gregory5@garfield.UUCP (Greg Case) (08/10/84)
I noticed in the ads that Red Dawn is rated PG-13 . I was
wondering if this is the first movie that had been released
with this rating.
ever curious
G.J.
gregory5@garfield mathnews2@watdcsu.UUCP (mathNOOS [editors]) (08/12/84)
Saw _Red Dawn_ the other night at it's first showing in Kitchener,
Ontario, Canada, and I would have to say that I don't think the four
dollars I paid was wasted. Certain premises on which the movie was
set were rather hokey, such as all of Central America falling to the
Communists led by Cuba and Nicaragua or the demise of NATO as a result
of the Green Party winning power in West Germany (This is the slight
spoiler, that is the first thirty seconds of the movie). I found, as
did the audience, that the battle scenes evoked a sort of ``They
blowed up real good!'' reaction, but in many ways the movie played to
the opinions of the Reagan administration and the Gun lobbies (you'll
get the idea likely when you see it). The technical aspects weren't
bad, nor was the story nor the acting, and I would rate it 7.5 out of
ten (not many movies get that high of a rating from me). I recommend
it if you want a serious movie.
PS. (mini-spoiler) Did anyone notice that the survivors were perhaps
the weakest emotionally in the group?
Marcel Kahnt U. E.
Entertainment Editor
mathNEWS
University of Waterloo
{allegra, utzoo, decvax, ihnp4 }!watmath!watdcsu!mathnews2
(my sister was bit by a moose.... -).joj@pyuxo.UUCP (J Jasutis) (08/13/84)
I also saw Red Dawn this weekend. In response to the previous review that said to see the movie if you like 'serious' movies....All I know is that my party & half of the audience laughed throughout the film (& I don't think it was supposed to be funny.) At the beginning of the movie I was surprised at all the violence (I should have been able to figure that it was going to be that kind of film). By the end of the movie I was cheering for the violent scenes, because they at least kept me awake.
dewey@uokvax.UUCP (08/14/84)
#R:watdcsu:-35000:uokvax:3900058:000:362 uokvax!dewey Aug 14 14:47:00 1984 < > Did you also notice that the girls were the first to kill the soldiers after they were discovered? The guys ran,(except for the one with the bow+arrow) and when the soldier tripped trying to catch them, one of the girls picked up his gun and shot him point blank! Is this a emotionally weak person or one who has none at all? ctvax!uokvax!dewey
rose@uw-june (Scott Rose) (08/15/84)
the particular party line being presented, the cold hard truth is that it is not entertaining to be blatantly propagandized. Makes one feel kinda ripped-off, as if the director should be paying the viewer for the privlege of foisting his beliefs off on the unsuspecting. Therefore, be warned: this is a film that, for me, had a negative entertainment value.
terryl@tekchips.UUCP (Terry Laskodi) (08/17/84)
Well, I went and saw "Red Dawn" last night, and it wasn't as bad as
people made it out to be: it was worse. There was absolutely no plot develop-
ment at all, and almost no character development. I got the impression that
the actors weren't really interested in their roles(except maybe the foreign
sounding ones; hard to tell their emotions); I really didn't care if any of
the kids lived or died, and the way some of them died just didn't make any
sense in the context of the overall movie. There were a couple of MAJOR
points to the plot that the movie just ignored (as someone already said, why
did Russia invade the US to begin with; also, what happened and how did it
happen the Russian snow troops were able to track them down with the trans-
mitter that one of the kids supposedly swallowed??? How and when did he have
the chance to see the Russians????)
