Red Dawn Filming Locations

Locations Manager(s): Michael Jarvis

On Location

Las Vegas (NM) stood in for the fictional town of Calumet, Colarado. The Wolverines' secret hideout was actually filmed in an abandoned Safeway.

Some wilderness shots where at the end of La Dispenses (sp?) Gravel Road, up near Sapellio [Thanks to Charlie]

The school used in the begining is called "Memorial Middle School". [Thanks to Jerry Padilla]

The shot where they are back in town and talking to the lady was shot in a drug store that is called "Murpheys Drug Store". Also this is the shot where the Wolverines blow up a store. [Thanks to Jerry Padilla]

A lot of the shots where they show the Russian and Cuban bases were shot on Grand Avenue and Railroad Avenue in Las Vegas, NM. [Thanks to Jerry Padilla]

The building which forms the backdrop for the final shooting scene is actually an old hotel which has long been closed. The hotel, called the 'Castaneda', was built in the 1890's. [Thanks to Mike Thomas]

The cast mainly stayed at the Plaza Hotel (230 N. Plaza) in downtown Las Vegas. I believe, based on the interior appearance of the hotel, that they filmed some of the Victorian parlor-type scenes, involving Col. Bella, in that hotel.

When the Russian helicopters are flying away from the combat scene at the rocks near the end of the movie, the helicopters are seen flying out over some water, a small lake. That lake was almost certainly Storrie Lake State Park. [Thanks to Mike Thomas]

In junior high I went to a camp at a place called Ghost Ranch outside of Abiquiu, NM (home of famed artist Georgia O'Keefe). Several of the staff members at Ghost Ranch told me that several shots were filmed there including the scene where the two Russian Hind helicopters appear between two buttes as they chase the Wolverines. [Thanks to Devin]

The scene at the very end where Swayze is holding his brother (Charlie Sheen) was shot in a historic park called "Lincoln Park". [Thanks to Jerry Padilla]

An early scene shows the Carnegie Library a few blocks west of Grand Avenue apparently as a school building, including a statue entitled the Rough Rider. I am not sure if the staute is there or over in the Rough Rider Museum, on Grand Avenue, which commemorates the Rough Rider Reunions which were held on several occassions there. The Rough Riders were famous in the Spanish American War as a volunteer militia group comprosed of signicantly Southwesterners, which charge up San Juan Hill and later vaulted Teddy Roosevelt into the White House. [Thanks to Robert Truitt]

The scene where Daryl and the Russian soldier are executed by both Jedd and Robert after Daryl's betrayal is discovered was filmed I believe atop Johnsons Mesa just east of Raton. In fact there are a few scenes within the film that used this same location as well.

Can you help? Do you know any of the Las Vegas, New Mexico filming locations used for Red Dawn? [Please send them in]


Locations Links

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