The world has been energized by the Russians’ all too real and devastating invasion of Ukraine. It also reminded some of a movie favorite of many Americans, one loathed by the media. What is the plot of this movie? A determined group of young people fight off an invasion by the Russians. Of course, I’m talking about the ‘80s classic Red Dawn.
Retired four-star admiral James Foggo wrote about 1984 John Milius movie in The Hill: “Red Dawn This is the story of a communist invasion invading the United States. It was led by Cuban surrogates who were trained by Soviet advisors. The Russians lost the invasion.It is easy to see the parallels between current events and those in Ukraine..”
Conservatism is a favorite of many conservatives Red Dawn. Former Secretary of State to Ronald Reagan Al Haig praised the movie, telling the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner on August 15,1984: “It captures the stresses of patriotism, the emotions of love and, above all, the futility of war.”
It has also gained a large following within the military. Red Dawn was the name of 2003’s operation to capture Saddam Hussein. Codename: Wolverine. (In the movie, the “wolverines” were the young rebels fighting off the communists.)
But that’s not how the outraged liberal film critics saw it in the summer of 1984. Roger Ebert said that he had heard it all. Siskel and Ebert colleague Gene Siskel: “From beginning to end, I believe this film is corrupt. It makes a clear political statement, which is one problem I have with it..” A political statement in a movie? This is not unusual. Except that this one was a conservative point of view and that’s what angered Ebert.
To fight the Russians, the resistance relies on privately owned firearms in the movie. Ebert went on about Red Dawn’s pro-Second Amendment outlook: “In other words, people should have handguns. They shouldn’t be registered.” He weirdly complained, “There was a whole right-wing ideology that the picture itself doesn’t deserve.”
The following was published on August 10, 1984 Washington Post film critic Rita Kempley began her hair-on-fire review this way: “Director John Milius, the barbarian behind Conan, co-wrote this anti-gun-control, anti-Communist, survivalist script with Kevin Reynolds. Sick and silly as it is, the idea could have been intriguing, had it gone anywhere, which it didn’t.”
Kempley simply couldn’t get past the film’s conservative overtones, like the anti-gun control message:
Speaking of enemy intelligence, the Russian commander ordered his soldiers to go to the local sporting goods store in order for them the form 443S. Find out who owns the guns privately. The gun-owners who are registered will be taken away and shot. This nightmare is the NRA’s worst nightmare.
The August 10, 1984 New York Times huffed that the film is “incorrigibly gung-ho” and has an excess of “machismo.” Regarding a scene where the invading Soviets execute Americans, NYTJanet Maslin, film critic complained:
Before they are shot, the two sing “America the Beautiful”. However their patriotism and the film might have been more overbearing had the song not been included.
Despite the contempt of liberal journalists, the film has endured almost 40 years later, even being remade with North Korean villains replacing the communists in 2012. 2009. National ReviewThe original was named as the 15th most conservative movie ever made. NRDescribed the spirit Red Dawn as “truth,” saying:
We will never deny the truth about America as a nation and an idea that is worth fighting for and dying for. Not under any pile of left-wing criticisms, or anything else. Red Dawn’s own melodramatic flaws. Released at the midpoint of Reagan’s presidential showdown with the Soviet Union, this story of what was at stake in the Cold War endures.
Speak to The Los Angeles Times in 2003, director John Milius described his movie this way: “It’s a patriotic movie. It’s a very American movie…. Nothing’s more traditional than resistance.” As the world watches the Ukrainian people bravely resisting a Russian invasion, many Americans might simply add: “Wolverines!”
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