All in all, I'd say this movie was a total waste. Avoid it at all costs.jimc@haddock.UUCP (08/20/84)
Red Dawn: I am not going to take the time to write a description of this movie -- preceding authors have all done a good job with that already. Instead, I am going to indulge myself by expounding my opinions on this movie from the beginning. First of all, the movie is not bad. It's well paced, and solid in theme, and it certainly maintained my interest and the interest of the audience who saw this with me in Boston. Unfortunately, its consistency in theme and action is about all it has going for it. It is not really explained just how such a large scale invasion of the American Midwest could have taken place. At one point, a downed American jet pilot explains to our heroes and heroines what happened -- something to the effect of an airlift of troops from the Communist southern hemisphere in planes which are disguised as commercial airliners. Come on, gang; wouldn't any radar operator get just a little suspicious of a fleet of commercial jets large enough to carry an invasion force? Also, it is said that the Soviets invaded through the Bering Strait and down through Canada to aid their Latin comrades. Sorry, but I can't believe a Soviet army advancing down through North America to hit the mainland U.S. would have been allowed as far as Kansas. This illogical premise aside, then explain to me this: how is it that a military force brilliant enough to secure all the territory between the Grand Canyon and the Mississippi can't defend itself against a band of children? Egad, they even let them roam around their hometown without a single guard giving them trouble. Also in this movie, we have a limited nuclear war, the only casualties being Kansas City (sounds familiar, TV fans?), Omaha, and a couple of others. The rest is fought by conventionals. To believe that is to accept a tactical standpoint that might be the most dangerous of all military ideals in the world today. It is unfortunate that so much energy and even intelligence could be wasted on such an obvious propaganda ploy. Oh, well. Reaganites will love it. --- Jim Campbell, INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation Boston Technical Office
lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (08/21/84)
#R:tekchips:-103100:uokvax:3900062:000:694 uokvax!lmaher Aug 21 03:27:00 1984 < RED DAWN SPOILER ALERT > Why the U.S.S.R. invaded the U.S. *was* irrelevant to the plot - the kids didn't know why, and the movie is showing events from the kids' point of view. If you watched closely, you could infer some reasons. The film explained very clearly that Darryl was captured when he went into town to see his father - he betrayed his friends rather than suffer himself. He could've told them he had been bugged. He didn't. He was executed. Marighella would have approved totally. I can't have much confidence in a review made by someone who didn't pay attention. Of course, if you had run out to the lobby for popcorn, that's ok! :-) Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher
edhall@randvax.UUCP (08/23/84)
I went to this one with a few strategic-analyst types from here at Rand. They were impressed by the accuracy of the Russian hardware displayed, but completely underwhelmed (as was I) by the plot. They loved seeing all the Commies get what was comin' to 'em (i.e. the violence was well- done). But the blunders in military tactics and strategy, and just factual errors (e.g. a U.S. pilot would only be wearing his name-tag, and not all his decorations and rank markings) rendered it completely unbelievable. The acting was among the worst I've seen anywhere, as was the plot--no character development to speak of, with just a tenuously-connected series of episodes arranged in rough chronological order. The central event of the `plot'--the conversion of a group of high-school students into a band of guerrillas--isn't even done badly; it's glossed over completely. Combine this with a series of maudlin dramatic devices that aren't even deserving of a high-school play, and you have something that is just plan *bad*--sometimes hilariously so. Nevertheless I found it quite entertaining (in ways that perhaps weren't intended) and would recommend if you are curious and don't have to pay full price. -Ed Hall decvax!randvax!edhall
cathleen@ism780b.UUCP (08/23/84)
#R:tekchips:-103100:ism780b:26900001:000:2578
ism780b!cathleen Aug 22 11:59:00 1984
***** ism780b:net.movies / tekchips!terryl / 2:46 am Aug 19, 1984
Well, I went and saw "Red Dawn" last night, and it wasn't as bad as
people made it out to be: it was worse. There was absolutely no plot develop-
ment at all, and almost no character development. I got the impression that
the actors weren't really interested in their roles(except maybe the foreign
sounding ones; hard to tell their emotions); I really didn't care if any of
the kids lived or died, and the way some of them died just didn't make any
sense in the context of the overall movie. There were a couple of MAJOR
points to the plot that the movie just ignored (as someone already said, why
did Russia invade the US to begin with; also, what happened and how did it
happen the Russian snow troops were able to track them down with the trans-
mitter that one of the kids supposedly swallowed??? How and when did he have
the chance to see the Russians????)
All in all, I'd say this movie was a total waste. Avoid it at all costs.
----------
It sounds to me like you were wearing a blindfold through the whole movie!
>>Why did Russia invade to began with??
Did you see the begining of the movie, it doesn't sound like it.
Russia was suffuring from many hardships: starvation, depletion of natural
resources, etc.
The mid-west was infiltrated by Cubans posing as Mexican workers, who
got settled here, and set things up for the first charter flight of
Soviet leaders. They said a small amount of Nuclear weapons were used.
I agree that a lot of things are unclear, questions unanswered, but
it is only a movie! You make it sound like an inaccurate account of
a historical event.
The kid who swallowed the bug thought that they would have a better chance
of surviving if they were caught and put in camps with the rest of the town.
He didn't like doing what they were doing, he was scared (wouldn't
you be?) he wanted to surrender, by doing so he thought he, and his friends
would be safe.
One question brought up is `Who can you trust?'
The kid who was bugged did voice his fears to his friends, but he didn't
tell them he was giong to try to get them caught.
The movie depicts the infiltration of the mid-west in the same
manner that the Soviet Union actually invaded Afganastan (sp?),
through a charter flight of a seemingly `native' group of people.
I think it is presented from an interesting point of view,
and as not all the actors are great, most of the main characters
are played very well.
Jon
`it's my opinion, I'm entitled to it, if you don't like don't read it'sth@rayssd.UUCP (08/28/84)
<yet another line....> Red Dawn ranks up there with Orca as two of the worst movies I have ever seen. Trite, excessively violent, propaganda so blatant it was half financed by the DOD, holes in the plot you could fit an oil tanker in, I apologized to my friends for persuading them to see it. The only interesting thing about it was the way the director used left wing symbols to portray right wing propaganda. DONT SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!