Red Dawn (John Milius, 1984): USA

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.

Patrick Swayze may not be remembered as a great actor, but he had a strong presence and a handful of films of which he can be proud. One of those films, Red Dawn, which portrays the fictional U.S. invasion by the Soviet Union, today enjoys minor cult film status and can be appreciated for more than Swayze’s fine performance.

The film imagines some political scenarios which eventually lead to the invasion of the U.S. by the Soviet Union with Nicaraguan and Cuban troops. Paratroopers land outside the high school and in the small Colorado town and begin to open fire on students and teachers, gaining control of the town. A small group of students including Mattie (Charlie Sheen), Robert (C. Thomas Howell), Darryl (Darren Dalton), Danny (Brad Savage), and Aardvark (Doug Toby) scramble to escape with Matt’s older brother Jed (Patrick Swayze). They collect supplies including food guns and ammo at the sporting goods store owned by Robert’s father, elude the invaders, and head into the mountains to hide out. They survive on the outdoor skills Mattie and Jed have learned growing up, but soon wonder if it is safe to return. After a trip back into town to get news, a couple entrust their nieces Toni (Jennifer Grey) and Erica (Lea Thompson) to Jed and the others to keep them out of the hands of the enemy. After they find out some of their parents have been executed by the enemy they begin a series of guerilla warfare style attacks under the name “wolverines” taken from their school mascot.

John Milius, perhaps best known as the co writer of Apocalypse Now, directed this classic 1980’s film which utilizes several fringe brat pack members like Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, and C. Thomas Howell, and was born out of U.S./Soviet tensions as well as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, giving the film a strong, conservative 1980’s feel and is one of the few, and most satisfying, teen action films that come to mind. The action scenes are plentiful and well directed, but the film never substitutes action for character and the cast are given plenty to work with as Milius does a fine job of letting the action and the characters work alongside and off each other to create a nice balance.

The performances by the ensemble cast are solid with standout performances by C. Thomas Howell as Robert, the most gung ho of their resistance group; Patrick Swayze as Jed, the group’s leader; and Harry Dean Stanton who is memorable in his lone scene as Jed and Mattie’s father. Ron O’Neal gives a strong performance as the Nicaraguan Colonel Bella, whose character is invested with compassion, and internal conflict about the war, adding more depth to the enemy rather than portraying them as simply, and uniformly, evil.

Unfortunately, there is a remake slated for 2010 and I have doubts that it will match the original in story, character, or meaning. Whether it turns out good or bad, there can simply be no replacement for the original which brilliantly captures not only 1980’s cold war sentiments, but a young male fantasy of playing at war and survival.