Back in the mid-1980s when the US was still afraid of the Commie Pinko Russkies, a whole slew of movies came out to prove the American superiority over the scary U. S. S. R. One of those movies was Red Dawn.Red Dawn tells the story of a joint Cuban/Soviet invasion in Colorado. A plucky group of high school kids calling themselves the Wolverines decides to fight the red menace themselves. The cast was pretty good: Patrick Swayze, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey. I'm not sure I've actually seen this film since the late 1980s/early 1990s when it hit cable but from what I recall it's VERY dated feeling and really had that heavy-handed mid-'80s fear of Soviet attack thing going on. And, you know, Colorado high school kids are totally laying professional soldiers to waste. USA! USA!
Anyway, some Hollywood genius has decided to remake Red Dawn, but this time it will be Chinese Commie pinkos invading Colorado. Chris Hemsworth (Kirk's dad in the Star Trek film and Thor in the upcoming Thor film) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the Comedian from the Watchmen film) are headlining the remake.
Really? The only reason the original worked was because there was an actual national fear. Is anyone actually afraid that China's going to invade? This just seems kind of lazy.
Here's the trailer for the original flick if you need to have your memory refreshed:
The original director was asked about it and he also thinks it is a terrible idea.
"I think it's a stupid thing to do. The movie is not very old," said Milius, who's not involved in the new film but was given a chance to read the new script. "It was terrible. There was a strange feeling to the whole thing. They were fans of the movie, so they put in stuff they thought was neat. It's all about neat action scenes and has nothing to do with story."
Yeah...
Wikipedia does have some fun facts about the original film though.
- Red Dawn was the first movie in film history to be released in the US with a Motion Picture Association of America PG-13 rating.
- At the time it was released, Red Dawn was considered the most violent film by the Guinness Book of Records and The National Coalition on Television Violence, with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute.
- National Review Online has named the film #15 in its list of 'The Best Conservative Movies'
