Red Dawn (1984)

After a quick rundown of politics in the film’s then-near-future world (Mexico has fallen to the Commies etc), director John Milius cuts straight to the action.

Teenagers Matt (Charlie Sheen) and Robert (C. Thomas Howell) watch in horror as elite Red Army paratroopers land on the varsity football field and their history teacher gets mowed down by Russian and Cuban troops.

Soon they’re fleeing to the hills with Sheen’s older brother Jed (Patrick Swayze), as the Reds infest their small Colorado town. When it becomes clear that they’re behind enemy lines in World War III, they decide to fight back.

Taking the name of their high school football team, the Wolverines, they wage unremitting guerrilla warfare in defence of their parents, their friends and their country.

Released at the height of late-Cold War tensions, Red Dawn almost seemed designed to fan flames and served as a valentine to American values and the guns and ammo that keep them alive.

Jed Eckert
Patrick Swayze
Robert
C. Thomas Howell
Erica
Lea Thompson
Matt Eckert
Charlie Sheen
Daryl
Darren Dalton
Toni
Jennifer Grey
Danny
Brad Savage
Aardvark
Doug Toby
Mason
Ben Johnson
Mr Eckert
Harry Dean Stanton
Bella
Ron O’Neal
Strelnikov
William Smith
Bratchenko
Vladek Sheybal
Andy Tanner
Powers Boothe
Mr Teasdale
Frank Mcrae
Mr Morris
Roy Jenson
Aardvark’s Father
Pepe Serna
Mayor Bates
Lane Smith
Nicaraguan Captain
Judd Omen
Yuri
Sam Slovick
Stepan Gorsky
Radames Pera
Mrs Mason
Lois Kimbrell
Alicia
Elan Oberon
Rachel
Raquel Provance

Director
John Milius

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