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Wednesday, March 22, 2006
In defense of Red Dawn
I rise in defense of Red Dawn. (Why do I have to? Here and here.)
Red Dawn is a glorious movie about glorious teenage boy fantasies (not involving girls). The mere fact that I love Red Dawn (to no end) should remove it from any consideration as a defining cultural artifact of the right.
Sometimes, as a blogger, I am intimidated by the expertise brought to bear on complicated issues. If Brad DeLong wants to talk fiscal policy, what are my credential to challenge him? But if we're going to sink to my level and explore my passion -- enormously enjoyable Patrick Swayze movies -- well, then, nobody puts Hammer in a corner.
DeLong writes:
Hate to break it to you, Ben, but "Red Dawn" is just another cheesy throwaway Sunday afternoon movie--and one that's not nearly as visually interesting as "Dirty Dancing."
Clearly wrong. This is Red Dawn, not Armageddon or X-2. It's hardly ever on television at all. When it is on, it's not usually Sunday afternoons. It's more a late Thursday night flick.
Over at the Poor Man Institute, we have more ignorance of the movie:
Part of Red Dawn’s profound nad-sucking comes from the fact that it starts with such promise. The US has been invaded by Russia, and everybody has been put into big cages. Evil Russian soldiers are all over the US, thousands and thousands of them, just waiting to be killed and one-liner’ed. On such a canvas, Arnie would have painted his masterpiece -- IN COMMIE BLOOD!!!!!
But it was not to be. First of all, the invasion of the US? We don’t see it. We are just told it happened, and then we get to watch everybody cry when they see their dad in a cage. Daddy, I loves you! Oh son, I loves you! Boo-hoo-hoo! My daddy’s in a big cage! And I loves him! Dude: NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR BORING MOVIE DAD. Also, you suck at acting. Please kill Russians. If memory serves, this "character development" crap goes on for approximately the entire history of time, before somebody finally kills a Russian. They shoot him with a bow and arrow or a hunting rifle or something, and that’s pretty much it. And then, it’s back to the cry-a-thon.
Actually, Red Dawn opens with the invasion of the United States. It's not Russians in this small town, it's Cubans. They speak a lot of Spanish. They are dark-skinned. It's pretty easy to recognize the difference. Yes, there are Russians, there, too, especially later in the movie, but you can't leave out the Cubans.
No, not everyone is in a cage -- that's just the parents who are subject to forced re-education at the local drive in. How bad of a camp is it? The insurgent school boys just walk up and talk to their parents in the camp.
Look -- stuff blows up, the movie makes no sense, and Patrick Swayze is in all his crybaby glory. What's not to love? They pee in a radiator! They take hot chicks up to their mountain home and they all go feral! Wolverines!
Note: I haven't actually seen Red Dawn in years. In case I'm remembering the details all wrong, I apologize to everyone I've wronged.
4 Comments:
Hammer no doubt remembers this film better than I do. My only real memory? It sucked. Wait, a second memory is coming back. My right wing friends thought it was cool. Of course part of the difference in our memories might be that I was in my 20s when it came out and Hammer was, well, less than that.
Tho it might also be my complete disdain for "kids save the day" movies. I don't think I liked them even when I was a kid.
I think I'm going to watch the film Saturday, see if I owe anyone an apology.
I saw it about 6 or 7 years ago, I think on a Sunday afternoon, and was surprised how little it sucked. I was expecting it to be really terrible. Milius has his moments as a writer -- allegedly he co-wrote the Indianapolis monologue in Jaws.
By 
Joseph Thvedt, at
11:53 AM
I have heard that the final version of the USS Indianapolis speech was mostly a re-write by Robert Shaw.
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