends to kill Russkies?

It's definitely best to appreciate Red Dawn on this childish level. John Milius's right-wing sensibilities and penchant for the ridiculous often served him well (The Wind and the Lion) but Red Dawn is pretty much junk, a lurid conservative fantasy of the sort popular in the McCarthy era (Red Nightmare, anyone?). It's enjoyable at the cheesiest level imaginable, with some ideas that almost work, but on the whole it's just a bizarre, goofy relic of the '80s.

The small town of Calumet, Colorado is ground zero for a Soviet invasion of America. The high school is attacked by Soviet paratroopers and a handful of students - Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze), brother Matt (Charlie Sheen), sisters Erica (Lea Thompson) and Toni Mason (Jennifer Grey) and a few friends - escape into the mountains. The gang returns to Calumet and sees the results of Communist occupation: mass executions, concentration camps and propaganda. It's enough to get any decent American's blood boiling, and our buddies form a guerilla band, the Wolverines, who terrorize the Russians and their Cuban allies. The Russkies assign the ferocious Colonel Strelnikov (William Smith) to bring the Wolverines to heel, and our heroes's days are numbered.

In some ways, the premise of Red Dawn isn't that ridiculous. Milius drew inspiration from the Afghan mujahedeen, and the movie is littered with imagery cribbed from the Russo-Afghan War: the helicopter ambushes, the horse-mounted partisans, even the Middle Eastern-style headgear sported at times by the Wolverines. They're certainly jarring in an American context (and the presentation is none-too-subtle) but hardly as ridiculous as most think. And I really don't understand the complaint about teenagers becoming ace guerillas: presumably critics wouldn't bitch if the film were about the Vietcong, World War II partisans or African child soldiers. On this end, critics and liberals ought to cut Milius some slack.

On other counts, of course, they have a valid point. The opening scene of Russian paratroopers machine-gunning high school students and blowing up school buses is silly, setting the cartoonishly propagandistic tone from the get-go. Large stretches play like Republican campaign ads: the Russians use ATF registration forms to track down gun owners, and infiltrate Army bases with illegal immigrants. The only authority figure we meet is Calumet's Mayor (Lane Smith), an obsequious Quisling who happily betrays his own son to the Reds. Those damned liberals, taking away our guns, opening our borders and selling us out to the Commies! Ronald Reagan, where are you?

But Red Dawn doesn't completely degenerate into the cartoonish, Red-baiting nonsense of Invasion USA, Rocky IV, Red Scorpion and the Rambo sequels. The film maintains a surprisingly grim and pessimistic tone throughout, reflecting our heroes's desperation. The first ambush, where the Wolverines pick off snap-happy Russian officers, is a believably bungled and awkward affair: later scenes become more predictable shoot-'em-up sequences. The movie even ends on a downer note, with Jed's fate uncertain and an indication that the war won't end with his last stand. It's a surprising amount of maturity (or at least seriousness) from a film primarily pitched as an adolescent fantasy.

As usual, Milius gleefully pilfers from other, better films: the primary antagonist is Colonel Strelnikov, a swaggering counterinsurgency expert who comes on like Jean Martin in The Battle of Algiers. A re-education camp screens scenes from Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky as a presumably ironic counterpoint. And yes, there's a reference to The Searchers, which Patrick Swayze laughably aping John Wayne's scabbard-toss. I generally have no objection to such homages, but in a film like this, do you really want to force a comparison with actual great movies?

Milius's direction is solid. There's a lot of action and Milius stages it well, with enough variety to keep things from getting repetitive. Gun fetishist Milius makes sure he gets all the hardware right, with really convincing mock-ups of Soviet weapons, uniforms, vehicles and planes, and he's to be commended for allowing Russians, Cubans and Nicaraguans to speak their own language (even if many are played by American actors). The script is unusually clunky by Milius standards - perhaps co-writer Kevin Reynolds (Waterworld) is to blame? - and Basil Poledouris's score is boring snytho-tripe.

One neat thing about Red Dawn is the plethora of soon-to-be stars: pretty much every actor who hit it big in the '80s gets a part. Patrick Swayze is the quarterback-turned-Fearless Leader; Charlie Sheen is his wimpy brother; Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing) and Lea Thompson (Howard the Duck) are the group's females; C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders) is the resident nutcase. None of them give anything like good performances, but in fairness the script doesn't give any of them much to work with. Star watchers will get as much of a kick out of this flick as nostalgic Reaganites.

Our leads are backed by an interesting (if poorly-used) supporting cast. Powers Boothe (Tombstone) steals every scene as a hotshot pilot who teaches the gang how to fight a proper war. Harry Dean Stanton (Dillinger) gets a laughably hammy scene encouraging the Wolverines to "AVENGE MEEEEE!!!" Perennial bad guys William Smith (Conan the Barbarian) and Vladek Sheybal (The Wind and the Lion) play typically slimy Russians but Ron O'Neal (Superfly) gets a surprisingly layered character, as a former partisan forced to be a policeman. Milius regulars Ben Johnson, Roy Jenson and Frank McRae also turn up briefly (was Geoffrey Lewis unavailable?).

So yeah, if you're going to watch Red Dawn, you should probably view it through the eyes of a credulous ten year old. It has plenty of cheese mixed in with an occasional neat idea, and it's not without entertainment value if your expectations aren't too high. Most of all, though, you'll thank God that Walter Mondale didn't win in '84.

Now if you'll excuse me: WOLVERINES!!!!!