Red Dawn

3 years ago

Just thinking back to a few days after inauguration in 2017 when my local cafe was playing Red Dawn. And here we are living through another remake of it, except the Soviets and the Wolverines are the same people.

I fell down a Wikihole:

Red Dawn 1984:

The New York Times reviewer said, "To any sniveling lily-livers who suppose that John Milius has already reached the pinnacle of movie-making machismo, a warning: Mr. Milius's Red Dawn is more rip-roaring than anything he has done before. Here is Mr. Milius at his most alarming, delivering a rootin'-tootin' scenario for World War III." [...]

National Review Online has named the film No. 15 in its list of the "Best Conservative Movies." Adam Arseneau at the website DVD Verdict opined that the film "often feels like a Republican wet dream manifested into a surrealistic Orwellian nightmare."

Red Dawn 2012, which I forgot was a thing that happened:

MGM changed the villains from Chinese to North Korean in order to maintain access to China's lucrative box office. The changes reportedly cost less than $1 million and involve changing an opening sequence summarizing the story's fictional backdrop (dropping the original storyline of Chinese "repossession" after the US defaults on loans for a North Korean invasion), re-editing two scenes, and using digital technology to change Chinese symbols and dialogue to Korean.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Tags: big brother, doomed, firstperson, grim meathook future, sf

4 Responses:

1. pdp10 says:

   3 years ago at 2:53 pm

   You didn't get the best quotes!

   Milius was signed to direct at a fee of $1.25 million, plus a gun of his choice.

   When you consider, however, that the character of Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski is rumored to be based on Milius's real-life personality—they look and sound identical—the description begins to make sense. I bet Walter would have adored Red Dawn.

2. Stephen says:

   3 years ago at 3:39 am

   There's also the 2010 "Tomorrow When The War Began" Australian version of Red Dawn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KaX0F8GojI

   It's based on a series of young adult books, and has a lot of the same vibe, without being a 2nd amendment penthouse stories submission.

3. Michael V. says:

   3 years ago at 10:42 am

   If you're in the mood for an occasionally disturbing laugh or two, I highly recommend the commentary track for "Conan the Barbarian," which is mostly Ahnold and Milius getting drunk together and enjoying their own movie.

   • Dude says:

     3 years ago at 11:59 am

     Key line from Arnold: "I vas getting laid a lot in dis moo-vee... it's amazing." (heard at 1min 46sec in this highlight vid)