Red Dawn (Collector’s Edition)

For decades it was the doomsday scenario. Cold War Americans lived in almost constant fear that the Soviets might drop a nuke on us and begin Armageddon. It was unthinkable that a conventional invasion could reach our shores instead. Red Dawn stirred its own mushroom cloud of controversy when it reached theaters in August of 1984. While the Cold War was actually closer to its end than any of us might have suspected, Red Dawn entered our collective consciousness as a shock to a system that had for some time moved beyond the culture of fear those older than myself knew growing up. By the 1970’s the air raid sirens and classroom drills were no longer commonplace in American cities. Growing up in Eastern Pennsylvania, it was Three Mile Island that caused a greater panic than a Soviet threat. We were all drilled to head to the school’s roof where we were told choppers would evacuate us to a safe zone in case of a meltdown. And like the silly duck and cover drills of the 50’s, we bought into it, ignoring the cold hard fact that we simply didn’t have the resources to evacuate every school in Pennsylvania at a moment’s notice. Deep inside I knew that should the emergency arrive, there would be several million school kid skeletons on the top of a lot of schools for the media to put on the rest of the country’s television screens. So along comes Red Dawn and, for a moment, brings the Cold War front and center all over again.

Red Dawn opens innocently enough in a high school classroom. Everything about the scene is incredibly routine and almost not worth a second glance. That is, until parachutes are seen floating to the ground through the classroom windows. Before you can say Alice Cooper, school’s out and the invasion is begun. From here on out you won’t have an opportunity to get comfortable in your easy chair. The scenes of the invasion are stark and brutal. A small group of the school’s athletes manage to escape to the woods. When they witness the brutality of the invasion force they decide to act. With no formal training, they embark on a sabotage and terrorist campaign against their town’s occupation force. Using the name of their football team mascot, they begin to leave their mark behind after each attack: Wolverines. Before long the Soviet forces make the Wolverines a top priority, and what happens next is some of the most disturbing footage you’ll ever see.

The violence against and by children raised a lot of criticism at the time, and theaters even dropped the film from their lineup to avoid protests. You have to give credit to these folks for not pulling any punches. It’s not only the battle footage that will disturb you. There is a particular scene when the Wolverines must deal with a traitor in their midst. It is here that you see just how much the invasion has changed who they are as human beings. You know that even if they succeed they can never be the naive high school students from a small town they once were. The film is almost too real at times and holds up today even if some of the cinematography is by now dated. The director was John Milius who himself is no stranger to ultra realistic warfare in films. He co-wrote the classic Apocalypse Now. The acting is probably the weakest link of the film, as these young actors go too often for the war movie cliché rather than anything matching their dramatic surroundings. All of these folks went on to some level of fame or other and are, for the most part, solid actors. It’s the choices that I question in these performances. The Wolverines are played by Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Lea Thompson, and C. Thomas Powell. For some of the film the group team up with a downed fighter pilot played by Powers Booth.

Video

Red Dawn is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is the video that most dates the film. There is a considerable level of grain throughout. I don’t really find it distracting, because it might actually enhance the gritty realism of the film quite a bit. There are quite a few print artifacts in the form of scratches and lines. Colors are relatively subdued, again adding more than it takes away. Black levels are overall pretty good. There is evidence of some restoration, but the choice was made, correctly I believe, to keep some of the minor flaws intact to gain a documentary feel.

Audio

Sadly we’re only given a Dolby Digital 2.0 track to work with here. I would have enjoyed hearing this film in a more spread out sound field. Instead we get a pretty serviceable stereo image that does an average job of delivering the goods. Explosions are of a very unimpressive quality here. It’s almost as though they have been muffled in some way. Dialog is clear and always easy to understand. The music shows the greatest sign of age, as there is a slight distortion on some of the louder higher pitched moments. It’s never enough to really detract from the film and works enough to maintain the actual intention of the sound from the original film.

Special Features

This is a 2 disc set, and all of the features except a “body counter” you can enable that displays the death tally during the film are on disc 2. It’s a little tasteless and takes away from the integrity of the film, sinking it to the depths it was often accused of exploiting upon its release.

On Disc 2 you’ll find the following:

Red Dawn A Retrospective: Looking At The Making Of The Film: The sound bites by the cast and John Milius are recent, and each has their own take on the film looking back after 20 years. They address the controversy, and the politics get a bit testy at times. There is also plenty of vintage footage both in front and behind the camera.

Building The Red Menace: What It Takes To Make World War III: There was a lot of construction, both in sets and equipment for the film. Here you get a pretty good look at the huge job it was to create the military camps and armory. The location of the small town had its own rewards and obstacles as well. A lot of time is spent on tanks and other vehicles that were created specifically for the film.

Military Training Featurette: As is true in many war films, the cast went to a actor “boot camp” to learn how to use the props and act like real soldiers.

World War III Comes To Town: Citizens of the New Mexico town where the film was shot talk about what it was like having the film there. Of course, there’s tons of love fest for each other, but it looks like the film and the town did get along pretty well. I’m sure the truckload of money left behind didn’t hurt the town’s feelings any.

Final Thoughts

In 1984 things were quite different than they are today, and unfortunately Red Dawn seems more quaint now than the powerful message it had for its time. Since 9/11 our fears and nightmare scenarios have changed significantly, as has the face of the enemy. It’s a shame, really, because if you haven’t seen the film before it will likely not be possible for you to watch it in the culture by which it was intended to be consumed. It made an impact that unfortunately “you can’t see from here”.